We have improved our broker and underwriting processes to make it easier for us to work with your mortgage broker.

Our priority is to bring existing applications to offer and completion in a timely manner.

Yes we are still keen to lend and we thank you for trusting us with your mortgage application in these challenging times.

For any mortgage applications currently in the pipeline, we can offer no guarantee that transactions will complete by the reduced Stamp Duty Reduced Rate deadline of 31st March. There are considerable challenges across the mortgage market including with surveyors and solicitors, as well as with lender capacity as we all try and meet the pent-up demand driven by the initial lockdown, and customer appetite to take advantage of the stamp duty temporary reduced rates. Please ask your mortgage broker to check for updates on your specific case via our broker portal.

We have taken the decision to prioritise applications already in the pipeline to enable those cases, subject to all other external processes being met e.g. legal work, to move towards completion before 31st March deadline. We cannot guarantee that if a case is received now that the deadline will be achieved but we are trying as much as possible to help where we can. A purchase is a process typically with a longer time period and naturally more time sensitive now due to the effect that the surge in purchases is having on solicitors, council search times and all other areas of the property market.

Foundation Home Loans mortgage offers are currently issued with an expiry date of 4 months. If you are aiming to complete before the deadline and require an extension, your solicitor and/or broker should contact us giving at least two weeks’ notice to request an extension. This must be done early enough to allow 2 weeks (10 working days) to administer the extension plus an additional 10 working days after the extension is granted for us to process the Certificate of Title to release funds. Please therefore contact your solicitor and/or broker now if your offer is nearing a month (20 working days) of its expiry.

This additional time is to allow for the high number of requests for funds (Certificates of Title) we receive which are incorrect, disclose issues we need to review and/ or relate to conditions which are referred to on your mortgage offer which have not or cannot be satisfied.
If a mortgage offer has expired we would need 20 working days’ notice to release funds in total: that’s 10 working days to process an extension to the offer and 10 working days to process the release of funds. Funds will only be released where a mortgage offer has not expired, your solicitor has sent us an unconditional Certificate of Title and all mortgage offer conditions have been satisfied. This means that if your mortgage is due to expire, if any conditions on it are not satisfied or if your solicitor requests funds with less than 10 working days, you may not be able to complete on time. Please work closely with your solicitor to ensure all of these criteria are met.

All Foundation staff have been successfully working from home since March 2020 and did not return to the office. We already had an established remote working infrastructure which has only strengthened in efficiency over the last year. Therefore, national or regional tiered lockdowns have no direct effect on our staffing capacity. Other parties involved in your transaction such as solicitors, estate agents may be affected by the restrictions so we advise that you contact them to make sure you are and remain updated on their position and any issues they may face in providing their service to you.