Mortgage on an unencumbered property

LokiJoe

Hi All

I'm looking into the possibility of getting a small mortgage on my house that's fully paid for, so far I've only looked at traditional lenders but they insist on being a second charge rather than a first.
The LTV is just over 10% for what what I want to borrow, I did look at retirement mortgages but unfortunately / fortunately I'm not 55 yet so cannot go down that route.
I wonder if the forum has any experience in this area? Knowledge of specialist brokers etc

ViolaLass

Why second charge if you don't have any first charge at the moment?

glosoli

What would you be borrowing the money for? I cannot see why a normal lender can't do a normal further advance/equity release style application. I don't know either why they would volunteer to be lower on the pecking order in the event of re-possession either. But given the fact there is no mortgage on the property at the moment the only conclusion is someone is getting mixed up with terminology here.

Thrugelmir

Unclear why a specialist broker is required. What's the complication(s) in your personal circumstances?

LokiJoe

Thanks for all your replies, firstly a couple of lenders I've already asked require a first charge on the property to begin with, i.e an existing mortgage, that's what I meant whether rightly or wrongly I don't know.
Secondly I don't know about a mix up in terminology in what context do you mean? Its quite possible I've have missed something or misunderstood something though.
Without trying for it to be a cliche but I really do need it for home improvements plus to pay of the balance of small outstanding loan.
I thought it might need a non high street type broker only because I'm self employed and I know that's veiew differently sometimes at the application stage.

TrickyDicky101

How much are you looking to borrow - perhaps that's the reason if it is < £25k?

glosoli

Certainty the lender I work for would have no issues with the fact you are self employed, or looking to release equity from a mortgage free property for the purposes you have outlined. All I can say is don't be put off as once you speak to the right person/lender it will be a lot easier than what it appears to have been up until this point.

LokiJoe

Thanks Tricky Dicky, yes as it happen that's what I was looking for £25k,with the Zoopla guesstimate it gives me a low LTV.

Thanks glosoli, that's encouraging I'll persist further then.

minimike2

This sounds like a really straight forward case. There is no reason a lender would need to look to do this only on a second charge basis and certainly high street lenders will offer you a mortgage for this purpose. Not sure who you have spoken with to say that it can't be done on a first charge basis, but it sounds like you are getting given wrong information.

ViolaLass

I wonder whether the person you spoke to misunderstood that you are mortgage-free and thought you were looking to borrow more (which would be a second charge, which lenders often won't like).

We got a mortgage on a mortgage-free property, through Nationwide, with no difficulties.

mattj74

Every time i Google search for unencumbered only specialist lenders come back and never display rates. I’ve checked many high street banks and none mention them. Do they tend to be higher than  conventional mortgages? We have a paid off house we let out, wondering if an unencumbered mortgage can be taken on it to help us buy another house?