Home Move Port Top Up To Maximise Borrowing

The Clients

The client was moving to a larger property and required additional borrowing to complete the purchase. They already held a residential mortgage and initially assumed they would need to remortgage to a new lender as part of the move.

The Challenge

When we assessed the case across the wider market, affordability became the primary obstacle.

The client’s income was strong but made up of multiple elements:

• Employed basic salary

• Profit from a rental property

• Allowances and additional income

Many lenders restricted how rental income could be used or excluded certain income types entirely. As a result, borrowing capacity fell well short of what was required and the purchase was at risk.

A standard new mortgage application with another lender was not viable.

The Solution

Instead of moving lenders, we reviewed the criteria of the existing lender and identified that a port and top-up structure would be significantly more suitable.

We transferred the existing mortgage product to the new property and arranged an additional borrowing element with the same lender. Because the lender already understood the client’s financial profile, they were able to take a more holistic view of income, including rental profit alongside employed income and allowances.

This allowed affordability to be assessed far more favourably and enabled borrowing between 6 and 6.5x income, which had not been achievable elsewhere in the market.

The borrowing was structured as:

Total loan: £675,000

Term: 26 years

Rates: 4.13% (ported balance) & 4.23% (additional borrowing)

Monthly payment: ~£3,544

The Outcome

The client successfully secured the required borrowing and completed their onward purchase without needing to change lender or lose their existing mortgage terms.

By using a port and top-up rather than forcing a remortgage, the transaction was saved and the client was able to move home as planned. This case demonstrates that understanding how to maximise flexibility with an existing lender can sometimes be more effective than sourcing a completely new mortgage.