Honesty the best policy?!

Will123

I have always done everything above board when it comes to mortgages and my house... but my morals are slipping.

I am in the fortunate position of only having 4 years left on my mortgage, and my rate is fantastic (1.4%) because of the low BoE base rate.

I am relocating because of work, and want to keep the house and rent it out, but don't want to pay the much higher Buy To Let rates.

I will be using a fully managed service from a letting agent (including appropriate gas checks etc etc), I have got landlords insurance in place and will be paying the appropriate tax...

...putting the moral questions aside, what are the potential pitfalls of not being honest with the mortgage company? How likely are they to find out (obviously it's going to be advertised to let)?

Plenty of people have told me they do this, but i don't want to get caught out!

Thanks in advance...

ACG

Check your insurance will cover you if your not on a BTL rate.

The other thing is that if your lender found out they could cancel your mortgage due to you breaking the terms and conditions.

Goldiegirl

They'll probably work out that something is amiss when your mail is returned 'gone away'

Building_Surveyor

Risky idea, whether you get away with it or not. Morals? Presumably you will be declaring the income to HMRC?

Thrugelmir

Will123 wrote: »

I will be using a fully managed service from a letting agent (including appropriate gas checks etc etc), I have got landlords insurance in place and will be paying the appropriate tax...

No consent gives grounds for an insurance company to void your policy in the event of a claim.

A good letting agent will ask to see the permission to let. As it's their reputation on the line as well as yours.

Likewise tenants are increasingly aware of LL's who don't have permission. A tenant is looking for security of tenure. Not eviction due to the LL encountering problems with their lender.

Finally there is NationalHunters a shared database used by all members of the CML to share information on mortgage fraud. Any form of deception or lying comes under the fraud category.