Is it Possible to Rent Our House?

G_M

As I understand it, your HTB contract does not end after 5 years - just the interest free period:

After five years you will be required to pay an interest fee of 1.75% of the amountof your Help to Buy shared equity loan at the time you purchased your property, rising each year after that by the increase (if any) in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 1%. More details are on page 18.The loan itself is repayable after 25 years or on the sale of the property if earlier

https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/Help-to-Buy-Buyers-Guide-Feb-2018-FINAL.pdf

The property purchased must be your onlyresidence. Help to Buy is not available to assist buy-to-let investors or those who will own any property other than their Help to Buy property after completing their purchase.

Q Can I sublet my Help to Buyhome? No. Help to Buyis designed to assist you to move on to or up thehousing ladder. If you wish to sublet, you will first have to repay the Help to Buyequity loan assistance. In exceptional circumstances (e.g. a serving member of the Armed Forces staff whose tour of duty requires them to serve away from the area in which they live for a fixed period, then sub-lettingis allowed.In these circumstances you would also require approval from your mortgage lenderandHomes England’sMortgage Administrator).

For more on letting a property, see:


* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

da_rule

As G_M says, it seems that your daughter may have seriously misunderstood the HTB scheme. The 5 years is the interest free period. After 5 years your daughter has the option of either paying off the loan (calculated as the relevant % of the open market value of the property) or keeping the loan and paying the monthly interest.

The loan does not fall away after the 5 years.

gellitripping

Has your daughter considered getting a lodger? It could be a good compromise in this situation. Websites like spare room make it easy to find someone for popular locations.

babyblade41

1000 times no from me. especially under these circumstances,

You say in the area rentals are high and would cover the mortgages.. obviously you could get a void so you will have done the numbers on this so won't reiterate it.

you also have to think about when she wants to move back in and tenant doesn't want to and waits to be re-housed

A possible 12 months of stress, no rent , paying for courts and you will still have mortgage and landlord insurance to pay for

Would she manage the property herself or use an agent ?

The cost of EPC, Gas and other safety certs . The whole thing just doesn't add up

My advice is sell up and take out the equity for a time when finances are better. This way could take her out of the property market for a long time if tenant refuses to pay, mortgage payments get harder to catch up after a missed payments

From your tone it appears this will be an easy solution , trust me even the properties I had which were mortgage free , were still a drain in void time .

Empty property will trigger higher council tax too.

I can see no positive benefit doing this at all

warby68

How much equity do they have after mortgage and HTB?

I would think the first port of call is to discuss hardship and temporary concessions with the lenders. Serious illness can bump them into the vulnerable customer category which makes help a little more likely.

Its awful what's happened to them but if things are still so tight after 5y of HTB and a PPI payout perhaps starting again is actually a safer option.

Has partner explored all benefits from employer and state?

Renting is high risk and I suspect the high combined LTV might make this a non starter where mortgage providers are concerned. Its also high risk for all the reasons above and additional stresses are probably not needed.

A lodger is a possibility but again in a 2 bed with a recuperating person, probably not ideal.

csgohan4

To those who read this, get proper Income protection which covers you until retirement age and least restrictive, the OP's income protection cover is not enough