Yes, you can. The usual routes are a short-term bridging loan so you can buy before you sell, letting your current home, or renting somewhere while your house stays on the market, and the right one depends on your mortgage, your savings and how long you think the sale will take.
Buying first with a bridging loan
A bridging loan is short-term borrowing that bridges the gap when you buy a new home before selling your old one. It’s specialist finance: interest rates and fees tend to be high, and the loan is secured on property, so you could lose it if you can’t repay. Lenders want to see a clear way of paying it back, such as the sale of your current home, and Which? advises having a back-up plan in case that falls through.
Letting your home instead
If you’d rather hold on to the house for now, you could let it. You can’t simply rent out a home that has a residential mortgage: you’d either switch to a buy-to-let mortgage (often called let-to-buy) or ask your lender for consent to let. Some lenders give consent to let for a short period while you try to sell, but it depends on their policy, so ask before you agree anything with a tenant.
Renting while the house is on the market
Moving into a rental lets you get on with the next chapter while the sale goes through, though for a while you’ll be paying for two homes. Two costs are easy to miss. You’ll usually still pay council tax on an empty home, although your council can choose to give a discount, and you may be spared the extra empty home premium for up to 12 months while the house is being marketed for sale. Home insurance often restricts cover once a home has been empty for a long period, commonly 30 or 60 days, so tell your insurer before you move out.
A mortgage adviser can tell you which of these your lender will allow. If you’re on a fixed rate, our answer on moving with a fixed-rate mortgage explains porting and early repayment charges. This page explains the options; it isn’t financial advice.
Where storage fits
Whichever route you choose, there’s often a stretch when your furniture doesn’t fit where you’re living. A rental may be smaller or come furnished, and moving most of your things out leaves the house clear for viewings. A storage unit holds the rest until the sale completes.
Our minimum term is two weeks and we bill every four weeks, so you aren’t tied in for longer than you need. When the sale goes through, give us notice (normally 14 days) and you only pay up to your end date. Once you’ve moved out and we’ve looked over the empty unit, we refund any unused days.
To work out what size you’d need, call us on 0800 2545585, or get a price online.
Related questions
- Is there a minimum term?
- Can I keep my storage unit longer than planned?
- How do I know what unit size I need?
Further reading