A bit of a predicament..

AnotherJoe

hwolves wrote: »

Hi all,

Hoping someone can offer me their advice and expertise!

Myself and my partner have decided to separate 3 and a half weeks after completing on a house.

The house is a new build property and we took out help to buy equity loan on this. We have decided to cut our losses and sell, recognising we are likely to take a hit on this.

However, I have come across something I’d not heard of before which is the ‘6 month rule’. It seems there is some sort of rule which stops lenders lending on a property where the current owners have owned for less than 6 months?

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

Find an EA and get some idea what they think you could sell for. Unless this is an area with rising house prices and shortage of houses it could be ruinous, literally.

Fosterdog

sal_III wrote: »

Not necessarily, they are likely portable to wherever the OP ends up living next, or straight up no cancellation fee if you no longer live in the property. In any case will be drop in the bucket compared to everything else.

Things like broadband may be portable (if the service is both needed and available wherever they move to) however things like gas and electric may have fees for leaving a fixed deal early. If both OP and partner end up moving back home to parents or going into some other shared accommodation they are unlikely to be needed so will have a full cancellation charge.

Yes they may well be a drop in the ocean but they are still things that are going to cost and need to be taken into consideration. It may be as little as £20 or it may be £200+ and something they need to prepare for while settling the financial side of the separation and dealing with the house. It's still an amount that would sting if they were not prepared for it when the time comes.

hazyjo

When you say no chain, I presume you can both move in with parents or family?


Could you alternate your time at the property if you don't want to share? I'd not want to be renting it out with an ex. When I split with a fiance once, we used to spend a week or two each at the flat until we could sell. Was a bit unsettling, but it was lovely getting the flat to myself and getting away from my parents' house for a week or two.


In the end, he moved in with his GF and paid me prob around half the mortgage until it sold.

sal_III

Fosterdog wrote: »

Things like broadband may be portable (if the service is both needed and available wherever they move to) however things like gas and electric may have fees for leaving a fixed deal early. If both OP and partner end up moving back home to parents or going into some other shared accommodation they are unlikely to be needed so will have a full cancellation charge.

Yes they may well be a drop in the ocean but they are still things that are going to cost and need to be taken into consideration. It may be as little as £20 or it may be £200+ and something they need to prepare for while settling the financial side of the separation and dealing with the house. It's still an amount that would sting if they were not prepared for it when the time comes.

Sure they might be charges, what I meant is that If losing £10'000s is not enough to make the case for not selling the property immediately, I doubt couple of £100s will tip the scales.

DCFC79

hwolves wrote: »

Thanks for the further replies.

Yes we fixed the mortgage for 5 years so the fee is something like £5,000 just for that..

I’ve been told a few times that letting it out could be a good option!

Who told you that ?

csgohan4

DCFC79 wrote: »

Who told you that ?

Jack down in the local pub

Mutton_Geoff

Fosterdog wrote: »

however things like gas and electric may have fees for leaving a fixed deal early. If both OP and partner end up moving back home to parents or going into some other shared accommodation they are unlikely to be needed so will have a full cancellation charge

Are you sure about that? Most energy deals I’ve signed up to only have exit fees if you change to a new supplier within a penalty window (and they’re not allowed to charge you within 42 days of the end of the deal).

If you move out, they don’t usually charge or force you to take the deal somewhere else. My gf just moved out of rented and her deal was until end of December but the £60 dual fuel penalty wasn’t payable.

MobileSaver

hwolves wrote: »

We have decided to cut our losses and sell, recognising we are likely to take a hit on this.

For the avoidance of doubt, it's not just likely but practically guaranteed you will take a hit.

Quite apart from the mortgage early redemption fees, your "new build" that you paid a premium for is now no longer a new build; the house has been lived in and the appliances used, in the real world no-one is going to pay you the same that you paid the developer.

And, of course, any potential buyer will not be able to use the same HTB Equity Loan incentive that you did...