buy to let mortgage and renting to family

td

and G_M - sorry Ijust realised where the initial misunderstanding came from - I wrote lending and not renting in my first post sorry.

JohnnyM_2

I recently took out a couple of Post Office mortgages.

For one of them, I just printed another copy of the TA off my computer, so technically if I wanted to hide anything I could have just changed it before printing.

For the other one, the tenants had just moved out so I simply told them the tenants had moved out and that I would be getting some new tenants as soon as possible. Therefore I didnt have to provide them with a copy of the TA for this one.

td

Thanks Johnny - do they ask for a copy then?

G_M

It would all be above board and official

Doesn't sound like it!...

No the t&c def say no to renting to family

.

Is family classed as immediate family - borthers, sisters and parents?

Once again - check the T&Cs. Usually there's a section of 'definitions' at the beginning.

There are polite ways of answering, even to what you may think is a stupid question.

I don't think theartfullodger was being impolite, or implying you were being stupid. I think he was reacting to the discovery that you intend to deliberately & knowingly break the terms of your mortgage agreement.

Those of us who regularly offer advice on this forum tend not to encourage/condone breaking the law, breaking contractual terms or otherwise acting unethically.

JohnnyM_2

td wrote: »

Thanks Johnny - do they ask for a copy then?

Yes, they asked me for copies of the TA's.

theartfullodger

I think you may find that if the lender discovers you have been dishonest & misled them they are able to charge you fees, increase the interest rate & (await responses saying no-one knows of it being done) repossess & sell the property. Whilst I am not aware of a repo I think they have the right to repo...


Your decision, your family member at risk (sounds like he has enough problems already - having had 2 disabled relatives he has my sincere sympathy...-) , your responsibility.. your shout..

Surely it is the British way to be up-front, honest & open about things??

Cheers!

Lodger

silvercar

JohnnyM wrote: »

Yes, they asked me for copies of the TA's.

If you don't have the same surname they are unlikely to find out. They are not going to start doing research on the geaneology sites.

Letting to family carry risks. Only do it if you and the family understand you will be forced to evict if the rent isn't paid.

td

It's not immediate family, and I'm not definitely going to rent to them, doing something wrong doesn't really sit right with me which is why I wanted to sound it out here first. I have taken notice - I looked into a different option yesterday which is cheaper but a little riskier for me. We can remortgage our house (which we have a lot of equity in) and then if it turns out I struggle to rent it out I am not limited, though I see it as a very long term investment where paying the interest sometimes in my view would be like investing in my pension fund (which is the reason for buying a house in the first place). Thanks for all of your replies (and I do mean all - sometimes I need little short sharp reply to make me think).

td

Fire_Fox

td wrote: »

G_M - the relative we would may put in the house is disabled and gets their rent paid anyway, the reason he would want to move into the house is that he never goes upstairs in the house he's in cos stairs are too hard and the house we've got is a bungalow. It would all be above board and official - deposit and tenancy agreement just as I would do with any other tenant. Is family classed as immediate family - borthers, sisters and parents?

thanks

It's entirely possible that the DSS won't want to pay you the family member's housing benefit under the 'contrived tenancy' rules. You need to also ask yourself what you would do if the family member stopped paying their rent for any reason - would you evict? This is why the bank don't like BTL to family as the answer is usually 'no'.

td

Hi - I have looked into this and as long as there is a tenancy agreement in place it will be ok, there may be a few more hoops to jump through but my step mum is a housing officer (not linked to any of this though) so I've been advised by her. Though it's unlikely to be raised as an issue as we don't have the same surname, but even if it was raised, it may take longer to sort out but would be ok as we would be charging a fair rent (we already checked this anyway so we set teh rent at the right amount), have a tenancy agreement and no one's doing anyone any favours.

Thanks

td