HALIFAX MORTGAGES Consent to lease rates versus their Standard Variable Rate

Victoria17

Hello everyone,

I have had the same mortgage with Halifax for over 3 years. It was a very interesting rate to start with but now it's switched to their Standard Variable Rate for a while. This rate keeps going down at the moment, and is now 5%, but it's only because of the actual situation, because in general it's quite a high rate, not the most interesting one around for sure...

I am renting my property, told Halifax, and did get a Consent to Lease letter from them months ago.

I understand i should therefore be on some kind of special mortgage for people who let their property... They obviously have forgotten to make me change my mortgage.

Does anyone know how much the rate is for this kind of mortgage? And is there a fee too? Is it a BTL or a Consent to Lease mortgage?
Am i better off with the one i'm on right now? Should i just keep quiet?

Thank you very much for your advice, i'm worried if i phone them they're gonna realise their mistake, which might not be in my best interest... What do you think?

Thank you,
Victoria

feisty1

The purpose of this site is to assist people BUT not assist to be "devious" "cunning" "dishonest" whatever name you care to put on it

Wutang_2

feisty1 wrote: »

The purpose of this site is to assist people BUT not assist to be "devious" "cunning" "dishonest" whatever name you care to put on it

You are having a laugh - "assist"?

to "insult" "patronise" and "mock" are perfectly acceptable it would seem

Victoria17

Wow 'feisty1', that's a bit harsh! I've just realised Halifax haven't done their job properly and i'm just trying to find out if their mistake works in my favour or not... Wouldn't you have exactly the same reaction Mr Honesty?

feisty1

Victoria17 wrote: »

Wow 'feisty1', that's a bit harsh! I've just realised Halifax haven't done their job properly and i'm just trying to find out if their mistake works in my favour or not... Wouldn't you have exactly the same reaction Mr Honesty?

Victoria17..........If you view this as harsh, so be it.
"Just trying to work out if mistake works in yr favour"!! Since when did that ever stand up in court!
As for yr comment on honesty! This just reconfirms what I have suggested....

silvercar

Some lenders will give consent to lease on a current deal with no extra charges. It looks like this is what Halifax have done in your case.

_Andy_

Consent to let doesn't always mean an increase in interest rate, therefore there may well be no mistake anyway.

feisty1

silvercar wrote: »

Some lenders will give consent to lease on a current deal with no extra charges. It looks like this is what Halifax have done in your case.

Halifax "Consent to Lease" letter normally applies for a duration of a maximum 3yrs before coverting to "consent-to-lease mortgage"

loulou_13

feisty1 wrote: »

Halifax "Consent to Lease" letter normally applies for a duration of a maximum 3yrs before coverting to "consent-to-lease mortgage"

Can any of the mortgage advisors confirm whether this is correct for Halifax please?

Thank you

gents

I’ve had consent to lease for the last 3 years. I got married 3 years ago and moved into my wife’s house. At that time I was on standard variable rate (7% at the time). Halifax gave me consent to lease for 3 years. That 3 years is about to come to an end and I still have 95% of the mortgage outstanding, so, yesterday, I phoned the consent to lease department to see what my options are. They said, yes, I can have another 3 years consent to lease, but I have to pay £1499 and go onto a different product which is going to cost me £150 a month more. This means my rental income will no longer cover the mortgage payments. Why can’t Halifax just let me stay on the current product and rate that I’ve been on for the past 3 years? In a way I think this is unethical business practice, but in another way I’m grateful that I at least have an option to take although I have no choice.

Today I received a letter in the post from Halifax requesting me to contact them. In the letter it says that if I don’t contact them, they will assume that the property is still being let and that this would mean my mortgage would remain on the variable base rate that applies to my mortgage plus an added rate, in accordance with my mortgage’s terms and conditions. Funny thing is that I wasn’t sent any terms and conditions (I don’t think), but I found the product transfer offer (Jul 2008) which states: “Once the contract is concluded there will be no right of withdrawal” which I think means they’re not allowed to withdraw my current mortgage?

Crus4der

I had the same. Rang Halifax about a Consent to Lease. They wanted to charge me £1500 to change my mortgage onto a higher rate, meaning an extra £100 a month. I'd be on it for 3 years, or would have to pay my way out of the fixed-term, and would be stuck on the much higher rate than what I'm on now.
Then they sent me the same threatening letter, telling me they were assuming I was renting my house outside my terms and conditions unless I told them otherwise. If I didn't contact them, they would increase my mortgage.
I was disgusted. I called them and said if I was going to rent my house without Consent to Lease, then why the heck would I have rang them in the first place. I asked for a copy of their complaint procedure, they said they didn't need to send it to me and could just take it over the phone, so what exactly was I complaining about?
I spoke to a colleague at work, they're with Santander, they swapped to a Consent to Lease, no charge, no hassle, no disgusting threatening letters.
As a tax payer to say I'm annoyed at Halifax's money grabbing tactics, is an under statement, it makes me sick, when it was us lot who bailed them out. I've been with them for 4years.
I used to bank with them, but closed my accounts. They charged me as a student for going overdrawn for a day, and refused to refund me. Then they refused me a Cancer Research Credit Card, even though I already had a credit card with them, and excellent credit score, without any explanation and refused to give one to me.
I told them where to stick their Consent to Lease, I'd rather keep things the way they are.
I'm now trying hard to see if I can change to a different mortgage company. I'd rather pay extra money to get away from those money grabbing so-and-so's, than pay a consent to lease. If they send those kind of letters and charge those kind of extortionate fees, i'll take my money elsewhere.
I'll be writing a complaint to them in writing, and I'd like to take it beyond that as well. Feel free to do the same, they need bringing down a peg or four.

The other thing I learnt... I had house insurance with Tesco. I wanted to know about landlord insurance, so said to them "I'm thinking about renting my house out"... they instantly said "we don't do landlord insurance, and we're giving you 7days notice of terminating your insurance" I was like, I'm not renting it, i was just looking at my options, one of which was to rent. They said it didn't matter, the intention was there and so they were cancelling my insurance.

The thing that really makes me sick, is that you try hard to do things by the book, and you seriously get done over. If i'd just rented out my house, without telling anyone and took the gamble, no one would know.
Instead of which, I've had to look elsewhere for insurance cover, and I now want to swap mortgage companies, preferably to one, which has a hint of humanity within it. Any one with some tips?? would be much appreciated!

Moral of the story, apparently it's better to lie. Doing it the right way costs you a lot of money and hassle. Where as lying, and i know a lot of people who do, gets you hassle free renters and someone paying your mortgage. Worst case and something goes wrong, it costs you money and a lot of hassle, so it seems to me there's less to lose if you take the gamble. Well done the mortgage companies...and you wonder why they send the threatening letters....