Help needed .. Shock redundancy during house move!

La598

Hi everyone,
This is my first post on here and was looking for some advice please.
(Back story) We have recently accepted an offer on our property and after lots of house viewings and failed offers being placed on other properties (being gazumped!) we have finally found a house that we both love.
Luckily for us we have had our offer accepted on it straight away and have a mortgage in principle all approved at LTV 85% with Nationwide.
One issue is we've already paid a £250 Valuation and Home Buyers survey to be carried out and I've been pushing solicitors and estate agents to get things moving but since returning from a short family holiday this week, we've been hit by the shock news that hubby's job is at risk of being made redundant. Fast forward a week and were none the wiser as the final consultation meeting will be this Friday, we've been busy rewriting CVs applying for jobs etc
BUT...
my main questions are how do we stand legally if say hubby is still out of work if we decide to exchange?
Would we potentially lose all deposits of the lender was to find out that hubby is unemployed during exchange and completion?
Can we cancel Home Buyers report and not lose the £250 fee already paid?

Know I know most would say we'd be crazy to move when our financial situation is so unpredictable, however one of the positives is we have quite a bit of equity in the sale of our property and the funds left from the sale after all fees are paid would be enough to tied us over for at least 6months and that's without a bit of savings also.
Our mortgage broker has basically advised if hubby gets a job that pays the same or more all well n good and the valuation can be taken off hold n things can proceed, with the lender being informed of a change in employment after completion. However I'd like to know what if hubby is still technically unemployed during exchange and completion, even though we can pay the mortgage, do we tell the mortgage lender? What if they ran more checks? What are the penalties??

Sorry for the long post just feel as if everything is going against us at present, our buyer is having delays so that is benefitting us at present, but with a young family these decisions do not sit well as we want to do the best for their future.
Many thanks in advance, one worried mummy:

BLOW_FLY

Went through similar thing earlier in th year when my wife was made redundant with pretty much everything in place.

Nothing you can do if he is made redundant other than put everything on hold till he finds employment paying same or similar money.

Not disclosing this to your mortgage lender is a very bad idea as they will likely carry out employment reference checks, find out and then reject your application.

BF

La598

Thank you for your time in answering back, sorry to hear you've been through similar. Everything is up in the air and no answers as of yet to try to move forward whatever that may be!

Thrugelmir

I'd take your foot off the gas and slow the property purchase down. While you allow time for the future to become clearer. Before deciding on the best course of action.

LKRDN_Morgan

I had the exact same situation as you a couple of months ago. We'd got the point where exchange was about to happen then I got the risk of redundancy news. I was beyond stressed. I never told the lender (did tell my broker and solicitor though) but I was contemplating delaying exchange until we knew what was going on. The risk of going ahead with exchange then losing your job before completion means if the lender does some sort of last minute check and finds out they could pull the offer leaving you with all sorts of financial trouble.

We ended up pulling out of the sale all together rather than delaying. We lost the solicitor fees and the survey fee but compared to what we could have lost it was a hit we were willing to take.

My story has a happy ending as I ended up keeping my job and we found a better house which we're due to complete on in 3 weeks but the stress was not nice. I really feel for you. My advice would be put everything on hold until the outcome of the consultation is known. You don't need to tell anyone anything until then. Remember he's only 'at risk' nothing is certain yet

Hope it works out for you

La598

Thank you for your replies both.
We have already let our solicitor and mortgage broker know about the possibility of redundancy for their advice and for them to be aware to slow the process, I guess it's just a waiting game now until hubby knows for sure about his job.
He's in a trade, however needs one more certified job to complete his Level 2 NVQ but has benefitted from on-the-job experience so hopefully he'll get another job soon within the trade.
If he does am I right in saying that we could go ahead with the mortgage and let them know of a change in employment after completion or would be need to let the lender know before and risk them not lending at all??
All very confusing, not prepared to lose our deposit once exchanged so it feels like very dodgy territory!

Leafeysurrey

'hubby's job is at risk of being made redundant.'

Then he hasn't been made redundant. I wouldn't tell them anything they don't need to know but that's my choice. I've known companies to have people on notice of redundancy for years just to get round the law on payouts.

La598

Hi, thank you for your comment.
Hubby's job is at risk at present and we find out on Fri this week if he has been made redundant. As posted earlier he has been applying for jobs but most places require 2yrs minimum and a NVQ level 2 which he's nearly obtained very frustrating at the moment not knowing either way.
Do we stay where we are in our cramped 2 bedroom house with our 2 little ones n have a lower mortgage = paying off more of the mortgage and wait for him to gain another job. Then hope we get another mortgage offer based on his new salary combined with mine?? Or
If he gains another job with same salary exchange, complete, move and then declare a change in employment??
Anyone know typically how long do you have to be in continuous employment obviously on a steady/relative wage for a lender to feel you meet their lending criteria fully??
Many thanks

BLOW_FLY

Once you've exchanged and completed you don't need to tell your lender you've changed jobs (unless there is a serious change in financial circumstances) people move jobs all the time.

Our lender only wanted to see new contract of employment for my wife and an employment reference.

Ironically she then got offered a job back where she was made redundant from for more money and 4 days per week so swapped jobs again a week after completing.

BF

SouthLondonUser

@Blowfly, once you have exchanged and completed, and the lender has already given you the money, you don't need to tell them if you lose or change your job. However, I am pretty sure all lenders have contractual language in place whereby borrowers have to notify them if their circumstances change or are likely to change during the underwriting process, ie from the time they first contact the lender to the time they exchange and complete.

There may be cases in which the lender has either already verified the job situation of a borrower, and/or is unlikely to call up the employer (the only way for a lender to find out about a redundancy) because he (the lender) is satisfied with the pay slips, bank statements etc already provided, the lender has enough savings and is reasonably confident he can get another comparable job in a short time frame. However, this doesn't change the fact that it could still be mortgage fraud.

In other words, the lender might not catch you out, and you may well always pay the mortgage regularly, but none of this changes the fact that it could be mortgage fraud.

BLOW_FLY

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

@Blowfly, once you have exchanged and completed, and the lender has already given you the money, you don't need to tell them if you lose or change your job. However, I am pretty sure all lenders have contractual language in place whereby borrowers have to notify them if their circumstances change or are likely to change during the underwriting process, ie from the time they first contact the lender to the time they exchange and complete.

There may be cases in which the lender has either already verified the job situation of a borrower, and/or is unlikely to call up the employer (the only way for a lender to find out about a redundancy) because he (the lender) is satisfied with the pay slips, bank statements etc already provided, the lender has enough savings and is reasonably confident he can get another comparable job in a short time frame. However, this doesn't change the fact that it could still be mortgage fraud.

In other words, the lender might not catch you out, and you may well always pay the mortgage regularly, but none of this changes the fact that it could be mortgage fraud.

Thanks for reiterating what I was saying....

BF