Residential or Buy to Let?

hel23m

I am looking to buy my first home in the next few months. I have unusual circumstances though. I work abroad and I want to buy a place for myself however if I get sent away for longer periods due to promotion etc I would not want to leave the home vacant. Will my residential mortgage lender permit me let the home out temporarily or do you have to convert/re mortgage to buy to let? I have friends who have done this with their homes however I worry that the mortgage I get may have something written into it that the home can absolutely not be let under any circumstance. I will be working all over the world for the next three years however I do not want to wait to buy as I have my deposit and want to buy now. As I understand it should not be necessary to go down the ;buy to let' route for this purpose?
Any suggestions, advice and help would be greatly appreciated. Also, would it be best to work with a broker in this instance?
Thanks

Thrugelmir

What do you regard as letting a property temporarily?

Tenants have rights. So not as flexible an arrangement as you might imagine.

holly_hobby

If you intend to reside in the property as your primary residence immediately following purchase, then you have no option but to source a residential mortgage.

Under which you may later seek consent to let from the lender (letting with their approval).

If this is refused (which is their right), then at the juncture you will need to switch to a BTL mortgage either with the current lender, or by a remortgage to an alternative provider.

A BTL mge will require rental income of 125% of mge interest at 6%, and an AST (6 mth renewal tenancy agreement).

You will of course need to report your net (of permitted deductgions/reliefs) rental income via annual SA, and as an absent landlord (during any overseas relocation), will have to put in place a lettings management arrangement.

Once you have returned to live in your home, you will need to advise the lender and revert back to a residential arrangment.

Hope this helps

Holly

hel23m

What I mean by temporarily is that, I am home for 8 weeks or so and able to buy in that time however I will be working away again after that. I work all over the world and expect I will be doing so for the next couple of years ( returning for short vacations but not wanting to live in this home) however I will be returning to this home after that permanently.
What do you think? Funny circumstances as I want to buy a place while rates are low!!
Thanks for the help,
Helen

Thrugelmir

You may be pushed to buy and let a property in 8 weeks!

You would need to own the property for 6 months before even applying for consent to let.

Without going into all other related aspects of what you propose. I think your plan is flawed at the outset.

holly_hobby

Ok, so you actually need a buy to let from outset, as you intend to immediately let (or market) the property, without any intended residency by yourself.

That means you are absolutely looking at a buy to let mge from the start - which means at least a 25% deposit, self sufficiency rental wise and will be further hampered if you have no existing mge history.

A mge broker will advise if there is a home for this.

Hope this helps

Holly

simpywimpy

Halifax do an expat mortgage which you can let for a set period of time before moving into it yourself