Your Fixed Rate Is Ending - What to Do Three Months Before It Expires

Letting a fixed-rate mortgage deal simply lapse onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate is one of the most common, and most avoidable, ways UK homeowners overpay. Here’s a practical timeline for the months before your fix ends.

Why doing nothing is expensive

If you take no action, your mortgage automatically moves onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) the day your fix ends - typically several percentage points higher than competitive fixed or tracker deals. There’s no grace period and no automatic renewal onto a good rate; SVR is deliberately priced as an uncompetitive default, precisely to encourage borrowers to actively remortgage or switch.

Roughly six months before: start checking your options

Under the Mortgage Charter (see our dedicated article on this), signatory lenders - representing around 90% of the mortgage market - commit to letting borrowers lock in a new deal up to six months before their existing fix ends, and to allow switching to a better like-for-like deal right up until the new term actually starts, if a better one becomes available in the meantime. This means there’s genuinely no reason to wait until the last minute to start looking.

Around three months before: get serious

• Check your current lender’s retention/switcher rates - often available without a full new affordability assessment for existing borrowers on similar terms.
• Compare against the wider market, either directly or through a mortgage broker - this is essentially the remortgaging process itself, whether you end up switching lenders or staying with your existing one - since your existing lender’s rate isn’t automatically the most competitive available to you.
• Consider whether your circumstances have changed since you last took out a mortgage - income, credit history, or property value can all affect what’s available to you now.
• Factor in any early repayment charge on your current deal if remortgaging before the fix technically ends, though switching to a new deal with the same lender at the point your fix ends doesn’t usually trigger this.

Around one month before: finalise and lock in

Mortgage offers are typically valid for a set period (often 3–6 months), so locking in a deal a month or so before your fix ends still generally allows time to complete the paperwork before the new rate needs to take effect, while leaving the door open (under Mortgage Charter commitments) to switch again if something better appears before the new deal actually starts.

Why the current rate environment adds extra reason to plan ahead

With genuine uncertainty about the Bank of England’s next move (see our dedicated article on the latest rate decision), rates available for new deals can shift meaningfully in the months around your fix ending - planning ahead gives you the flexibility to lock in a rate you’re comfortable with, rather than being forced into whatever’s available at the last minute.

A simple checklist

• Six months out: note the date your fix ends and start monitoring rates generally.
• Three months out: get quotes from your existing lender and the wider market (directly or via a broker).
• One to two months out: lock in your chosen deal, checking the Mortgage Charter protection to switch again before the new term starts if a better rate appears.
• On the day: confirm the new deal has actually taken effect, so you’re not accidentally left on SVR even briefly.

The bottom line

A fixed-rate mortgage ending is entirely predictable - there’s no reason to be caught out by it. Starting the process around three to six months ahead, and using the Mortgage Charter’s right to switch right up until your new deal starts, gives you the best combination of preparation time and flexibility to capture a good rate.