When to make an offer/waiting on electoral roll

flickerty

After much lurking this is my first post so please bear with anything stupid i might come out with....

My partner and i are FTB and after tentatively looking around houses for a few months we have come across one that is lovely and seems to tick all the boxes. We had a second viewing yesterday and would now like to put in an offer. The asking price has just been lowered which i think will generate a fair bit of new interest so i feel we should move reasonably quickly on this. Only problem is, we've not yet had a mortgage agreed as we only got added to the electoral roll on June 1st and this doesn't yet seem to have been added to the credit agencies. We don't have any credit problems so I don't anticipate problems with getting a mortgage but have obviously wanted to wait to get on the roll before making an application.

So i suppose i'm asking... 1) Should i hang on for the roll to be updated and then get an AIP before making an initial offer? 2) Does anyone have any idea how long it takes for credit agencies to update info about the electoral roll and is there any way of speeding this up?

Thanks for reading

flickerty

I'm impatient i know... but does anyone have any advice on this?

Lindy_Loo_3

Hi flickerty

I'm not an expert (of any sort for that matter!) but as a fellow FTB we found that having the AIP got us taken more seriously as it showed our finances were in place to actually buy a house rather than "speculating" that we can.

Have you decided on what type of mortgage and with whom you want to go with? Some banks (don't know which ones exactly though) will do a full credit check just for the AIP and this can go against you if you don't fit their full criteria and need to keep searching for the right deal.

Assuming your credit histories are in excellent condition, you should be able to explain the electoral roll not showing you just yet. In actual fact we had the same issue and merely showed the letter we got from the council stating that our names were added to the register and would update on X date. Unfortunatley, the councils all update on the same date every month (in our area it's on the 28th) and don't make exceptions (so we were told when we asked).

If you're confident that you're able to get a mortgage without any issues then it won't hurt to put in the offer to the agent as they have to pass on any offers but in our experience, sellers have wanted to see that you are in a proceedable position before taking further action (for example; accepting your offer and removing the property from the market as Sold Subject to Contract).

Sorry it's not more definative but hope it helps a bit

NB:

We found that the Halifax do a "soft" credit search for a "Mortgage Promise" which doesn't show up on your credit report - so if you're not sure about getting an AIP before your credit report is updated this might be an option for you. Also might be a thought to sign up with a broker for extra advice / assistance . . . . Good Luck!

Fire_Fox

Ring the council and ask for your number on the electoral register. Then contact all three of the main credit reference agencies and ask them to update their records immediately. Mine was done within two days.

Doozergirl

I've found that as long as they can find you at your previous address, you don't actually have to be listed on the electoral roll if you've only been in your present house a little while.

flickerty

Thanks for your replies! I spoke to the local council today and they said they emailed the list of new names on the roll on 2nd June so i'm hoping it might be updated by now... But my free trials with the credit agencies all ran out last week so i can't check, or will they still tell me over the phone?

Lindy Loo - We're going for the Natwest 85% LTV 5 year fix mortgage. Out of interest, does anyone know how strict Natwest are on their credit checks?

Thanks

Lindy_Loo_3

Hi again flickerty

Not sure how "strict" Natwest credit checks are but they told me that if we were to get an AIP via them then they would conduct a full credit search that would show up to other lenders - not 100% positive that this is what they do as it was only told to us over the phone by their customer service dept.

Funnily enough, we're considering applying for the 85% 5 year fix with them too

emmalita

Is this a full credit search at AIP stage?

flickerty

Yeah it seems to be offering the best deal for what we're after i think, seems to be a pretty popular one on here at the moment! I kind of assumed all AIPs would need a full credit check first. Interesting to hear about that mortgage promise with Halifax. Although the fees look a bit steeper than i would have liked...