Consent to let denied

Togberners

I have a residential mortgage with HSBC and will be joining the Royal Fleet Auxilliary in January. This is a civilian manned fleet owned by the Ministry of Defence. I would be at sea 4 months on and 3 months off. During my time away I want to rent out my house and live with my sister when I am not at sea however HSBC have refused to give me consent to let. The reason they cite is that consent to let is only given for a year and then I would be expected to move on to a buy to let (BTL) mortgage. However the criteria for a BTL mortgage is that I would have to be on a salary greater than £25,000 and I don't fit this criteria as I will only be on a starting salary of £14,600. After a year I will be on £15,100 and after two years a salary of greater than £25,000. My fixed term mortgage with HSBC finishes at the end of November upon which it will become a variable rate mortgage with no early repayment charges so my intention is to try and obtain a BTL mortgage with another lender. The difficulty I am encountering is that some mortgage lenders will not give me a BTL mortgage because of my low salary. Others state that they would consider me only when I have had experience of letting out my house however this is a catch 22 situation as my current lender will not give me consent to let. I don't want to go down the route of letting my house without consent to let so I am completely stuck. I have a modest mortgage of about £37,000 and I am confident that my rental income would cover my monthly repayments if I could find a lender who would consider me. Can you help?

ACG

Speak to a broker. There are lenders who do not have minimum income criteria and do not mind that you would be a first time landlord. Not many and possibly not on the high street but it can be done.

Togberners

I have spoken to a broker but unfortunately to no avail. Do you know of any lenders who might be amenable?

ACG

I can think of a couple who would look at it, unfortunately we are not allowed to name lenders on the forum as we have nowhere near enough information.

Try another broker, it could be that they were inexperienced in that field.

amnblog

I agree with ACG. Very tricky and you wont be sure unless you speak to a broker who does BTL regularly.

If I was candid I would say that a broker who is not charging you a fee will have little interest in giving your case too much though due to the modest loan size.

Thrugelmir

Togberners wrote: »

I am confident that my rental income would cover my monthly repayments

Rental income is not guaranteed. Void periods need to be budgeted for along with the risk of a tenant who doesn't pay. In addition you'll be responsible for the maintenance of the property. Not easy to manage a property and run a business while you are at sea.

_CC_

Hopefully someone with more knowledge about BTL will be able to confirm, but I'm pretty sure once you start letting it out you'll also have to start thinking about capital gains tax when you do sell the property in the future.

chappers

Togberners wrote: »

I have spoken to a broker but unfortunately to no avail. Do you know of any lenders who might be amenable?

Try another broker, there are quite clearly some brokers on here with knowledge of this market.

Alternatively take your lenders 1 year offer and then move your mortgage to someone who will consider you.

Contemptuous

chappers wrote: »

Try another broker, there are quite clearly some brokers on here with knowledge of this market.

Alternatively take your lenders 1 year offer and then move your mortgage to someone who will consider you.

They haven't been offered a year by their current lender; that is partly the issue.

Thrugelmir

_CC_ wrote: »

also have to start thinking about capital gains tax when you do sell the property in the future.

The least of the OP's concerns.