Mortgage for Council House

DeanW

Can anyone point me in the right direction for information/comparisons on the best place to get a mortgage for a council house.

I know I need to get a specialist mortgage but the charges etc seem very high.

dwight-van-man

Hi, you don't necessarily need a specialist mortgage for a RTB unless its an unusual construction or in a high rise, or you've had credit problems. Most of the high street lenders will do council house purchase. Be wary of brokers dealing exclusively in RTB who tell you you need a specialist lender and charge you a high fee. Post your requirements and circumstances here and you'll get pointed in the right direction

lowis

you will only need a specialist mortgage if none of the 'regular' lenders won't lend to you - and if that is the case then you need to ask yourself whether buying your property is a wise investment if none of the regular lenders will lend.

i live in a high rise (11 floors) and have been offered a mortgage by the Nationwide for a 1 bed flat subject to survey. I also got a positive response from Halifax and Abbey.

AndrewSmith

Don't be tempted by these so called Right To Buy specialists you see advertising on daytime TV.

They do not have full market access (in most cases) and will be charging you a brokerage fee of, sometimes, up to 3% of the amount you borrow.

They give the impression that to obtain a RTB mortgage you must use a specialist company, this is not the case at all.

Andy

herbiesjp

As has already been posted RTB mortgages do not need specialist lenders - have a word with any decent mortgage adviser and they will help you all the way along

brannyrhino_2

its a crying shame seeing the fees people pay to buy there council house sometimes in the region of £3000 to £4000 when if they went direct to any of the top ten Societies they could save the £3000

MortgageMamma

brannyrhino wrote:

its a crying shame seeing the fees people pay to buy there council house sometimes in the region of £3000 to £4000 when if they went direct to any of the top ten Societies they could save the £3000

and the top ten societies that deal with right tobuys are?


I think rather than approaching ten lenders direct and having ten interviews and ten credit checks and ten sets of forms which really would be a crying shame, it might be sensible for them to see ONE broker that could check ALL the mortgage market with ONE interview!

Its nice that you mean well though.

lowis

i agree mortgage mamma - but you should always carry out your own research to.

personally i got positives from HSBC, Nationwide, Abbey and Halifax. C&G were OK with RTB - but only under 5 floors (i think) same for Britannia BS and Alliance & Leicester. I think Chorley & District, Barclays and Portman were also ok with RTB but again limited number of floors in building.

Are lenders becoming more agreeable towards RTB?

AndrewSmith

They have always been agreeable lowis,

It's just that due to heavy press campaigns and advertising, these unscrupulous companies would have you believe that mainstream lenders will not look at RTB.

It does depend on the construction and number of floors but in general RTB is no more difficult to place as a broker than normal.

Andy