Electoral roll question for Mortgage

moonpenny

Can someone shed some light on this please?

My son (now divorced after 1 year) is returning home after working around the country for the year.

I get the single persons allowance for my Council Tax bill (25% off) and will now have to add him to my bill.

He is hoping to buy somewhere as soon as possible, is it right that this won't automatically put him on the Electoral Register as I understand this is the first thing a Bank will look at when applying for a mortgage?

His address before his Divorce was the former marital home and in the same area as my home.

Pixie5740

I don't think that adding someone to a CT bill automatically adds them to the electoral roll. I'm pretty sure that has to be done separately and in my experience does not update straight away. Then the credit reference agencies need to update their records and I've always found Experian to be the slowest.

thequant

The credit reference agencies take a yearly dump of data in October, if hes not on now, he wont be till next year.

The councils update the register once a month and make the data public, you can complain to the agencies and they should then add him.

further you should get a letter from the council, saying he will be or has been added. As the mortgage approval process is manually underwritten this should be sufficient (although they will make their own check against the actual register)

furthermore, the credit agencies make lots of mistakes when downloading the data and match up wrong addresses, and in my experience are very very speedy to rectify incorrect info when you make a complaint about the electoral roll info (as in rectified in days)

browneyedbazzi

When you change address your name is not automatically added to the electoral register - you actually have to register to vote. If you move between canvases (the big yearly update drive) you can print out a form and post it in:
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/

moonpenny

Thanks everyone!
Just to clarify - if he went looking for a mortgage, at the beginning of next year (and he wasn't registered to vote at that time) then he has no chance of getting a mortgage?

Pixie5740

moonpenny wrote: »

Thanks everyone!
Just to clarify - if he went looking for a mortgage, at the beginning of next year (and he wasn't registered to vote at that time) then he has no chance of getting a mortgage?

Not being on the electoral roll doesn't mean he has no chance of getting a mortgage. It's just that being on the electoral roll, at the right address, for a year or so makes it easier for lenders to establish his identity I think (someone can correct me if this is wrong) which makes him a more attractive customer.