Frequently Asked Questions

Most mortgage contracts remain valid for up to 90 days and once signed have a further 180 days until they must be completed. Due to this, we recommend that you get in contact with a mortgage professional 6 months before your term ends, to allow enough time for all necessary processes to take place.

At Actuate, we take it upon ourselves to take the stress off of you when refinancing by following up before your current term ends to keep you on a product that is affordable throughout your mortgage.

When you buy a property through freehold, you own the land that the building stands upon as well as the building itself.

When buying a property through leasehold, you do not own the land on which the building stands, but yet, own the rights to own property upon the land for the length of the leasehold term.

Leasehold property will be subject to annual ground rent charges which will be paid to the owner of the land on which the building stands. Unless the leasehold is extended before the term ends - for a fee, the property will return to the owner of the land.

Land Tax is known as different things in different parts of the UK. LBTT in Scotland, SDLT in England and Ireland, and LTT in Wales. This may already sound confusing but they all have the same concept.

Land Tax is a one-off form of tax completed upon the purchase of a new property or land, whether it is freehold or leasehold. The level of land tax payable is determined by if you or a partner are eligible for first-time buyer status, if you will have more than one property upon purchase, and the purchase price of the property itself.

This tax is calculated during the advice stages and is payable to HMRC within different periods depending on which part of the UK the land/property was acquired. To know more about land tax and fees payable throughout a mortgage contact a mortgage broker.

Whilst repayments are due each month, capital repayment and interest only have two different structures of payment.

Capital repayments are split into two parts - the interest, and the capital repayment. Due to this, capital repayment mortgages have more expensive monthly payments, however, you slowly repay the value of the house itself and eventually will own the house outright if mortgage repayments are kept up.

Interest-only repayments only pay back interest on the property. Therefore, at the end of the term, you will not have gained any extra equity in the property.

Documents needed vary from person to person as you can't expect everyone to have the exact same circumstances.

However, there are some documents that are needed for all cases and these are as follows:

Proof of ID - Passport and driver's/learners license are the most common

Proof of address - Bank statements and utility bill's are the most common

Proof of income - Payslips, self-assessment tax returns or corresponding years of accounts

Proof of deposit - Bank statements, signed gifted deposit letter, (with 3 months bank statements from the person gifting the deposit), proof of house sale.