I'm not a first time buyer... or am I?

gardenpath

HI.

I've been browsing to try and find the answer to my question to no avail.

Presently I am privately renting with my partner, both of us have previously had mortgages on our own houses which have been held without any defaults and paid off fully at the sale of the houses which in my partner's case was nearly ten years ago but I'm struggling to find out information and things have changed considerably since we were both applying for mortgages. Does the first time buyer mortgage apply to us since we have no proprty at present? It doesn't seem to make sense as we're not actully first time buyers, but we don't fall in to the other categories either.

Any advise would be welcome, thanks.

pinkteapot

A lot of lenders count you as FTB for mortgage purposes - they should really call it "No mortgage currently" We were the same and hubby and I have both owned previously but were in rented.

Sadly the government won't class you as FTB for the stamp duty exemption purposes.

holly_hobby

A FTB is classed for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) purposes as someone who has never held an interest in a property before (including those not actually purchased i.e inherited).

So that means if you are purchasing in excess of 125k you will be subject to SDLT charge.

Some mortgage lenders follow the same guidelines, others take the opinion that they will allow you to apply for FTB products, if for example you have not held a mortgage in the proceeding 6 mths to application.

A whole of market broker will be able to tell you in a minute which lenders have this approach.

Good luck

Holly

gardenpath

Thanks for that! I thought I was on the right tracks. I wouldn't expect any special consideration from the Government, it was purely the mortgage lenders I was questionning.