Negative Equity

What is negative equity?

Negative equity is when the value of your property is less than the amount owed on your mortgage. This means that if you wish to sell your house, the sale amount will not cover the amount you need to clear your mortgage. In other words if you do sell your house you will still be left with an outstanding loan.

Many people in negative equity see this as a barrier to moving. We recognise that you may have a need to move to a different home depending on your circumstances and we have a solution for you, even if you are in negative equity.

We may be able to provide a mortgage for a new home where you bring the negative equity portion of your current mortgage across to your new mortgage.

Who is this solution suitable for?

• Apartment holders in negative equity who want to move to a bigger property/house.
• Parents whose current property is in negative equity and need more space for a growing family.
• Customers in negative equity who need to move location due to job opportunities/family circumstances etc.
• Customers with negative equity on their current property who want to build their own home.

Negative Equity trade up or trade down are available to Owner Occupier Mortgages only. This product is not available to Buy to Let mortgages. Applicants must be existing Bank of Ireland Mortgage customers with a satisfactory repayment record of at least 2 years.

How does it work?

• For customers trading up you can sell your existing property and carry forward the negative equity (the difference between the sale proceeds of your existing home and the current mortgage balance) onto your new mortgage.
• Max LTV 175% (including negative equity)
• Max LTV for Self Builds - 125% (including negative equity)
• Customers trading up must contribute at least 10% of the new property purchase price plus stamp duty and other costs such as legal fees, estate agent fees and so on. In other words, you can borrow up to 90% of the new property purchase price.
• Customers trading down can borrow up to 100% of the new property purchase price
• Max term - 35 years
• If you have a tracker mortgage you may be eligible for our Tracker for Movers.
• Standard new business fixed and variable rates apply.

Here’s an example of how the negative equity feature works:

Trading Up - Current property
Value of current property	€180,000
Outstanding mortgage	€245,000
Negative equity	€65,000
Current LTV	136%

New Property
Price of new property	€350,000
New mortgage (90%)	€315,000
Plus negative equity carried forward	€65,000
New mortgage sought	€380,000
New LTV	109%