Exchanged contracts, can I start spending?

kingstreet

clarky_cat wrote: »

If you have low interest or 0% credit card buy the sofa on there rather than risk another credit check

I've just had to have a Halifax case re-offered and we were asked what the client had spent on their card in the two weeks since the issue of the original offer, as the mortgage amount was no longer affordable.

It was only the solicitor search fee and valuation fee so it was easy to explain, but I would have had a problem if it was for a few £k of furniture!

nomoneytoday

Day 1 - sit on bean bag
Day 2 - get sofa

Noctu

Completely agree with the above. We moved into a new build in December 2014 and wanted to buy a sofa beforehand but didn't want it to scupper our mortgage offer so we had to wait.
All the comments about light and what you think you might want vs what you might want once you're settled are very true indeed.
I'd also add that as you may know, you cannot (or at least, it's inadvisable) re-paint or wallpaper for a year once the house is finished as the plaster is still drying out. So if you're in the position of having to have magnolia/white everywhere as per the builders, any new colour schemes will have to wait. I guess it gives you a chance to really think about colour schemes etc and how furniture might fit in.

Vampgirl

Noctu wrote: »

I'd also add that as you may know, you cannot (or at least, it's inadvisable) re-paint or wallpaper for a year once the house is finished as the plaster is still drying out. So if you're in the position of having to have magnolia/white everywhere as per the builders, any new colour schemes will have to wait

There's no real technical reason why you can't paint a new build house whatever colour you like from day 1 - in fact some builders even offer this as an extra.
Wallpaper - yes I agree its advisable to wait for a while in case there are any settlement cracks, but you can safely paint (emulsion) any colour you like. If you think about it....the walls don't care whether the paint is white, magnolia, pink, purple or green....their drying out process depends more on correct heating & ventilation than colour.

The main reason the builders say to wait before redecorating is because if there are any problems they will only put things right to the finish they provided in the first place - they won't make good any of your own decor.

gerardflanagan

kingstreet wrote: »

I've just had to have a Halifax case re-offered and we were asked what the client had spent on their card in the two weeks since the issue of the original offer, as the mortgage amount was no longer affordable.

It was only the solicitor search fee and valuation fee so it was easy to explain, but I would have had a problem if it was for a few £k of furniture!

Do you mean Halifax rang you and said due to spending they've seen, they need to reevaluate the mortgage? How could a £1000 or so spending render a mortgage unaffordable? It's not a recurring cost?!

kingstreet

Halifax system turns an additional £1,000 card balance into an ongoing £50 a month liability and for one reason or another, we were tight on affordability to start with.

If the applicant had told me they planned to do this, I would simply have entered a £1,000 higher card balance at the outset and noted it to be repaid on or before completion; so it would have been ignored for affordability purposes.

The issue here is it was post-application spending picked up during the processing of the application because an alteration was needed.

gerardflanagan

I understand, thanks.

clippy_girl

It's also worth checking your mortgage conditions. When I remortgaged woolwich made it a condition that I had to clear my card balances and not respend (they didn't specify how long for).

The broker made a mistake with the LTV I was requesting so the mortgage offer had to be redone and they had to go through affordability again and they would have picked up that I owed more on my cards if I had spent any