Can first time buyers 'buy to let'?

firsty

Me and my partner have found a lovely house :j (after 5 years of looking -we currently rent together), one we can afford, know the area very well (near parents), size we wanted, perfect for a first bought home together etc.

The problem is, we are not ready to move back to the area yet, (at least not for another 2/4 years because of job security), and so we are thinking about letting it out for that period of time until we are ready to move back. We can't wait to move in ourselves, but the time is not right, although now with house prices lower, we feel now is our best chance, as we can afford to buy and have job security at the moment in our current area.

Please can someone help answer this important question:

Can first time buyers 'buy to let'? And if so, who can offer this type of morgage to us?

I should note that if the property is empty (no tenants) at any time, we are able to pay both morgage there and rent here (If that would affect things).

As you can tell, we a really clueless, we just want a home to move into when the time is right, it just so happens that the price is right now. Please help.

Thanks in advance... :beer:

Caz3121

First thing is to assess the % deposit you have and potential rental. BTL normally require 25% deposit and rental of 125% the mortgage payment

zzzLazyDaisy

On a separate but related issue...

If OP successfully purchases the house, rents it out for a few years, and then moves into the place as the principal residence, what would the CGT position be if they decided to sell up and move a few years later?

p00hsticks

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

On a separate but related issue...

If OP successfully purchases the house, rents it out for a few years, and then moves into the place as the principal residence, what would the CGT position be if they decided to sell up and move a few years later?

It depends on the proportion of how long they rented it out .v. how long they lived in it, how much the property rose in value and what the CTG rules are at the time of selling - but I wouldn't have thought it's likely to be very significant.

zzzLazyDaisy

Okay, since they say they can pay the mortgage and the rent - would it help for mortgage and/or CGT purposes, if they bought the new house as their primary residence and relocated there, living there at weekends and keeping the rented flat as a place to stay in the week, for work?

If they were then to re-assess the situation in, say, six months and decide that they still want to rent it out, how would that affect things?

The reason I am asking is that I have friends in a very similar situation.

firsty

Thanks for posts so far - LazyDaisy has some good questions, which would really help us out too when answered... Still - Who will offer this type of morgage (BTL) to First Time Buyers? Finding it difficult to find...

sophievenusdoom

Do you have the 25% deposit?

firsty

Oh, and unlike LazyDaisy's friends, we would not be able to live there at weekends, as it is too far away...