Can you remortgage to pay off your Help to Buy loan?

If you bought your home through Help to Buy, you may be able to remortgage for enough to repay both your existing mortgage and the Help to Buy loan. Once the redemption process completes, the Help to Buy charge can be removed and you’re left with the new mortgage secured against your property.

The important part is working out how much you actually need to borrow. Your Help to Buy repayment isn’t simply the original cash amount you received. It’s normally based on the percentage of your home’s current market value that you still owe.

Below, we’ll explain how that amount is calculated, what a mortgage lender will assess, how the redemption process works and what could happen to your monthly and overall borrowing costs.

Can you remortgage to pay off a Help to Buy equity loan?

Potentially, yes.

Before the remortgage, you effectively have two forms of borrowing secured against the property:

• Your existing first mortgage
• Your Help to Buy equity loan

If you repay Help to Buy in full through a remortgage, these are effectively replaced by one larger first-charge mortgage.

The new mortgage normally needs to cover your existing mortgage balance and the amount required to redeem Help to Buy, plus any permitted fees you choose to add to the mortgage.

Whether you can borrow enough will depend on factors including your income, affordability, credit history, property value, mortgage balance and resulting loan-to-value.

When we look at a Help to Buy remortgage, we’d normally start with three figures: the outstanding mortgage, the Help to Buy percentage and a realistic estimate of the property’s current value.

How much Help to Buy do you have to repay?

This is where Help to Buy differs from a normal fixed loan.

Homes England calculates your repayment using the equity-loan percentage you still owe and the property’s current market value, established through an appropriate RICS valuation.

Your repayment is based on the current property value

Suppose you originally bought a property for £250,000 and used a 20% Help to Buy equity loan:

• Original property price: £250,000
• Original Help to Buy equity loan: £50,000
• Current property value: £300,000
• 20% of the current value: £60,000

Your Help to Buy redemption amount would be based on approximately £60,000 rather than the original £50,000, subject to the formal valuation and redemption calculation.

We tend to see homeowners focus on the original amount they borrowed. In practice, it’s the percentage interest that matters.

What if your home has increased in value?

If its qualifying market value has increased, the amount needed to redeem the same percentage can also increase.

Homes England doesn’t simply have a £50,000 debt in the example above. It has a 20% equity interest secured against the property.

What if your home has fallen in value?

The reverse can also apply. If the qualifying market value has fallen, the amount represented by the outstanding percentage may be lower.

The actual figure should always be established through the official Help to Buy redemption process rather than relying on an estate-agent estimate.

Why do people repay Help to Buy when they remortgage?

Help to Buy: Equity Loan has closed to new applicants in England, but homeowners who used the scheme still have an equity loan to manage and repay.

The fifth anniversary is often when people start reviewing their position because Help to Buy interest becomes payable from the beginning of year six.

One particularly important point is that Help to Buy interest after five years does not reduce the equity loan itself. The interest is an ongoing charge for the borrowing.

Some homeowners therefore consider repayment because they:

• Have reached the interest-paying period
• Are remortgaging at the end of a fixed deal anyway
• Want to simplify their borrowing
• Want Homes England’s percentage interest removed
• Have built enough equity to consider refinancing
• Now have sufficient income to support a larger mortgage

We wouldn’t assume that reaching year five automatically means you should repay Help to Buy. We’d look at the overall numbers first.

What happens to your monthly costs when you repay Help to Buy?

Repaying the equity loan removes the Help to Buy interest charge and £1 monthly management fee.

However, it also increases the amount you’re borrowing through your main mortgage.

Your new mortgage payment could therefore be higher, similar or potentially lower depending on the amount borrowed, mortgage rate and term.

For example, you can use our mortgage repayment calculator to see how increasing the mortgage balance could affect your monthly payment and total interest.

The important thing is not to treat the Help to Buy payment disappearing as an automatic saving. You’re replacing one form of borrowing with another.

Will remortgaging to repay Help to Buy cost more overall?

It can.

If you add £50,000 or £60,000 to your mortgage to redeem Help to Buy, you’ll start paying mortgage interest on that additional capital.

Extending the mortgage term could make the monthly payment look more manageable, but may increase the amount of mortgage interest you pay over time.

Keeping Help to Buy has its own costs. Interest continues under the scheme rules, the management fee remains payable, and Homes England retains its percentage interest in the property’s value.

We’d normally compare more than the monthly payment. We’d want to understand the additional mortgage cost, the fees involved and what keeping the equity loan would mean instead.

How does the Help to Buy remortgage process work?

The exact mortgage process varies by lender, but the Help to Buy redemption itself has several important stages.

1. Check your existing mortgage and Help to Buy position

Start with your current mortgage balance, rate, deal-end date, any early repayment charge, your outstanding Help to Buy percentage and a rough property value.

2. Check whether the larger mortgage looks affordable

Before spending money on formal reports, we’d normally sense-check whether the borrowing required appears realistic.

A lender will still need to carry out its own affordability and underwriting assessment. Increasing your mortgage to repay Help to Buy isn’t simply a like-for-like remortgage.

3. Arrange the required RICS valuation

Homes England requires a qualifying RICS valuation to establish the property’s current market value. The valuation must meet its specific requirements.

Importantly, this is separate from the mortgage lender’s valuation. Homes England specifically states that it can’t accept a valuation produced for bank or mortgage purposes.

4. Establish the Help to Buy redemption amount

Homes England uses the qualifying valuation and your outstanding equity-loan percentage to calculate the amount required.

5. Arrange the new mortgage

You can then proceed with the mortgage required to replace your existing mortgage and repay Help to Buy, subject to lender criteria.

Different lenders treat these cases differently, so this is one area where we’d check current policy rather than assuming any remortgage lender can accommodate the structure.

6. Instruct a conveyancer

You’ll need a conveyancer to deal with the legal work involved in redeeming Help to Buy.

7. Complete the repayment application

Homes England’s process requires information including your conveyancer’s details and a copy of your new mortgage offer. You also need to pay the applicable administration fee.

8. Complete the remortgage and repay Help to Buy

On completion, the new mortgage funds are used to redeem the existing mortgage and Help to Buy equity loan. Your conveyancer handles the relevant legal transfers and the Help to Buy charge can then be removed following full repayment.

You should continue paying any Help to Buy interest and management fees until redemption has completed.

Do you need a solicitor to remortgage and pay off Help to Buy?

Yes, although “conveyancer” is the more accurate general term.

Homes England requires you to instruct a conveyancer because repaying the equity loan involves legal work and the removal of a registered charge against your property.

This makes the process more involved than simply switching from one mortgage product to another.

What does it cost to remortgage and repay Help to Buy?

As of September 2026, Homes England’s administration fee for repaying an equity loan is £200.

You may also need to allow for:

• The RICS valuation
• Conveyancing costs
• Mortgage product or arrangement fees
• A mortgage valuation fee where applicable
• A broker fee where applicable
• Any early repayment charge on your existing mortgage

The £200 Help to Buy fee is therefore only one part of the potential cost.

What will a mortgage lender check?

Repaying Help to Buy normally means asking the lender for a larger mortgage than your existing first-charge balance.

We’d typically want to establish your:

• Income and employment status
• Monthly financial commitments
• Credit history
• Current mortgage balance
• Help to Buy redemption amount
• Property value
• New mortgage loan-to-value
• Required mortgage term
• Age and retirement position where relevant

Lender criteria also differ in how Help to Buy redemption is treated. Some lenders require the equity loan to be cleared completely, while others have different criteria for partial repayment or additional borrowing.

That’s one reason specialist remortgage advice can be useful in these cases.

What loan-to-value could you have after repaying Help to Buy?

Your new LTV is calculated using the whole replacement mortgage, including the money used to redeem Help to Buy.

For example:

• Property value: £300,000
• Existing mortgage: £180,000
• Help to Buy repayment: £60,000
• New mortgage required: £240,000
• New LTV: 80%

Although you might currently think of yourself as having a £180,000 mortgage, the new lender is assessing a £240,000 mortgage against a £300,000 property.

You can use our loan-to-value calculator to calculate the resulting percentage.

Can you partially repay Help to Buy instead?

Potentially.

Homes England currently permits part repayment, sometimes referred to as staircasing. A part payment must normally represent at least 10% of the property’s current market value, and you can’t leave less than 5% outstanding.

However, lender appetite for partially repaying a Help to Buy equity loan varies. Some mortgage lenders will accept an equity loan remaining in place, while others require Help to Buy to be redeemed completely.

Can you remortgage and keep the Help to Buy loan?

Potentially, although your mortgage options may be more restricted.

If you’re remortgaging while keeping Help to Buy, Homes England’s requirements still apply and your chosen mortgage lender must also be willing to lend while its charge remains in place.

Keeping the equity loan isn’t the focus of this guide, but it can be an option worth checking before assuming full repayment is necessary.

What if you can’t borrow enough to repay Help to Buy?

Not being able to redeem Help to Buy through a remortgage doesn’t necessarily mean anything has gone wrong.

The amount available could be restricted by affordability, income, credit history, LTV, your mortgage term or lender criteria. A higher property valuation can also increase the amount required to repay the equity loan.

Depending on your circumstances, you might instead consider retaining Help to Buy for now, making a permitted partial repayment, combining the remortgage with personal savings or reviewing the position again later.

Is repaying Help to Buy through a remortgage worth it?

There isn’t a universal answer.

We wouldn’t compare the Help to Buy interest rate with a mortgage rate in isolation because they’re different types of borrowing. The Help to Buy redemption amount is also linked to your property’s value.

Instead, we’d look at questions such as:

• How much would Homes England require today?
• What Help to Buy interest are you paying?
• How much larger would your mortgage become?
• What would the new monthly payment be?
• What would that borrowing cost over the relevant period?
• Are there mortgage, valuation and legal fees?
• Is an early repayment charge due?
• How long are you likely to keep the property?

Once you understand those figures, you can make a more meaningful comparison between retaining the equity loan and refinancing enough to repay it.

What should you check before starting the Help to Buy redemption process?

Before paying for a valuation, we’d usually want a reasonably clear picture of:

1. Your outstanding mortgage
2. Your mortgage deal-end date
3. Any early repayment charge
4. The Help to Buy percentage still outstanding
5. Your current Help to Buy interest rate
6. A realistic property value
7. The approximate redemption amount
8. Your income and affordability
9. The likely new mortgage LTV
10. The expected mortgage, legal and valuation costs

Once those figures are clear, you can make a much more useful comparison between keeping the equity loan and refinancing enough to repay it.

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If you’re considering a remortgage to repay Help to Buy, we can check how much you may need to borrow, what the resulting LTV could look like and which lenders currently accept this type of remortgage.