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in theory (if there are no overpayment fees and I'm disciplined about overpaying) are there any downsides to maxing out the term length as a safety net?
Not that I can see, really.
It might have an impact if you're taking out an insurance product as well to cover an inability to pay, I suppose.
There's usually a limit to what you can overpay each year so if you think you'll be getting close to that it will be something to consider the impact of.
Finally and it will depend on the mortgage, see if you can choose to underpay later on if you have overpaid - our YBS mortgage does, although we have to ask them before we can do it (I doubt they'd disagree). That effectively makes your overpayments a savings account although you can only 'draw' money out at whatever rate you're allowed to underpay by, and probably only within the year.
i.e. if my mortgage were £1,500 per month and I were to overpay by £1,000 a month for 3 months, I probably couldn't choose to underpay £3,000 one month. I may not even be allowed to underpay by £1,500 per month for 2 months - they might want at least something paid, so I might only be able to underpay at say £500 a month meaning it would take me 6 months to get my £3k overpayment back. Hope that makes sense.
Lots of unknowns there, lots will be provider-specific and I've not explored in detail.
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rhowe
Just to dredge up one more old post before I go to bed.
I had a call with my bank today and they wanted to to the affordability calcs using a 40 year term (I'm 26). I balked at the idea of the extra interest and insisted on a 25-year term for the purposes of her spreadsheet, but in theory (if there are no overpayment fees and I'm disciplined about overpaying) are there any downsides to maxing out the term length as a safety net?