Renting flat on an occupier mortgage help

Em15

I am looking for some advice. I have a standard variable mortgage with Scottish Widows having bought on a graduate mortgage in 2007. I have been offered a job elsewhere and would like to rent my flat out in the short term until I know this will be a permenant move.

I approached my mortgage company and they advised I would have to pay an annual fee equivalent of £6,000 per year to do this; given that this is equal roughly to my annual mortgage payments this seems excessive plus I can't afford to be effectively paying equivalent to a mortgage and rent, as obviously I would have to rent in a new area.

I don't want to sell just yet and I don't have enough LTV to get a buy to let. Anyone been in a similar situation who could provide some advice? It seems unfair that I may have to turn an opportunity down, I know they are under no obligation but I have an excellent payment history and have even over paid in the past.

Thanks

ACG

Paying your mortgage on time isnt justification for them to offer consent to let - you agreed to do that.

Consent to Let is exactly that, theyre consenting to you going outside your normal T&C's. Saying its unfair isnt an argument - its you wanting to make changes not them. Your asking them to increase their risk.

£6k is expensive, but thats their stance.

What is the LTV? You can potentially get an 80% LTV on BTL mortgage. Aside from that other than paying them their fees im not sure what you can do if you dont want to sell and the LTV is too high.

John1993_2

Em15 wrote: »

It seems unfair that I may have to turn an opportunity down

As above, unfortunately "seems unfair" is not a legally sound reason to set aside a contract into which you've entered. The time to decide if it was unfair or not was before you signed it initially.

Your situation is basically that you want a BTL mortgage, but aren't financially in a situation to obtain one. Your only real options are to try a broker who may find you a lender who'll accomodate you, to leave it empty for a couple of months while you try the job out, or to sell the property, and accept that you may need to buy again later if you move back.

Em15

I feel like I've had a telling off! I was more than happy to pay a fee for changing my conditions but their fee is 5% of the outstanding mortgage every year you apply for this. I was more than prepared to have to pay a fee for this arrangement but at a time when banks are being condemned for unfair charges what is effectively a 100% increase on my payments per year seems ridiculous. I was sensible when buying, had a 10% deposit, didn't overstretch myself and overpaid when my interest rate dropped. Like many others I am suffering with drops in property prices which means my LTV has effectively gone up.

Yes I'm annoyed at the unfairness of the situation but I was genuinely looking to see if anyone else had experience of a similar dilemma.

Typhoon2000

Are you sure you got that right? Here Scottish Widows say the consent to let fee is 0.5% per annum not 5%.
http://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/bank/existingcustomers/mortgagesfaqs.html

ACG

Didnt mean it to come across as a telling off but sometimes people seem to blame the banks for everything when infact its the customer who is in the wrong.

0.5% would seem more like it. Fingers crossed.