I’m remortgaging, and a possible stumbling block is that the council have second charge on my house for a repair grant (repayment of which is due only if we sell within a specified time).

Obviously to remortgage I need the council to agree to a Deed of Postponement for their charge, to allow the new lender to have first charge.

Is this reliant on the goodwill of the council? Can they refuse?

Not one expert?

They could refuse, but unlikely if they are already sitting behind your current mortgage. The only (normal) reason for refusing is if you’re looking to borrow more and the equity stake is reduced…it’s more likely the new lender that won’t like the council having second charge, but assume you’ve already discussed this with them?

The broker is. New mortgage amount is lower than before, and only 70something %, so the council’s risk is reducing all the time.

ring the council and ask?
It shouldn’t be an issue, if they took 2nd charge intially why should there be a problem with them accepting 2nd charge again. There might be an additonal charge to you for the deed of postponement, typically 50 quid!

Council lawyers on his holiday!

Looking at it logically I can’t see any issue for the reasons you mention. Just wondering how common this was with councils – internet research suggests it’s very common for loan companies, less info re councils.