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Buying and then selling a house within 6 months

ChuiMartinez
ChuiMartinez Posts: 376 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Are there any rules against doing this? Somebody has said this to me but I can't find anything about it.

I don't mean from a mortgage providers perspective but legally.

Thanks
«1

Comments

  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    To a certain extent, it won't matter whether it's legal or not. If the lenders won't lend to a buyer for your house that you've owned for less than six months, you'll struggle to sell it.

    As far as I know, there's no legal impediment to selling within 6 mths.
  • mynameisdave
    mynameisdave Posts: 1,284 Forumite
    I dont think so, it may attarct suspicion if you were to do it with a massive deposit - money laundering and so on - but I dont think it is illegal
  • ChuiMartinez
    ChuiMartinez Posts: 376 Forumite
    yeah i can see where the ML question may come into it but there are a few friends who want to turn around a repossession for a quick buck. i didn't think there was a legal impediment and it sounded strange. all aboard then. thanks
  • myhouse_2
    myhouse_2 Posts: 553 Forumite
    First Post
    Nothing illegal about it. Might be worth checking up on capital gains tax though as you may need to live in a property that is your primary residence for a certain period.
  • B19jon_2
    B19jon_2 Posts: 27 Forumite
    There is nothing illegal per se, however mortgage companies will be very reluctant to lend.

    I know someone who got as far as having survey done etc, for the mortgage company to say they are withdrawing their offer completely due to the property has been sold 5 months and 20 days ago! (and were unwilling then to wait, it was a complete new application needed after the 6 months...)

    Food for thought as they will have a limited market open to them.
  • Richard_Webster
    Richard_Webster Posts: 7,646 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    The fact that mortgage lenders are reluctant to lend on properties bought less than 6 months ago may not be generally known amongst potential buyers or even estate agents.

    You could put it on the market and get a buyer and then a few weeks down the track the buyer discovers he can't get a mortgage....
    RICHARD WEBSTER

    As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.
  • ladymarmalade1970
    ladymarmalade1970 Posts: 342 Forumite
    We brought a house in October and moved the following June and didn't have any problems at all. We moved because they were going to put double yellow lines down our road and we didn't have personal parking.
  • sonastin
    sonastin Posts: 3,210 Forumite
    ChuiMartinez wrote: »
    there are a few friends who want to turn around a repossession for a quick buck.

    I've just signed a contract to buy a repossession. There is a condition in the contract - and to be registered with the land registry - that I need the (current) vendor's permission if I sell within 4 months to prevent exactly this.

    How does the plan stack up if it isn't such a quick turnaround? Is the cashflow gonna be a problem? If it is, don't do it. If you can afford to hang on to the property for 6 months or maybe more, go ahead...
  • JQ.
    JQ. Posts: 1,919 Forumite
    ChuiMartinez wrote: »
    yeah i can see where the ML question may come into it but there are a few friends who want to turn around a repossession for a quick buck. i didn't think there was a legal impediment and it sounded strange. all aboard then. thanks

    Not really all aboad - what everyone's saying is they will not be able to sell it in the first 6 months. There will be nobody to buy the property when they come to sell it, as mortgage companies will not lend money to anyone. So the only market will be 100% cash buyers, and they are usually savvy enough to buy off the banks directly, not pay a middleman a nice chunky handling fee. Plus there's a lot less of them about.

    If your mates have the cash to buy them and wait 6 months that's fine, but obviously anything could happen to the market in that time, so that presents it's own risks.
  • ChuiMartinez
    ChuiMartinez Posts: 376 Forumite
    Cheers JQ I've seen the post today about mortgage lenders not wanting to lend if a property exchanged hands less than 6 months ago. Seems very strange.

    Also been told mortgage lenders are reluctant to lend on properties less than £50k. Again this seems strange.

    The cash being tied up is obviously an issue. A risk which needs to be considered carefully. Thanks all.
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