What happens when your fixed-rate mortgage ends — and what to do next

This page covers the final eight weeks and what happens on the day your fix ends. For the six-month timeline and the cost of staying on the SVR, see the linked pages.

What happens when a fixed-rate mortgage ends? If nothing new is in place, most UK deals move onto the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR), sometimes called a reversion rate. The lender sets it and can change it. It is often higher than the rate you have been paying, so even a short gap can add up. On the site EXAMPLE house (£185,000, 22 years left), moving from an EXAMPLE 4.19% fix to an EXAMPLE 7.49% SVR would add about £358 a month.

What to do at the end of your fixed term: in the last eight weeks, gather documents, get written product-transfer (retention) quotes, and — if you are changing lender — keep remortgage underwriting and legal work on a date that lines up with the fix ending. The choice is usually stay-and-transfer versus remortgage to a new lender. Fees and early repayment charges (ERCs) often decide before headline rates. Last checked: 11 October 2026.

• Do nothing → typically SVR / reversion from the day after the fix
• Product transfer → new deal with the same lender (often lighter legal work)
• Remortgage → new lender, usually with valuation and conveyancing

This page is only the last eight weeks before a fix ends. Whether you should switch at all, and what to do from about six months out, is when to remortgage. Do not use that longer timeline as a substitute for the checklist below.

Document checklist

Before chasing rates in the final weeks, gather the paperwork that decides cost and timing. Open these alongside any retention letter your lender has sent:

• Mortgage offer or Key Facts Illustration for the current deal
• Exact deal end date (and the date any early repayment charge falls away)
• ERC calculation method and amount if you left early — percentage of balance, sliding scale, or fixed sum
• Outstanding balance and remaining term from a recent statement
• Reversion / SVR wording in your offer — or a written figure from the lender of the rate that would apply after the fix
• Any exit, admin or deeds fees on redemption
• Product-transfer (retention) quotes and fee schedules from your current lender, if available
• Agreement in Principle / Decision in Principle paperwork if you are exploring a new lender
• Proof of income, ID and outgoings ready for underwriting or solicitors if remortgaging
• A note of features you need: overpayment limits, portability, offset, or a preference to stay with the same lender

Fees and ERCs often decide the outcome before headline rates do. Our Remortgage true cost calculator folds fees, cashback and rate differences into one horizon. Line-by-line switching costs are covered in remortgage fees.

MoneyHelper stresses checking costs and comparing your current lender’s retention options with other products before you switch. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) notes that many borrowers can arrange a new deal so it starts when the existing one ends, which helps limit time on a reversion rate.

Week-by-week plan for the last eight weeks

Treat the end date like a project deadline. Exact lender timelines vary; this frame is a planning aid, not a promise that every remortgage completes in eight weeks.

Weeks 8–7

• Confirm the deal end date and ERC end date in writing.
• Request an up-to-date redemption figure method (or a provisional redemption statement) so you know how daily interest will be counted.
• Ask for product-transfer quotes and fee schedules if you have not already. Prefer written figures.
• If a new-lender path is still open, check whether an Agreement in Principle is still valid and whether valuation and legal work can finish before the end date.
• Put stay, transfer and remortgage figures through a true-cost comparison over a clear horizon (for example two years), including fees and any remaining ERC.

Weeks 6–5

• Narrow options. Keep written quotes; discard verbal-only figures.
• If remortgaging, instruct solicitors or the lender’s conveyancer and chase valuation booking. Conveyancing can slip.
• If transferring, confirm when the new product would start and what rate applies if there is a short gap after the fix.
• Recheck credit files for errors that could slow underwriting.
• Re-read fee schedules: product, valuation, legal, broker, cashback conditions, and whether fees are paid upfront or added to the loan.

Weeks 4–3

• Aim for a completion or product-start date that lines up with the old deal ending, so you limit SVR days and avoid paying an ERC by accident.
• Keep ID, income proof and property documents ready for solicitors and the lender.
• Re-read the new offer for the new ERC schedule, overpayment rules and any conditions attached to cashback.
• Confirm how redemption funds will clear on the target date, including any daily interest if completion slips by a day or two.

Weeks 2–1

• Chase outstanding legal or underwriting points early in the week, not on the final Friday.
• Confirm final redemption figures, completion funds and direct-debit timing for the new product.
• If conveyancing is late, note how many days you may spend on SVR and what that costs at your lender’s reversion rate — a short gap is sometimes unavoidable.
• Keep a copy of the retention or remortgage offer and the redemption statement for your records.

Starting this eight-week window with documents already gathered leaves room for valuation and legal delays. Starting in the final fortnight leaves little buffer.

EXAMPLE: SVR drift vs transfer vs remortgage

Here is our shared site EXAMPLE house. Rates that are not live market prices are labelled EXAMPLE. Your balance, term, fees, ERC and SVR will differ.

• Outstanding balance: £185,000
• Remaining term: 22 years
• Current fixed rate: EXAMPLE 4.19% · 4 months left on the deal
• EXAMPLE ERC if you left early at 2% of balance: £3,700
• EXAMPLE product-transfer rate: 4.39% (transfer fee £0 in this case)
• EXAMPLE new-lender rate: 4.14% · fees to switch £1,499 · cashback £250 · 24-month horizon
• EXAMPLE SVR after the fix: 7.49% (illustration only — not your lender’s rate)

On a capital-and-interest repayment basis, holding balance and term constant for a simple comparison:

• Monthly at EXAMPLE 4.19% (current fix): about £1,074
• Monthly at EXAMPLE 4.39% (product transfer): about £1,094
• Monthly at EXAMPLE 4.14% (new lender): about £1,069
• Monthly at EXAMPLE 7.49% SVR: about £1,432
• Extra vs the current fix if you drift onto EXAMPLE SVR: about £358 a month — roughly £716 over two months, or about £4,294 over 12 months

With four months of the fix still left, the immediate job is usually preparation — not paying the EXAMPLE £3,700 ERC to leave today. Line up the transfer or remortgage so the new deal starts when the charge falls away. If you remortgage on the EXAMPLE figures after the ERC ends, net fees after £250 cashback are £1,249 before you count the rate gap over 24 months. Put your own lines through the true cost calculator and the remortgage vs product transfer calculator. Fees and ERCs often decide; start there before hunting rates.

Product transfer or remortgage in a tight window

With only weeks left, ask one question of each path: can it complete by the end date? A product transfer usually can, because there is often no new valuation or conveyancing. A new-lender remortgage can if the application, valuation and legal work are already under way; if they aren’t, a short spell on the SVR may be the price of switching. The mechanics of each path are inproduct transfer explained. Seeremortgage fees for the fee stack that sits beside the rate.

Neither path is universally better. The calendar, the ERC window, fee stacks and eligibility decide. Side-by-side numbers belong in the calculators above, edited to match your paperwork. For the longer six-month timing question, use when to remortgage; this page stays on the final eight weeks.

Sources and further reading

We write in our own words. For independent consumer guidance, see MoneyHelper on remortgaging. Industry context: UK Finance, and the FCA’s consumer note on mortgage support as interest rates rise. Those pages explain process and consumer protections. They are not a substitute for reading your own lender documents.

Disclaimer

Illustrative only: not personalised advice, not a mortgage offer and not an FCA-regulated recommendation. Your offer and ESIS set the real ERC, fees and terms.

Next steps

Use the Remortgage true cost calculator with figures from your own paperwork. Compare transfer versus new lender in the remortgage vs product transfer calculator. Read your current offer, any retention quote and the longer timing guide at When should you remortgage?. If you want regulated advice on which product fits your circumstances, consider an FCA-authorised adviser. This site helps you organise the numbers; it does not tell you which deal to take.