Help!! Post office Mortgage unable to proceed

t43er

Hi everyone, I've applied for the post office mortgage last week with a 75% LTV fixed at 2.89% for 5 years.

However, an officer just rang me to say that they are unable to proceed the application due to the flat situated on top of a commercial property, (Virgin health club in my situation). I questioned the officer why is that criteria not listed in the long lists of requirements during the application process and the answer is the health club does not appeared too much in the historic applications thus, it's not there?

Now then, I have no doubt that this will have an effect on my credit file and so what are my options now? I am thinking of having a word with a mortgage adviser. Would it help?

FYI this is a joint mortgage with my wife and our credit reports are both excellent and clean.

Thanks in advance.

Dave_Ham

Hi there,

Mortgages for properties above any commercial premises are certainly harder to achieve, but they are out there.

Are there any other commercial properties under and/or very close to the one you are buying?

It will not hugely affect your credit file (do not worry what the Experian/Equifax scores say)

There should be solutions, depending upon the question above..

t43er

Thanks for the quick reply.

The whole bottom floor is the Virgin active Health club with the flats situation on top of it. The whole block is actually quite big as in there are Argos, Prezzo and Weatherspoon's on the other end of the property. Put it this way, the whole property used to be commercial with offices. But then some of the offices were converted to duplex flats some years ago which is the ones I'm intending to buy right now.

Dave_Ham

Assuming it is not a new build and it does not read that way, it is likely to be down to surveyors comments with other lenders.

The Health Centre would not preclude a few lenders, although the proximity to the Pub could be an issue..

There are some lenders that would offer a free valuation on applications, although do not expect to be the Post Office rate quoted..

All the best

t43er

Thanks.

The thing is, the survey wasn't even carried out? According to the officer, it is stopped at the underwriter stage.
My second option right now would be Yorkshire building society.

Any more opinions would be much appreciated?

Dave_Ham

Do not use often enough, but imagine it will be at surveyor opinion..

I think you need to attack this the other way round. Which lenders are more likely to accept this and then which of these have the most attractive rates

ACG

They may have just looked on google maps to avoid you having to pay the val fee if there was one (i used to work for co-op mortgages and occasionally they did that where we picked up potential issues before submitting a full app).

As Dave has said this will come down to a valuers comments and the pub may cause problems depending on how close it actually is.

It always makes me laugh how being near a pub is seen as a problem... i looked for a decent local when buying my house, i even went on a night trying them all out!

The problem is you have cooking equipment and a lot of things that could cause a fire - a launderette for example is another which is a massive issue which on the face of it you wouldnt expect to cause a problem.

This will be one where you might need to call round some lenders before and see what their criteria is and who they use to do the valuations and then maybe call them and ask their view beforehand - they will never give you a definitive answer but might be able to give you some pointers.

t43er

Sigh..

Thanks for all the replies. They are very much appreciated!

Anyway I think I will give Yorkshire BS and a few others to have a word with them. I knew the seller is with HSBC so that is a good start!

GMS

Whoever the current mortgage is with is not necessarily an indication. Criteria changes constantly. LTV will also play a part in properties such as the one you are looking at.

Not saying it isn't a good place to start but don't assume it will work out.