Consent to let – Santander

slopemaster

My mortgage was taken out with Abbey (Santander) 18 months ago for a 3 year fixed term. I may want to rent my house out in about 6 months time. I know I have to approach them about consent to let, but I wondered if anyone knew what approach they tend to take?
I have ploughed through the T&C, but all it says is it’s at their discretion.
Are they likely to just charge a fee or an extra percentage, or to insist I take out a BTL mortgage? Unfortunately my income has gone down considerably as I stopped working since I got the mortgage, so there might be problems if I had to reapply. Though the rent should be roughly double the (interest only) mortgage payment…

doublew_2

My husband and I did this just recently with Santander. They asked us to write to them to request a consent to let on our property and enclose a cheque for £295 made out to ourselves. They then sent us a letter to confirm that we have consent to let and we gave a copy of this letter to the letitng agent. They did not change any other terms and conditions of our mortgage (we are on SVR).

As far as I know you cannot apply for consent to let (with any bank) if you are within the first 6 months of a new mortgage product, so as long as you are not planning to change product any time soon you should be ok.

Oh and a word of advice - when you write to Santander requesting consent to let and you send them a cheque, make sure to write on the back of the cheque very clearly these details:

• Mortgage Account number
• Your name and address
• The words "letting fee"

If you don't do this they will treat it as a regular payment to your mortgage account, even if you clearly describe in your cover letter what it is for :doh:

slopemaster

doublew wrote: »

They asked us to write to them to request a consent to let on our property and enclose a cheque for £295 made out to ourselves. ... They did not change any other terms and conditions of our mortgage ...

Thanks. Sounds hopeful...

doublew wrote: »

If you don't do this they will treat it as a regular payment to your mortgage account, even if you clearly describe in your cover letter what it is for :doh:

typical Santander then...