Whether a remortgage needs a solicitor at all depends on one fact: are you switching lender? Stay with your current lender on a product transfer and no legal work is needed; move to a new lender and conveyancing is mandatory — a registered charge has to come off and another go on. This guide covers when you need a conveyancer and when you do not, the six steps of the legal work, what it costs, how long it takes, and how lender panels and "free legals" actually operate.
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Remortgaging: When the Legal Work Matters and When It Does Not
Well over a million fixed-rate deals end every year, and each one puts the borrower to the same choice: re-fix with the current lender, or switch to a better rate elsewhere. The legal work only exists in the second case — but when it exists, it sits on the critical path, because the new lender will not release funds until its solicitor certifies the title. A remortgage that misses the old deal's expiry drops onto the standard variable rate, which typically runs several percentage points above the best fixed deals — real money for every month of drift.
The gap between a lender's standard variable rate and a competitive fix is usually measured in whole percentage points, so on a mid-sized mortgage every month on the SVR costs hundreds of pounds. The conveyancing is rarely the slow part if it starts early — the expensive delays come from starting the whole exercise six weeks before expiry instead of six months.
Dates Before Rates
Before comparing products, write down three dates: when your current deal ends, when its early repayment charge steps down or expires, and the latest completion date that avoids both the ERC and the SVR. Most lenders let you lock a new rate months ahead of completion, so the six-months-out starting gun costs nothing and buys slack for every later stage.
Do You Need a Conveyancer to Remortgage?
You need one when a new lender takes a charge over the property: switching lender, adding or removing a borrower (a transfer of equity), equity release, and most consent-to-let and leasehold situations. You do not need one for a product transfer — staying with your existing lender on a new rate — which involves no change to the registered charge and can complete in days. That single distinction answers most of the confusion in this area.
Product Transfers, Porting and Consent to Let
A product transfer re-prices the existing loan; no legal work. Porting moves your existing mortgage product to a new property — that is a purchase and sale with full conveyancing on both, not a remortgage. Consent to let keeps the existing residential mortgage while you rent the property out with the lender's permission; switching to a full buy-to-let remortgage does need conveyancing, and since every letting now carries the Renters' Rights Act compliance load, the lending and the landlord obligations are worth reviewing together.
The Remortgage Conveyancing Process, Step by Step
- Identity and anti-money-laundering checks on every borrower.
- Title investigation — confirming ownership and spotting anything the new lender will question.
- Redemption statement from the current lender and review of the new mortgage offer's conditions.
- Searches, or search indemnity insurance where the lender accepts it — most do on a remortgage.
- Pre-completion checks: priority search, bankruptcy searches, Certificate of Title to the lender.
- Completion — the new advance redeems the old loan — then registration of the new charge.
Leasehold Remortgages: The Extra Layer
A leasehold remortgage adds the lease itself to the checklist: unexpired term against the new lender's minimum, ground rent terms against its criteria, service charge arrears, and often a freeholder's notice fee on completion. Where the term is short, the remortgage and a lease extension may need to run together — the lender's offer can depend on it. Budget extra weeks and the freeholder's paperwork fees.
What Remortgage Conveyancing Costs
- Legal fees: typically £300–£720 for a straightforward remortgage — and often covered by the lender's "free legals" package.
- Land Registry fee for the new charge: scale-based, from £40 into the hundreds on larger loans.
- Search indemnity insurance where used: commonly £50–£75.
- Identity checks: a few pounds per borrower.
- Leasehold extras: freeholder notice fees and management information, commonly £150–£300.
- From the lenders, not the lawyers: any early repayment charge (often 1–5% of the balance, stepping down through the deal) and an exit or discharge fee.
The lender-fee lines dwarf the legal ones, which is why the remortgage decision is a rate-and-ERC calculation first and a conveyancing exercise second. For our own pricing see our fees page.
How Long Remortgage Conveyancing Takes
Four to eight weeks is the realistic range for a lender switch, measured from mortgage offer to completion — faster where the title is clean and the borrower returns paperwork promptly, slower for leasehold, transfers of equity, or anything the title investigation turns up. A product transfer, by contrast, completes in days because there is nothing legal to do. The practical rule: start the whole exercise six months before your deal ends and instruct solicitors as soon as the offer is in, and the conveyancing will never be the reason you hit the SVR.
Early Repayment Charges and Completion Timing
ERCs are date-sensitive: completing one day before the charge expires can cost thousands, while completing after your old deal ends costs SVR interest. Tell your solicitor both dates at the outset — completions can be scheduled to the day, but only if the person moving the money knows which day matters.
Lender Panels: Why Your Solicitor Choice Is Constrained
Every lender maintains a panel of approved firms, and its charge can only be handled by a panel member. Instruct a firm outside your new lender's panel and the lender appoints its own representation alongside — two sets of fees for one transaction. The practical check takes one phone call before instruction: ask whether the firm is on your intended lender's panel.
Free Legals or Your Own Solicitor?
Lender "free legals" suit the clean case: freehold, same borrowers, no complications. The package lender picks the firm, service runs on volume, and anything non-standard — transfer of equity, leasehold wrinkles, title defects — usually falls outside scope or slows to the back of a queue. Instructing your own solicitor costs a few hundred pounds and buys control, speed on complications, and one point of contact; for anything beyond the vanilla case it earns its fee.
Questions about remortgage conveyancing
Do I need a solicitor to remortgage?
Only if you are switching lender, changing the borrowers, or releasing equity — anything that changes the registered charge. A product transfer with your existing lender needs no legal work at all and completes in days.
How long does remortgage conveyancing take?
Four to eight weeks from mortgage offer to completion for a lender switch, with leasehold and transfers of equity at the slower end. Start the process six months before your deal expires and the legal work will not be the bottleneck.
How much are remortgage legal fees?
Typically £300–£720, and often nothing — most lenders offer a free-legals package on remortgages. The pass-through costs are small: a Land Registry fee scaled to the loan, search indemnity around £50–£75, and leasehold notice fees where they apply.
Does a remortgage need full property searches?
Usually not. Most lenders accept search indemnity insurance on a remortgage instead of fresh searches, which saves both weeks and money. Some lenders and some situations — recent extensions, flood-prone areas — still call for the real thing.
Are the lender's free legals worth taking?
For a clean freehold remortgage with the same borrowers, usually yes. For leasehold, transfers of equity or any title complication, the free package tends to exclude or slow the work that actually matters — that is where your own solicitor earns the fee.
What happens on remortgage completion day?
The new lender releases the advance, your solicitor redeems the old mortgage from it, any surplus comes to you, and the new charge is registered at HM Land Registry. You will see the old lender's charge removed and the new one on the title in the weeks that follow.
Tell us your deal end date, the new lender and whether the property is leasehold. We will confirm panel status, map the timetable back from your ERC dates and keep the switch off the standard variable rate.
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