Removing name from Mortgage - options?

anniebea

My nephew and his girlfriend split 2 years ago - they have a house- She wants to be taken of the mortagage, she does no want any money just to get her name off it. He lives in the house. Santander will not take her name off the mortgage as he does not earn enough in his own right. He has a lodger which helps out with the bills etc and is paying the mortgage.

I am willing to put my name on the mortgage, however I do no know if this is possible. Got conflicting information from Santander as to whether I could do this as I wont live there.

Also not sure if my age would be against me. I'm 55, I have a small mortgage on my house which shoud be paid off in 3 years. Is there an uppper age limit?

opinions4u

First of all, if you end up named on the deeds you could end up with a future capital gains tax bill.

she does no want any money just to get her name off it

Is there negative equity? Should she be giving your nephew money to get off the property?

Other options to look in to are:

1) Tell him to sell up and start again.
2) Act as guarantor (this makes you liable if he fails to pay)
3) Raise money on your property to reduce the debt on the mortgage to a point where his lender will allow him to take sole ownership.
4) Give him money from savings to reduce the debt on the mortgage to a point where his lender will allow him to take sole ownership.
5) He saves up by himself to achieve this.

Voyager2002

anniebea wrote: »

My nephew and his girlfriend split 2 years ago - they have a house- She wants to be taken of the mortagage, she does no want any money just to get her name off it. He lives in the house. Santander will not take her name off the mortgage as he does not earn enough in his own right. He has a lodger which helps out with the bills etc and is paying the mortgage.

I am willing to put my name on the mortgage, however I do no know if this is possible. Got conflicting information from Santander as to whether I could do this as I wont live there.

Also not sure if my age would be against me. I'm 55, I have a small mortgage on my house which shoud be paid off in 3 years. Is there an uppper age limit?

I once faced a similar issue with Abbey National (now part of Santander, of course). What they wanted was not to put the non-resident relative on the mortgage, but for him to serve as a guarantor.

Anyway, it is entirely up to Santander whether they agree to the change or not, so you will have to persevere at getting a straight answer from them. And I do suggest that you get everything in writing.

anniebea

Welll my nephew has filled in all the details for Santander to get this mortage on his own. today it was declined - one reason seems to be the valuation which puts the poperty in negative equity. They apparently do an online valuation where they compare prices of properties recently nearby. they never visit the property. They have valued it 116k, A house in the same street, same type no of bedroom etc was sold in september last year for 158k, one for 155k one has just been sold for 152k. Santander do not appear to have given a fair or accurate valuation. I cant believe prices have dropped from 150k to 116k in 5 months.

Can you appeal against a valuation?.

Without visiting the property they have no idea if they are comparing your house against something that was sold that needs load of renovations, or a house that has been repossesed and sold at a knock down price.

star4876

I am going through the same process with Santander. They won't accept a guarantor as they just don't support this anymore. The only way you will know whether you will be accepted on the joint mortgage is to apply for it, Santander will charge £140 for you to do this with your nephew. If successfull you'll both need to pay (nephew and ex) solicitors to do the transfer of equity paperwork on the house deeds. Usually amounts to about £300 each.

Providing your nephew is not tied into a fixed deal for any remaining period of time there is nothing to stop you approaching another mortgage provider to remortgage in both your names. Santander may not offer the best deal currently etc so no reason to stay with them.

Inforapennyinforapound

Well well,Santander again!...see my similar problem in a new thread(transfer of equity)...and i only owe £40,000 on a £180,000 house!

sockpuppet

No, you cannot generally appeal against a valuation figure - but if it was done via a 'desktop valuation' you can usually pay to have a proper valuation done (ie someone comes out).
I know with Halifax, this is around the £150 mark BUT you would need to double check first if there are any other issues as part of the decline - ie is it all okay on affordability/your nephews income? was credit scoring ok?
as if not, even getting a higher valuation will still result in a decline.

And unfortuntely, Santanders mortgage criteria has recently changed so if you have even just 1 default, it will be an instant decline (as the Other Poster has found out) it it is not really that Santander has 'funny ways' it is just their criteria. Every lender is different, every lender is changing it every five minutes and some lenders are more flexible than others.

You need to find out exactly what issues have caused the decline before deciding what to do next

anniebea

Thanks for your replies. He is awaitng the official letter to see the reasons for declining. I hope they do state that in the letter. We will take it forward from there - if the valuation will make a difference - ie not put him in negative equity then it may be £150 well spent.

Santander seems to be pretty unhelpful, loosing paperwork and saying they have sent letters weeks ago which miracuosly arrive in the post the day you have chased