First time buyer –rent it for short term.

askques

Hi all,

We are first time buyer. We are currently renting now. We had been looking for house for very long time. Reason why it took long time because of our preference location/specification in house etc. At last we found our house and contracts have been exchanged now. This new house is about 100 miles away from where we rent at the moment and our jobs (contract) are based near to the place where we rent at the moment, at least till Feb-2014. We don’t want to move to our new house now, not until Febuary-2014 because of proximity to our contract work place. But we have to complete the contract by mid next month-July.

Then why did we buy this house now …If you’re eyeing for a spot where many houses doesn’t come to sale, even if it comes they sell in weeks (some time in days). If I don’t buy this house now, we may not get similar house for years. So when the house came for sale, we want to buy it. We still feel its worth to buy this place than waiting for months/years for the right house to come.

So my question is, is it possible to rent our new house for next 6 months? Can I do it? I don’t think our mortgage lender would allow it. Or can we rent the house for 6 months without letting our mortgage provider know. Any issues with it? Do people do this?

Other option for us is to pay rent here and also mortgage and bills for both houses. We can manage this but will have a big hole in my pocket.

Do I have any other option? Any suggestion and any things I have to look for?

Tixy

You would need to get consent to let from your mortgage lender which they will either grant and charge a fee and perhaps a higher APR or refuse.

Do people let out their house without consent to let - yes they do, but they risk the mortgage company finding out and usually invalidate their insurance policy. They may also struggle to find tenants willing to rent a property without confirming that you have consent to let.

You could consider going for a buy to let mortgage and then changing to a residential mortgage once you are ready to move to the property.

If you decide to buy but leave the property empty then make sure you go to an insurance provider that will cover you for the long empty period in the house.

G_M

Did you pay cash or do you have a mortgage?

If mortgage, you will need to either

* get Consent To Let from the mortgage lender, which they will NOT give you within the first 6 months or
* switch to a more expensive Buy To Let mortgage (if you qualify)

* You will need to pay tax
* you will need to comply with many rules/laws
* you will have no guarantee your tenants will leave when asked (say in 6 months)

Apart from this... yes it is possible!

Read:

New Landlords (information for new or prospective landlords)

askques

Thanks Trxy and G_M. You comments have been helpful. Especially around insurance provider to enquire whether they will cover us for the long empty period in the house.