If your property is worth more than when you bought it, an up-to-date valuation may support a move into a lower interest rate band. Several of the main lenders have a formal process for exactly this.
Loan to value is the size of your mortgage expressed as a percentage of the property's value. Borrow €300,000 against a €400,000 property and your LTV is 75%.
Most Irish lenders price their mortgage rates in LTV bands. The lower the band, the lower the risk to the lender, and the lower the rate on offer.
Your LTV falls over time for two reasons at once: you pay down the balance, and the property changes in value. Neither happens on your lender's initiative. Your rate is set against the LTV recorded when the loan was drawn down, and it generally stays there until somebody evidences a change.
That means a homeowner who bought several years ago may already be in a cheaper band and simply paying the older rate. The only thing standing between them and it is a current valuation showing where the property now sits.
Illustrative example: a mortgage of €270,000 on a property valued at €300,000 sits at 90% LTV. If the property is now worth €340,000 and the balance has fallen to €255,000, the LTV is 75%, two bands lower. Whether that translates into a lower rate depends on your lender and your product, but where it does, the saving over the remaining term is set against a single one-off valuation fee.
An LTV band move is a formal process, and each lender runs it slightly differently. One phone call before you spend anything will tell you whether it is worth doing.
Does the valuer need to be on the lender's approved panel? Several of the main lenders will only accept a report from a valuer on their own list.
How recent must the valuation be? Lenders typically require a report dated within the last four to six months, so timing matters.
Are you on a fixed rate? If so, moving rate before the fixed period ends can trigger a breakage cost. Some lenders let you apply in the months before your fixed rate matures.
CLIENT TO CONFIRM: this section is written from the published LTV band movement processes of the main Irish lenders as at August 2026. Please sense-check it against what you see in practice, and tell me which lender panels JWL is on, see the note below, this one is important.
That is the lender's decision and it depends on their current products and criteria. What we can do is provide the independent evidence of value that the request depends on. Ask your lender what band structure applies to your product before you instruct us. It takes one phone call and tells you whether the exercise is worth doing.
For an LTV band move, several of the main lenders will only accept a report from a valuer on their own approved panel, and some require the original signed and stamped report rather than a copy. Check your lender's position first and tell us what they say. It is the first thing we would ask anyway. [CLIENT TO CONFIRM: which panels JWL is on.]
Then it does not, and we will tell you straight. We give you the figure the evidence supports, not the figure that would be convenient. That is the whole basis on which our reports are worth having.
use the form. We will come back to you with a fee before anything starts. And if your lender will not accept our report, we will tell you that first rather than take the instruction.
Or email hello@jwl.ie