URGENT Mortgage Advice

[Sideways Rich]

I had dinner with a friend who is re-locating to Dubai tomorrow for 3 years, he casually announced that he has found a tenant to rent his place, however with the rush of moving (he was only asked 4 weeks ago) he has not contacted his lender to ask for permission to let.

The lender is Scottish Widows and the mortgage is an off-set, apparently they have told him they will not allow him to let his property - seems bizarre given he's never missed a mortgage payment in 6.5 years and after completing one of their budgeting forms now has more disposable income (his company is paying his rent in Dubai).

I'm sure I saw a comment on here somewhere (can't for the life of me find it) about asking for "permission to ............." which effectively gave you permission to let but wasn't called that (think it was Welshbeef who mentioned it)

Any advice would be sincerely appreciated as he flies out tomorrow evening.

Rich

[Andy_GSA]

Whilst strictly speaking your friend may be in breach of his mortgage conditions I'd be very surprised if Scottish Widows took any serious action as long as the mortgage is paid.

[Kermit power]

It would never have occurred to me that there would even be a need to ask!

[Sideways Rich]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm wondering how strict they are likely to be now that he's mentioned it to them?

[Rude-boy]

There is a school of thought that says they need to get a mortgage application in for a BLT PDQ before SW put the wheels in motion which will ultimately cause him issues if they can be bothered to take action.

At the end of the day it's not like he quietly sloped off and didn't tell them, but they did say no and I suspect he told them the tight time-scale so he is easy pickings.

[Edinburger]

Tell him to speak with an Independent Financial Adviser (see unbiaised.co.uk).

[scotal]

Did he tell them he was moving for more than 1 year?
They do PTL, but its limited to 1 year, and they charge £450 for it.

If he wants to remortgage to a BTL, I'll happily have a chat with him, but he wont get an offset BTL loan, and he won't like the rate or the fees. (He won't get a BTL over 80% LTV either)

[Soovy]

I know this is the least of his problems, but he'll need new insurance as well.

[Sideways Rich]

scotal said:

Did he tell them he was moving for more than 1 year?
They do PTL, but its limited to 1 year, and they charge £450 for it.

If he wants to remortgage to a BTL, I'll happily have a chat with him, but he wont get an offset BTL loan, and he won't like the rate or the fees. (He won't get a BTL over 80% LTV either)

Thanks Scotal, I will ask to see whether he informed them that it was for more than 1 year. Thanks for the offer, if they play hardball I will send him your way for a conversation.

[Sideways Rich]

Soovy said:

I know this is the least of his problems, but he'll need new insurance as well.

Funnily enough he's already sorted this part out and got Landlords insurance which was only slightly more expensive than his current premium.

[scotal]

Sideways Rich said:

Soovy said:

I know this is the least of his problems, but he'll need new insurance as well.

Funnily enough he's already sorted this part out and got Landlords insurance which was only slightly more expensive than his current premium.

Make sure that the insurance doesn't stipulate either written PTL or a BTL mortgage in the small print.

Oh yeah, and don't assume that the tenants will pay on time, and therefore there will be money in the account to pay the mortgage.
I know of someone who did this.

Edited by scotal on Friday 1st October 13:00

[auditt]

Sideways Rich said:

I had dinner with a friend who is re-locating to Dubai tomorrow for 3 years, he casually announced that he has found a tenant to rent his place, however with the rush of moving (he was only asked 4 weeks ago) he has not contacted his lender to ask for permission to let.

The lender is Scottish Widows and the mortgage is an off-set, apparently they have told him they will not allow him to let his property - seems bizarre given he's never missed a mortgage payment in 6.5 years and after completing one of their budgeting forms now has more disposable income (his company is paying his rent in Dubai).

I'm sure I saw a comment on here somewhere (can't for the life of me find it) about asking for "permission to ............." which effectively gave you permission to let but wasn't called that (think it was Welshbeef who mentioned it)

Any advice would be sincerely appreciated as he flies out tomorrow evening.

Rich

Like anything- If he continues to pay the mortgage why would they care

Only time when alarms bells will go off is when he stops paying

Tell him to keep paying, And keep smiling

[Sideways Rich]

Thanks for the info folks, much appreciated, he agreed to make a slightly higher monthly payment and they were fine with that, no fees etc.