Consent to let with C&G lender and Woolwich

stardust27

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to pick your brains and to see if I can find anybody out there who have been through this scenario before with positive/negative experiences.

My husband and I are both individually own properties in each of our names. These have been declared as residential properties with our respective lenders. As we have just recently got married his 'official' residence is in my flat.

We are looking to move due to jobs etc and hence have started looking into buying our 3rd home. We have spoken to numerous IFAs who have advised us that we should apply for consent to let with our current properties (hence maintaining our current mortgage rate) and then go for the 3rd property as joint primary residential new mortgage.

1st property is valued recently around August 2009 @ £240000 and currently owe Woolwich about £180000 hence approx 25% equity.
2nd property valued at £185000 again around August 2009 and currently owe C&G £170000 hence around 10% equity in the flat. We are both on standard variable rates which as you know are rock bottom right now.

Whilst the consent to let procedure itself seems simple enough, my main concerns are firstly will they actually provide us with consent to let and secondly have they been known to pull out of consent to let agreement as and when they like and force us to convert to buy to let (which means ridiculous interest rates). Should the latter happen this may put a strain on us financially.

Has anyone had a similar experience where consent to let has been granted but changed sometime down the line? Has anybody had any applications accepted/rejected with these lendors?

I would appreciate your help on this.

Thanks!

Fire_Fox

Have you got at least 10% in cash for a deposit on the third property as well as funds for the costs associated with buying? Do you have any debts other than the mortgages? Can you afford to pay three mortgages and two lots of service charges if both your flats happen to be vacant simultaneously? Do the figures stack up if you take into account income tax and letting agency management fees? What are the implications if you fall pregnant unexpectedly/ long term sick/ redundant? With two BTL properties you will be entitled to little in the way of state benefits if you need them. Have you thought about selling one of the flats?

stardust27

Hi Firefox,

Yes we had worked out all the stuff like rental yield, back up plan incase one of us loose our jobs etc and awere conformtable with the decision of holding onto two flats based on our exisiting interest rates. We also have approx 15% as deposit for our new place (can be increased but would not like to unless we absolutely have to).

As i said, our main worry is not whether we can do manage it, it's whether C&G and Woolwich will agree to this and whether they might add a another twist to the storyline! Hence I wanted to know if anybody had any expereinces with C&G and Woolwich of a similar nature.