Leaving the Country - Unwanted House

pulsar123

I am soon to leave the country for a new life in America. Up until last Friday my house wasn't an issue as my brother had moved in and taken over the mortgage payments. It was his intention to buy the save a deposit and buy the house from me. This has changed and I'm am left in a difficult position.

The house is valued at £80,000 and an outstanding mortgage for the same amount. The best option would be to sell but I doubt the house would move for many months to come. I have around £5,000 which I could use to take a loss on the house, so this may speed the sale up a little!?!

I thought I may be able to re-mortgage (using the 5000 - 95% LTV) and then rent the house until the market picks up and I'm more confident of a quick sale. I don't see any products when I used price comparison sites, so it looks like this is not an option.

The MAIN problem here is that I am on a standard variable rate mortgage, and therefore have no control over the costs. So renting on the current mortgage is not an option.

As I'm leaving the country the temptation to jingle mail the keys back to the bank is strong. I have read that this is the end of the world in most situations but as I have no intention of ever living in England again...

Do I have any options I'm not considering?

KarenBB

I've not got options for you but I wanted to comment about your statement about handing over the keys as you never plan to live in England again.

Friend of mines boyfiend family went to live in Australia, she went on a long visit with her boyfriend and loved it, they came back to the UK got married and decided to move to Australia permanently. They sold their house, closed their bank accounts. About 3 years later they came back, they elft with good credit but when they came back house prices had gone up and they had to open a basic account with cash card only as that's all they could get. I'm posting this to say don't just hand over your house as you can't be 100% sure you won't be back and it might be worh keeping an account open just in case.

beecher2

There must be a way of selling the house, even though you'll probably be in the States by the time it goes through. My friend sold her house while she was out of the country - don't know how she did it, but there must be a way.

pulsar123

beecher2 wrote: »

There must be a way of selling the house, even though you'll probably be in the States by the time it goes through. My friend sold her house while she was out of the country - don't know how she did it, but there must be a way.

I'm sure I can handle the administration well enough, it's the cost of the mortgage while I wait for the house to sell. I'm kind of prepared to pay for an empty house for ~6 months, I can't say I'd be able to afford it indefinitely.

Maybe I could rent the house (rental permission request form already in the post) while it is on the market, is that allowed?