Mortgages for those serving in the forces

Miss_StressHead

Hi, my case is similar - my fiance and I are getting married later this year but he's just been posted to Kinloss, so we'll be getting a MQ up there after the wedding. We've got a house in Liverpool but the mortgage (with Northern Rock) is solely in my name. There's a clause in the paperwork that states I'm not allowed to rent it out, but are they likely to be lenient given that my husband to be is in the forces (and obviously from now on where he goes, I go ), or does the loophole you're talking about only apply if the serving member of the forces is named on the mortgage?

A friend-of-a-friend is a Halifax mortgage adviser and she's said that Northern Rock are unlikely to agree to us letting the house out on a residential mortgage, and we couldn't even change to buy to let because we're in negative equity - she says the best thing to do is to rent it out and just not tell them, and that it's best not to even approach them and ask the question as if they said no they'd then 'keep an eye on us'. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this! Does anybody have any any suggestions?!

Trying_to_be_good

Play the Forces trump card for all it's worth - and if they say they won't let you do it, say you'll write to your MP etc. Fingers crossed they'll let you do it, places are becoming much more amenable to the needs of the Armed Forces at the moment.

Bernie

Miss_StressHead wrote: »

....he's just been posted to Kinloss, so we'll be getting a MQ up there after the wedding. We've got a house in Liverpool but the mortgage (with Northern Rock) is solely in my name.

...if not, you may wish to put both your names on the deeds. I say this because while I was at Coltishall, one of my Sqn members (male) was refused a refund of legal expenses as the house that was being sold was in his wife's name only. The mortgage was in both names and both parties paid equally.

There was no mention of any such criteria concerning names on deeds in the AP 3392 (don't know what is the authority now) but the bean-counters wouldn't have it. Requests for direction to where such requirements were laid down were basically ignored.

To cut a long story short, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and eventually a re-submitted claim was accepted after both names were appended to the deeds.

So, should you be considering claiming for legal expenses and the Service person's name is not on the deeds - check that you do not need to fulfil some arcane, un-documented admin requirements to qualify for refund of legal expenses.

:beer:

fruitbat_2

We recently let our house due to an overseas posting and had no problems re-mortgaging on a residential rate, albeit with 0.5% added on due to the 'increased risk' to the lender (Skipton). A load of tosh, but we didn't have a lot of choice, or a lot of time to play with - emigration keeps you quite busy. Looked in to BTL from other providers but those rates were much higher. The OH's job wasn't mentioned.

shirleyd286

If you are letting out property whilst on a residential mortgage you should be aware that this may deem the mortgage 'unregulated' as there is not a family member or mortgagor resident in the property and this is why some banks will not allow the letting option or increase 'risk based charges'. Its all a bit technical and hiding behind the Mortgage Conduct of Business regulations.

Andel

Like a few of you i've just been posted and with only 8 weeks to go there's not a lot of time to sort everything out. Perhaps naive of me but i thought my mortgage lender would be the last of my worries but after a quick phone call it looks like they're going to ask for 0.5% of the outstanding loan every 6 months for agreeing to me letting my house out! I've gone official and written to them for permission so just waiting for the reply but reading the posts above it seems that this is substantially more than other lenders are asking for. Has anyone recently (in the last couple of months) had any positive experiences of remortgaging when in this kind of situation?

stephenni1971

It is possible to obtain a 'Permission to Let' from some lenders without a penalty IF you are serving forces posted overseas AND you intend to reside in the property on your return to the UK.

Best off contacting an independent broker who can look for you - and who understands the issues regarding military applications.

PipingMonkey

I am in the Forces and looking at buying a property. I am trying to find the best place to secure a mortgage and was wondering whether there are any 95% or 100% mortgages that exist out there. I suspect with the current climate that there wont be any.

Any advice would be good and appreciated, thanks

PM

zyonchaos

(www).afhos(dot)co(dot)uk

Just correct my grammar it wont let me post links properly as a new user lol

It might be worth checking this link out forces house buyers new pilot scheme from government.

(someone more savvy might be able to see the flaw in this, you know if it is to good to be true and all that)

TigerD

My first house, which I let for a number of years was mortgaged with the Halifax on a residential mortgage. I had to write to them each time I moved with the Army and to change my contact adress, at which time they always asked me to write and ask permisson to let the property. I sold the house a couple of years ago and now find myself in a better position financialy. I am due a number of lump sum payments over the next few years i.e endowments I contiuned to invest in, but did not use and of course my lump sum when I leave the Army. I therefore decided for my new house, I would take out an offset mortgage with the Woolwich, which is part of Barclays. Offseting allows me to use all my savings and income in the month to reduce the interest and term on the mortgage. I can still get access to this money shoud I need to and there is no penaltys for overpaying. I do have to forefit any interst on savings though, but that's ok, as I was not getting much interst anyway! The other good thing about offsetting is the tax advantage, especialy if you are a higher rate tax payer. You don't earn interest on savings, so you can't be taxed on the interest earnt. Instead, you use your money to save on the interest on the loan, which is nearly always higher than that paid on your savings. I think this kind of mortgage is something that most servicemen should consider, especially if they have savings, a good wage, and expect to recieve a lump sum before their mortgage ends. If this sounds like you and you are good with money, it may be worth reseaching.