Halifax consent to let

Jackboy29

I have a portfolio of houses on buy to let mortgages which i let out and 1 property on a residential mortgage. When i took out this residential mortgage i specifically told my broker that i would probably want to let it at some time in the future. They contacted Halifax who said I would be able to let it out and it was a standard feature that i had that option, but they failed to mention the interest rate change or admin fee i would be subject to. I feel this was unfair as i had a choice of mortgages and other companies dont charge as much as halifax to consent to let. If these charges had been more transparent i could have gone with a different lender.

I have had the mortgage for a year now and plan to move into my girlfriends house and would like to let my house out. However, after some research it seems that halifax charge a fee and require you to move rates. I pay 6% on the residental mortgage which seems higher than the rate somebody else on here was quoted to move to a BLT product but my main concern is that the property value has dipped slightly since last year and also the rent would not be 125% of the mortgage repayments. However, if i was deemed able to repay the mortgage through my income alone then surely if i also have additional rental income, which would equate to approx 95% of the mortgage repayment, then logically i can afford to make up any shortfall...?

My questions are:

Does anybody know what halifax are likely to say in this instance and what my fees/new mortgage rate might be? Would they require a deposit of 25% of the value of the property now the BTL market has tighter lending criteria? My residential mortgage has 15% deposit.

If i let it out without telling them (i know i will be in breach of the T&C of the mortgage and technically they can ask for the money back) but get proper landlord insurance will i still be covered? My understanding is that the insurance is not dependant on type of mortgage.

I feel annoyed with halifax as i believe they have mislead me to get my business and the extra charges they would try to charge were not made transparent to me when i first enquired.

Thanks

Pring

They changed their Consent to Let policy a year or so ago I believe. They used to just let people change to Consent to Let but now they require that you take out a new product.

I switched to Consent to Let with Halifax about two months ago. There was a £999 fee and it's a 3 year 5.29% fixed rate.

Really wouldn't recommend letting it out without permission, it's entirely unfair on your tenants for one thing as it means they're not correctly covered and could be asked to leave without notice by the lender.