Remortgage with consent to let

zcrat41

Hi guys,

I have a property I rent out with a consent to Let from Natwest. I've let it successfully for 3 out of the 5 years I've owned it. My 5 year fix is coming to an end (oh for a crystal ball, my parents were convinced rates wouldn't stay that low!)

My question is do I rock the boat with NatWest / other banks and get quotes. Will they force me to go onto a buy to let? My circumstances have changed since I got the mortgage. I'm now on a much lower salary due to babies. My LTV is 66%. I guess my options are:

1) Quietly slip onto their SVR and keep the current consent to let.
2) ReMortgage and end up on a buy to let with NatWest
3) Remortgage and end up on a buy to let with another bank.

What are the conditions for going onto buy to let? My salary is only 15k per year but I have no housing costs (married to a farmer - one of the perks!) I'd need to borrow about 72k.

I'd really like to keep the house in my name as I saved really hard for the deposit and lived there as a singleton.

I do have other options if I can't remortgage and it's a bad thing to stay on SVR with consent to let - I could either get my parents to guarantee (I work for the family business and we have a fairly large asset base and are NatWest clients there anyway.) Or alternatively I could sell the house to my family business. Thinking about it I could do the latter. It'd just that I have this thing about it being in my name - being married to farmers and working on the family farm I don't get much independence!

Any thoughts clever mortgage people? What am I missing?

zcrat41

Shameless bump!

From a bit of reading it seems that I probably do have to move to buy to let. Shame when compared to the residential! Also seems my sticking point is going to be my official salary - 15k isn't going to go far in many lenders eyes is it!

zcrat41

So, little update from me.

I just rang Natwest to be honest with them and get some quotes etc from them. The lady in the mortgage advice centre categorically stated that the residential quotes I see on my online account will apply to me. She said that because I took the mortgage out as a residential and later applied for a residential the consent to let lasts for the lifetime of my mortgage with Natwest. She said NatWest treat it that the customer may move back sometime as they bought it to live in (and did live in for a bit). She said they're fully aware many clients do not do that.

I hope she's right - there's some pretty good rates there!

leveller2911

If thats the case why wouldn't everyone in your situation apply for a residential mortgage and then apply for CTL after a few months. I was under the impression that CTL was seen as a temporary fix rather than a long term solution.

Just imagine it, low deposits and cheap BTL mortgages all round with none of the usual rules that apply to BTL mortgages.....Seems like Nat West are cutting their own throats.

Hopefully one of the mortgage guys n girls will be along to clarify.

zcrat41

That's kind of what I thought too Leveller. It was a real life human on a recorded phone call though so she'd be in quite a bit of trouble if she's wrong I imagine! I wonder if another factor is that I don't have another mortgage though. Maybe they'd be less accommodating in that situation.

Haven't yet discovered if I need to tell them my new salary though!

Thrugelmir

Rules can change at any time. Lenders in general do appear to be returning to the more established ground rules for CTL which is 3 years. Though NW now loads the interest charge after just 6 months. No doubt they'll have your end of fixed term diarised so may address the issue then. After all NatWest is part of RBS and we all know what a state the bank is in.

zcrat41

The lady I spoke to on the phone Thrugelmuir was fully aware my fixed term was coming to an end - it was the reason I gave from the phone call and she said she could see things on her screen etc.

We shall see what happens.