My Rental Income

duckandcover1

G_M wrote: »

1) If your tenant wants to make improvements like this
a) get it clear what they intend to do exactly, then give them written permission & keep copy. It avoids future misunderstandings to have it in black & white
b) consider giving him a (new) long term fixed term tenancy. Security is only fair if the tenant is going to spend money on your property. (remember any tenancy over 3 years must be signed as a Deed - this does not apply to monthly periodic tenancies [rolling], but they are very insecure).

How do I know where it will be!? It will be wherever YOU put it! Presumably with all the other conveyancing documents when you bought.

No. The lease is fixed for how ever long it lasts (99 years? 999 years?). The freehold may have been sold on, but not the lease; YOU own the lease (I assume!)

?
You MUST establish where the deposit is. Registration is a legal requirement, with a penalty.
* check each of the 5 schemes yourself (see links below)
* speak to your agent or go through your written records of the time

If a deposit was taken, and not registered, return it to the tenant in full.
* even if you return it, you are in breach, but the penalty will be the low end of "up to 3 times the deposit", rather than the full 3 times.
* unless you return it, you cannot use a S21 Notice to evict. I know you have a good tenant, but the future is uncertain. Don't close doors on yourself.

More details in:

Thanks. I will speak to the tenant and find our what he would like to do. I did mention to him about signing on for another 12 months or so and he was happy to do it. I will get it all done officially.

LOL sorry I realise you won't know where I have put it, I didn't mean that, but by you saying it will be with my conveyancing documents means I can find it now.

duckandcover1

Does anyone have any experience with CTL through Santander?

Prothet_of_Doom

The OP might have found it more beneficial to rent out just one room in his house under the room to let scheme ?

00ec25

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

The OP might have found it more beneficial to rent out just one room in his house under the room to let scheme ?

read the OP before you comment!
The OP could not use RAR for the reason its not applicable since it would clearly no longer be classed as his main home

duckandcover1 wrote: »

Last May I had a sudden change of circumstances leading to me having to move away with my job.

Tirian

duckandcover1 wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience with CTL through Santander?

Yes. We have Santander mortgage with a house we let out when we got married and moved.

Santander wanted £150 administration fee, and confirmation that our rental and other income would enable us to cover the mortgage payments.

They also sent through a big load of other t&c, including one stating that we are required to keep the tenant in a 12 month AST, to be renewed annually. We have ignored this, as we have a good tenant and have no objection rolling them over to a periodic tenancy. Given that an AST provides no greater protection for us or the lender, we have taken the view that this is an unfair contract term and would be unenforceable were it ever to become an issue (and frankly I can't see in what possible way it could).

The only people who benefit from an annually renewed AST are the estate agents who would charge us and the tenant a contract renewal fee every time!!

The most likely problem you might encounter is that when your mortgage deal expires, you may shift onto a standard variable rate - and not necessarily be able to remortgage as a residential mortgage. BTL mortgages at the moment typically demand much higher equity (e.g. 40%) and rental "cover" of perhaps 125% of mortgage payments. We've stuck with the standard variable rate for the moment as it's pretty decent, but you will need to think about how you would deal with this if it becomes an issue for you in the future, e.g. if the standard variable rate goes up would your rental income/employment income be able to cover the increase? If not, would you be able to get a BTL mortgage?

If the answer to both is either "no" or "maybe not" then you should consider whether selling up is going to be an option.

Tirian

N.B.

While previous responses regarding the deposit are correct re: potential liability for a fine, the reality is that most tenants' main concern is whether or not they will get their deposit back.

If you have a decent relationship with the tenant, and return their deposit in full then it's pretty unlikely that they would go through all the processes that would be required to get to the stage where you would be fined.

If you want to get on the right footing, then you should return the deposit and commence a new AST, and take the deposit again and place it into a deposit protection scheme properly.

This does NOT mean that you cannot be fined for the period during which you did not register the deposit properly, but it DOES mean that you are safe for that point onwards - and have the ability to issue an enforceable Section 21 if necessary at a later point.

And it makes it even less likely that tenant will go to the trouble of raising a dispute over the period during which you were not compliant (realistically they are unlikely to even realise that they could - especially if you maintain a good relationship throughout and return their whole deposit again at the end of their tenancy)

benjus

I remortgaged to Alliance and Leicester back in 2005 while still living at the property. It was a good deal - 2 year fix, then switched to a tracker for the life of the mortgage. Moved out of the property in 2007 and it's been on CTL since then. Apart from charging £95 per year and sending similar conditions to Tirian's about using 1 year ASTs, Santander haven't asked for anything.

duckandcover1

Thanks, I think I will speak to santander to see what I can do, I am just about to move onto the SVR already so I am worried that they may not allow me CTL.

Tirian

Doubt that will make any difference tbh. It's only if you wanted to get a new fixed term deal that it might be an issue.

Unless their policy has changed, all they want is some assurance that you can keep paying them, and an admin fee and they don't really care beyond that.