BTL Lenders and unfair charges

scrummy_mummy_2

I am just about to re-mortgage one of my BTL properties and thus change lenders.My old lender (New World) wants to charge me fees such as £125 for the production of a final redemption statement...does anyone know if these fees are subject to the same reclaiming of unfair charges process as bank charges/mortgage exit fees for normal residential mortgages as BTL mortgages are currently unregulated by the FSA?

clutton_2

when you took your mortgage out you were issued with a fees leaflet - have a look in it - if you are being charged the same amount now as the leaflet said, i doubt you can challenge it. it you are remortgaging with the same company you might try negoitating - but if you are leaving, i doubt they will drop the fee.

Running_Horse

belle103 wrote: »

unfair charges? how come? why should there be hidden charges?

http://www.whataboutloans.com

Spam spam spam spam.

scrummy_mummy_2

clutton wrote: »

when you took your mortgage out you were issued with a fees leaflet - have a look in it - if you are being charged the same amount now as the leaflet said, i doubt you can challenge it. it you are remortgaging with the same company you might try negoitating - but if you are leaving, i doubt they will drop the fee.

I have all the charges sheets from the date we took out the original loan 6 years ago and, without fail! they have put the charges up EACH year!Does anyone know if the rules applying to residential (and thus FSA regulated)MEAF (mortgage exits fees) and reclaiming apply to BTL mortgages????

PasturesNew

All companies have put their fees up in the last month.
It's your choice to do the maths and choose if to move your mortgage/who to.
And it's only £125, hardly break the bank time. BTL is a business. You can offset that against your tax. And I presume you are changing lenders to get a better deal, so it all comes out in the wash.

scrummy_mummy_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

All companies have put their fees up in the last month.
It's your choice to do the maths and choose if to move your mortgage/who to.
And it's only £125, hardly break the bank time. BTL is a business. You can offset that against your tax. And I presume you are changing lenders to get a better deal, so it all comes out in the wash.

Whilst I fully appreciate it will all come out in the wash and BTL is a business and I can save the charges in the first month by swapping deals...it's the principle of it! Just because it is a BTL mortgage doesn't give them carte blanche to charge fees that are clearly not proportionate to the work that is being charged for! It cannot POSSIBLY cost them £125 to make up a redemption statement! The charges leaflet I have a copy of was produced last October so none of the fees relate to recent sub prime lending activity issues.

abaxas

Please remember that a BTL loan is a business product NOT a consumer one.

scrummy_mummy_2

abaxas wrote: »

Please remember that a BTL loan is a business product NOT a consumer one.

I'm not sure I understand your point...it doesn't matter who the loan is aimed at, the level of fees are disproprtionate to the amount of effort required and are thus (in my opinion) unfair irrespective of whom the loan is aimed at?

olly300

I think the point people are trying to make is that the laws and regulations people use only apply to consumers i.e. Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations and it's up to businesses to fight for themselves. So the answer to your original question is "No".

Therefore it will be up to you to find out what laws apply to you as a business (which you are doing) i.e.The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and investigate whether it's worth taking the lender to court for breach of contract. Have a look at the relevant pages on http//www.businesslink.gov.uk/ for Unfair Contract Terms.

Do you have a charging fees leaflet or anything similar from when you took out the mortgage? If you do and the difference between that and now is something like £100 then you can probably take them to the small claims court. If it's much less then it won't be worth your time and effort.

scrummy_mummy_2

Cheers Olly300...having a problem with the thanks button!To be honest, the money they are possibly going to charge me to move lenders is small fry in the great scheme of things, it just sticks in my craw that they are taking an opportunity to take advantage of me!Thanks for answering my question though.

clutton_2

how about a £15000 ERC - yes £15k ?? now that would make your eyes water on a BTL product - which i did not buy !!!!!