Halifax - Consent to Let - options

keogh_b

Hi All

I have a mortgage with the Halifax which is now at a SVR of 3.5%. I paid £183,000 for my house with a deposit of £30,000. I had recently had an estage agent out to value the house and they put it around the £200,000 mark.

I have been made redundant and realistically need to move cities in order to find work. This will require me to move out of my house and let it out. There is no way i could afford to retain the mortgage and rent in a new city.

My current repayments are £654 a month. I have spoken with several estage agents and they told me i could expect between £700-£725 a month if i rented the house out.

I have just been on the phone with the Halifax. I requested a "consent to let" agreement with them and they offered me the following
New Mortgage product fee £1249 - interest rate of 5.94%

This new rate will equate to £878 a month repayments which can clearly not be met by the rental of the property. I was told that i could be eligable if i made the difference up myself.

They told me over the phone that it was not possible for me to get a consent to let with a SVR mortgage.

I have read many posts on MSE about 'consent to let' with the Halifax and other mortgage lenders but it appears to be a very grey area.

Do i have any options at all?

Can i rent out one bedroom, keep the house as my primary residence and get a room closer to work?
Do i have to inform my lender of this as well?

Cannon_Fodder

keogh_b wrote: »

...need to move cities in order to find work... This will require me to move out of my house...

Do i have any options at all?

Why not sell, move to the new area, renting, then buy when you know the area better and have an income?

You have plenty of equity to go for a quick-ish sale, and still keep enough equity to secure a decent mortgage in a year or so.

Having to cover a consent-to-let shortfall or lodging arrangement while also renting is going to eat into your savings/redundancy faster that just renting. £40k equity in the bank would earn interest to help offset renting, too.

Dan:_4

Forget about the consent to let- just rent it out.

catieeb06

Dan: wrote: »

Forget about the consent to let- just rent it out.

And this will breach the mortgage conditions. It will then be keyed through as an unauthorised tenancy and the OP's options will be very limited. They certainly won't be allowed any further lending on the house in the future and will also not be allowed to take advantage of any new interest rate changes. It also has problems for the tenant if unfortunately the property ends up being repod.

OP, Halifax policy is that you can't go for consent to lease on the HVR, you have to take out a consent to least product and as you've found the interest rates are still relatively high.

Dan:_4

catieeb06 wrote: »

And this will breach the mortgage conditions. It will then be keyed through as an unauthorised tenancy and the OP's options will be very limited. They certainly won't be allowed any further lending on the house in the future and will also not be allowed to take advantage of any new interest rate changes. It also has problems for the tenant if unfortunately the property ends up being repod.

OP, Halifax policy is that you can't go for consent to lease on the HVR, you have to take out a consent to least product and as you've found the interest rates are still relatively high.

As long as you keep up to date with the mortgage repayments Halifax will never find out.

Around 50% of UK lets do not have consent from their lender.

betmunch

Dan: wrote: »

As long as you keep up to date with the mortgage repayments Halifax will never find out.

Around 50% of UK lets do not have consent from their lender.

That doesnt make it OK.

Dont be a D**k. Do it right or not at all

Dan:_4

betmunch wrote: »

That doesnt make it OK.

Dont be a D**k. Do it right or not at all

A consent to let is, IMO, just a way for your lender to rip you off by charging unnecessary fees and additional interest.

If I was managing a portfolio of BTL's then sure, I would have everything in order - but for just letting out your residental property its really not worth the hassle.

betmunch

That can be Keogh_b's defence in court when the Halifax repossess him/her for breaching the terms of his/her mortgage.

"Sorry your honour but I think you will find that is just the Halifax trying to rip me off with fees and additional interest, pay no attention to them!"

theartfullodger

Keogh_b seems to be asking if he should be dishonest....


Well, keogh_b, how would you feel if any tenant was dishonest (eg started sub-letting to 8 others & made a profit at your expense...) or your lender was dishonest (eg told you you needed to pay more interest when you didn't..) or if your employer was dishonest....

Your decision my friend: Just remember, what goes around comes around..

Cheers!

Lodger

neverdespairgirl

Why not just sell up, bank the money, and keep all the grief out of it?

new_home_owner_3

the margins of profit are very small, halifax are known for hiking up the rates, i personally wouldnt have asked them, knowing what your circumstances are.

People go on about people not getting their lenders permission and go on about you getting your house repoed, but i have never seen anything like this happen and there is no evidence or stories of people having their house reposessed for soley letting their property out without getting consent to let..

However you will get your house repoed if you dont pay the mortgage, if it was me i would just do everything you need to do as a landlord but just dont get consent to let.

To the people who have posted you will get your house reposessed for soley not getting consent to let, which i think is scaremongering the other person, can you please provide us some links?

A lot of people on here hate landlords, and they will make out your a murderer for not getting consent to let, these people need to get over it and get life. who cares if someone has 2 houses.