Mortgage dilemma -advice welcome

rmjmcc

I purchased my flat in August 2012 and am currently on a two-year tracker with Nationwide. When the special rate period expires in August 2014, I will be studying for a degree and will not be in employment for at least a year which I understand will limit my ability to remortgage.

I intend to rent out the flat while I am studying (abroad), for which Nationwide will charge me an additional 1.5% above their SVR, bringing the total rate to 5.49%, which compares poorly with other buy-to-let rates available on the market. However, I am unlikely to be eligible for these as I will not be in employment... I will be returning to live in the flat once I have completed my studies and would therefore want to revert to a residential mortgage again.

I have a favourable LTV rate, sufficient personal savings to meet the current mortgage rate, good credit rating etc. but I am struggling to see how I will overcome the no employment "hurdle".

Any advice or recommendations from people who might have come across a similar situation would be much appreciated. Thank you.

ACG

Getting a BTL without an income is not a major problem. Its doable and there are a couple of lenders who will consider it. Bare in mind the rates you are looking at on BTL are possibly the best rates available? They may not be available to someone with no income - so take those rates with a pinch of salt.

Your second issue is when you do return, you will want a residential mortgage, some lenders will offer you a mortgage once you have been employed for a month others will want 3 months or 6 months but there could be a period where you are unemployed - so you need to take all of this into consideration.

The easiest and most flexible route would probably be to stick with nationwide. It may also be the cheapest by the time you take into account any arrangement fees and the rates on BTL that are available to you and also the rates/lenders that are available once you return to the UK.

Im not sure if i have explained that very clearly or not so will just bullet point some of the things to consider here:
- What BTL rates are available to you?
- What arrangement fees will there be to BTL and then back to resi?
- What residential lenders will be available once you return - with no work history?