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Letting house in UK - and informing mortgage co


Guest going2melbourne

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Guest going2melbourne

This might sound really daft, but - there are a lot of threads on here about people who don't inform their mortgage company that they're now letting out their property. BUT what do you do about your statements etc? Do you provide a new address - isn't that a giveaway? I know the obvious answer is paperless billing but not all mortgage companies do that. Just wondering how people get round this...

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I've probably said enough on this subject for one day (someone got under my skin), but this is a very risky thing to do

 

You have to tell your lender according to the terms of your contract. If you do not and they find out, they can, and often will, cancel your mortgage and demand their money back within a short space of time. This means you either have to remortgage (hard enough in current market, much harder and more expensive with a black mark against you), sell it quickly (again tough in current market), or they may reposess. This is bad enough if you are in the UK to deal with it. If you're stuck on the other side of the world, it doesn't bear thinking about

 

This all depends on them finding out, of course, and they might not - but it's not hard for them to twig if they go looking.

 

In a previous life I have helped a number of people out who have had their mortgages cancelled for precisely this reason. Sometimes we got to a decent resolution through negotiation but it was never easy for any involved

 

Ultimately it's your choice, I'm just making you aware of the possible consequences

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We recently let RBS know after 2 yrs of being here,they were not amused,and our delayed honesty cost us financially,500 QUID to change to Buy to Let,and higher payments.Glad we did though,Insurance issues (Fire)etc could have been horrendous,or,as said they could have closed the Mortgage and demanded their Money back.

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Hi have you informed your lender ? I was having the same issue wondering if you can do it without telling them but I decided to ask them and they will allow me to rent for 2 years with just a fee of £25 and they will not increase my mortgage payment. After the 2 years I have to let them know if I continue to rent and they may put me on a buy to let mortgage.

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Hi when we came we contacted our Mortgage company to see what the conditions were, we were told that the mortgage company (n/rock) would not accept by no means, we rented the property out without a consent to let, the main reason being, if your house was to be burnt down by a tenant you have found to stay in it why you are out the country, you would be required to not only pay the mortgage in full, cover the cost of re-building and you are liable for any damages, plus because a mortgage is a loan and its within their rights to take legal action if you go against their rules and regulations, we had what I can only describe to you as a BALLACHE hassle of applying for a consent to let Mortgage and them requiring a every fine detail, before they would agree, this meant we had to go through a letting agency, who would take the property under full management usually charging you 10% of the monthly rental income, with the bonus of no hassle, you also have to pay insurance (I think our's is £160 per year) this covers the cost of a rebuild if things were to go t*ts up, it's a very risky business going alone and for the sake of a few quid its not worth the hassle, a consent to let usually runs for 12 months then they review it, and if they find that the mortgage is paid regularly and no problems are submitted they will grant you a buy to let, i think the cost to change your mortgage from home-buyer to consent to let is £200 every year when you have to re-apply and that can usually be added to your mortgage, its a lot of hassle, but long term, its safer, and less hassle and certainly less cost effective, especially as the agent who rents the property out will keep deposits, and make sure your property is in good nick!

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its easy, get an CTL (consent to lease) just ask in branch, it costs you nothing.

if you are moving because of your job, like in the armed forces, you can keep a standard mortgage. you may be able to argue this if you arent in the forces but are being sponsored or have a job lined up.

the only difference is that a standard CTL will require you to change your mortgage to a buy to let one, with a slightly higher APR.

if you can swing the job based move, you can keep the usual mortgage.

you can get a 2 year or a unlimited CTL, if you can only get the 2 year initially, go for unlimited next time. its only a phone call and a couple of signitures to sort out :)

* ive just read how northern rock charge, ive only dealt with HBOS and they dont charge and the paperwork was minimal. *

as far as documentation is concerned, id give a good corespondance address in the uk, maybe a family member, but also a good email address and sort out paperless billing so the mortgage statements are emailed.

worth doing in the current housing market, its all a bit slow! dont want to hinge the biggest move in your life on it!

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Guest SunderlandtoSydney
Hi have you informed your lender ? I was having the same issue wondering if you can do it without telling them but I decided to ask them and they will allow me to rent for 2 years with just a fee of £25 and they will not increase my mortgage payment. After the 2 years I have to let them know if I continue to rent and they may put me on a buy to let mortgage.

 

We've just had the form through to do the same. All very straight forward. We've been told by a couple of people that lenders are getting better and better at checking and often use the voting register to check. Not sure how true it is but we got told you'd be liable not just for the payments, but also for the increase you'd have had to pay if they'd transferred you to buy to let.

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I would say talk to your mortgage company. Our mortgage is with the Co-op and they were really good about it and agreed to change it to a buy to let mortgage. We do have to pay a slightly higher interest rate, but not much more when the property is tennanted and less if it is empty.

 

We also have a proper letting agent involved as well on a fully managed service, charging 10% + VAT for the pleasure! Also the letting agents wanted to see proof that the mortgage company had a agreed a 'buy to let' mortgage as well.

 

But, it is peace of mind and if anything goes wrong at least we wont have the Co-op on our case, and hopefully have a house to move back to when we go home!

 

You can also get landlord building insurance, we got ours via Direct Line which is quite reasonable as well. Normal buildings insurance may not pay out if you are renting and haven't told them, again if your tenant burns the house down you could be lumbered with massive costs.

 

For us it's peace of mind and it really isn't worth the risk just for the sake of saving a few pounds and a few phone calls.

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Guest madaboutwatches

i'm glad someone has asked this question as we are in the same situation at the moment with northern rock, we are currently getting our mortgage changed over to HSBC who are happy for us to let the house out for 2 years then we have to act, we are still in limbo about whether to go or not as the rent we can get will not cover the monthly payments after the agent has deducted their fees so it would mean contributing each month from my own pocket, at the minute its a lot of number crunching to be done!

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If you just change your insurance to a buy to let policy are you not then covered? if it burns down its burns down and the insurance policy will cover it, its got nothing to do with bank. Is there a rule where if the bank doesnt know that you are renting it out and you are on a buy to let insurance policy the insurance policy doesnt pay out?

Just redirect mail to friend of family member and try and keep payment into the repayment or interest only account the same (date and payment).

For example: if you have a standing order to come from an account to the mortgage account have the tenants pay into the first account and just transfer it as before!

Its getting late have i made myself clear and does it make sense?

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Guest guest57545

I told my mortgage company I was letting my property, cost me 250 pounds 'admin fee' and that was it same interest rate, still interest only how i like it.

 

I've read about people paying 3500 plus rate rise to 8% who were these mortgages with??

 

I'm with Santander and CTL is, as i say, just 250 quid

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If you just change your insurance to a buy to let policy are you not then covered? if it burns down its burns down and the insurance policy will cover it, its got nothing to do with bank. Is there a rule where if the bank doesnt know that you are renting it out and you are on a buy to let insurance policy the insurance policy doesnt pay out?

 

It isn't really just about the house burning down and not being covered, it's about breaching the terms and conditions of your mortgage agreement. Which if the lender found out, would cause issues and they would well be within their rights to withdraw the mortgage and then where would you be? This could also lead to you not being able to get another mortgage as your previous lender has withdrawn the facility and potentially lead to you being 'black listed' which will have implications on your ability to borrow money in the future. Pintpot put it very well in his response.

 

Also a lot of mortgage companies like to have a copy of the insurance schedule for their records and thus, if they receive a landlords policy they may well question what is going on.

 

Our letting agent was quite strict on wanting to see written evidence from our lender that they were okay about the house being rented out. In fact, all the letting agents I spoke to all insisted on wanting to see this evidence as well.

 

At the end of the day, it's the OP's decision to make and on their head be it if they decide to rent their house and not sort it out with their lender. But for me, it's peace of mind that we are all fair and square back home.

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I told my mortgage company I was letting my property, cost me 250 pounds 'admin fee' and that was it same interest rate, still interest only how i like it.

 

I've read about people paying 3500 plus rate rise to 8% who were these mortgages with??

 

I'm with Santander and CTL is, as i say, just 250 quid

 

Barclays BTL application fee has recently increased to £3999, which is worrying as Barclays is the only lender I've so far found that we could switch to (ie. allows you to live abroad AND let out) when our CTL expires. Not everyone is lucky enough to be with a lender that is so lenient. Some lenders refuse letting outright, absolutely no negotiation.

 

One thing we will do when forced to remortgage is go for a 5 year term instead of 25 year. We may not be allowed to overpay to the extent First Direct lets us, but a short term would save heaps in interest!

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Guest guest57545

wow seems i was lucky then? I'm sorry for those who have harder circumstances. We are only here temporarilily, actually around when the fixed deal expires so i guess that may make a difference. Maybe also the LTV?

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I've been looking around for other deals and none suit us. HSBC - must be a Premier customer (rich). RBS - min loan £100,000 (way more than we need). BM Solutions - must work for government or multinational company. Halifax - must return to UK within 2 years (yeah right!). Oddly, Ipswich Buiding Society shows up on expat mortgage sites, but will not lend to non-UK residents.

 

ETA if we had enough money for a HSBC Premier account we wouldn't need a mortgage!!!

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Its a tricky one, in this climate most lenders will require at least 70% LTV to enable you to meet the criteria to get 'consent to let', and furthermore they need to feel satisfied that you are able to cover the mortgage payments yourself if anything goes wrong with the rent. Obviously if you have a job waiting for you in Oz and you have plenty of equity in the property it wont be a problem. However if you don't meet those two basic requirements its unlikely they will agree.

 

If you tell them you push yourself into a corner and if they say no you'll have to remortgage to a 'buy to let' mortgage with another lender, - but again thats not so easy in the current climate due to strict LTVs.

 

I guess lots of people let out their properties without telling their bank and probably get away with it, but with the worry of invalid insurance, the bank finding out via the Elec Role or Credit Data or even a savvy Tenant who wants to check the landlord has 'permission to let', and even the fact you are committing fraud I know which way i'd rather do it.

 

What I want to know is - if you ask your bank for permission to let and they say 'no', then where do you go from there, your still moving to Oz so would they rather the property was empty or is that even breaking the terms of your mortgage? Surely they would rather someone rents so the place is kept in use and therefore protecting their investment?

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If you tell them you push yourself into a corner and if they say no you'll have to remortgage to a 'buy to let' mortgage with another lender, - but again thats not so easy in the current climate due to strict LTVs.

 

 

Not just that - the vast majority of lenders also insist you are UK resident. Given that you are mortgaging the property specifically to let out, this makes no sense to me whatsoever! Nor does the minimum mortgage amount - especially given you have to have a low LTV, and that values have dropped a lot in many areas!

 

Rant!

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Not just that - the vast majority of lenders also insist you are UK resident. Given that you are mortgaging the property specifically to let out, this makes no sense to me whatsoever! Nor does the minimum mortgage amount - especially given you have to have a low LTV, and that values have dropped a lot in many areas!

 

Rant!

 

 

hi - let me just say we miss your updates paisleylass, just as addictive as coffee in the morning.....any way don't shoot me on this reply, we are landlord's and have experianced a lot of Cr** from lenders...but something to note is the government have given clear instructions ( off the record of course) to get lenders to sit on more cash and less equity....so bit by bit they want to get loans repaid...even when its at a loss as you delcare yourself in negative equity or bankrupt...they are working on the mortgage contract, and if find a way to push you a bit to remortgage or repay more they will try...of course there are various legal obligations they have to follow, and you and we can defend ourselves in FSA speak or court, but please i do not wish to unsettle readers, but just try if possible to follow as best as possible the terms of the mortgage......i apprecaite its hard....if not able, then try and consider your defence arguments.......we are feeling the noose tightening...don't wish it on others, when the dreams are living in auz......

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