Back when I had a mortgage in the UK I would have given some vital part of my body for a mortgage which was stable over 30 years (and allowed me to repay it at any time). Long, fixed-term mortgages are quite rare outside the US. Over here you get a 2, 3 or 5 year fix and after that it jumps to a much higher variable rate, which means in practice you have to remortgage. A load of expense, hassle and uncertainty every 2-5 years.