Do I need to inform lender I let my house out?

Proteus

Hi all

I planning to go travelling for 6 months and so would like to rent my house to tenants whilst I am away? Do I need to let the mortgage lender know that I'm renting to tenants? As long as the mortgage being paid will they care?

Thank you in advance.

davidmcn

Proteus wrote: »

Do I need to let the mortgage lender know that I'm renting to tenants?

Yes - or rather, you need to ask them for their consent first, not just let them know that you're doing it.

As long as the mortgage being paid will they care?

Yes, it's the increased risk of them not being paid which means you need them to agree to it first.

Proteus

Thanks David. I thought as much. Main concern is if the mortgage rate will change due to fact I'm renting the house out. I'm presuming a processing fee will also be involved.

AnotherJoe

Plus there is a shed load of legal requirements. Various safety certificates, legal agreements, tax returns to be made, someone to look after the property whilst you are away and deal with issues such as plumbing, heating, gas and so on, the ability to pay those should the need occur. Will you be contactable whilst you are away?

Alter_ego

Don't forget to inform your insurance company

kinger101

Are you expecting to be able to live in the house when you return? They might not move out when the tenancy expires. And then you'll have to go through a slow process to get them evicted.

Unless you can absolutely trust the person to whom you're letting, this could be very risky.

walwyn1978

Based on personal experience, your mortgage will have to change to reflect the new arrangements. In our case it upped the monthly by £119 a month. We also had to pay a fee for them to switch it over. Don't remember how much (it was 6 years ago) but hundreds rather than tens of pounds. Sadly because at the time we were in a long term fixed mortgage, we couldn't get out and shop around because the early repayment fees were more than we could justify at the time.

You'll need to inform your insurance company and also the utilities in case your tenants don't pay their bill to avoid the utility company billing you for it.

Could you consider a six month mortgage payment holiday? Not all lenders will offer it but some do - you'd then save yourself a lot of hassle :-)

Johnnytwostep

shhhhh dont tell them, they will never know

Proteus

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to think about. The idea was to use a letting company to find a tenant and deal will all other issues (I have a family member who works in a local agency). Ideally tenancy would be the length of time I am away which would be in the contract so there would be no disagreements.

Informing the utilities should be relatively simply (I hope!). Main concern if the mortgage rate goes up. Rather be safe than sorry though so i might contact the lender to see what options are available.

Dan-Dan

Proteus wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to think about. The idea was to use a letting company to find a tenant and deal will all other issues (I have a family member who works in a local agency). Ideally tenancy would be the length of time I am away which would be in the contract so there would be no disagreements.

Informing the utilities should be relatively simply (I hope!). Main concern if the mortgage rate goes up. Rather be safe than sorry though so i might contact the lender to see what options are available.

Do some research on that :eek::eek:

csgohan4

Just because you have a contract doesn't guarantee they will leave on that date. Disagreements, unpaid rent could cost you a lot more.

You really need to think carefully about this and your legal position on being a landlord.