Mortgage with low credit rating? Now told its a concessionary purchase !?!?!

Donury236

Bear with me as this is a CF and I'm even confusing myself!   And the mortgage company is Halifax. 
Dad died in 2018.  House left to sister and myself.  I have the option to purchase her share from her. 
We speak to the solicitors' FA re mortgages and how it would work.  We had a Debt payment plan via Stepchange at that point.  It would be settled on the sale of our house - which was happening so we can purchase dads house. Told by the FA that yes, should all work and that the DPP won't be an issue as it will all be paid off and we will be porting the outstanding mortgage to the new property.  
Old FA leaves and we have a new one.  This one is NOT as enthusiastic as the last and says it will likely be an issue but possible (PRE Covid!)
House sold in march.  DPP paid off 1st April.  
With a DPP the creditor can choose to mark the account as closed or stay open and record as missed payments....Guess what a number of ours did??
So now we are in Covid-19 territory.  Lots of products removed but as we have a LTV of 50% we figure it should be ok.  
We also now have another FA....this one basically says no Fing chance of a mortgage, covid or not . We will have £0 debt what so ever and 2 salaries coming in. 
We are then told by FA (who has been told by Halifax) that the type of purchase we are doing is concessionary purchase and as such requires a higher credit rating.  FABULOUS! 
Though I am confused as we have been told we will need to pay a valuation fee - so the place will need to be valued.  We have to purchase 50% of that value.  We are in effect purchasing my sister's share from the estate, not the whole house from the estate for 50% of its value.   I have been googling and so far only see a concessionary purchase in relation to living parents/relatives. 

Has anyone had any of these situations? How have they worked out??  Part of me is so angry that I want to make a proper complaint against the solicitors and their FAs, because the way we handled the whole situation was on their guidance.  Had we known it was classed as this 'concessionary purchase' we could have tried to borrow from relatives to clear the DPP early and have a better credit rating and used other funds from the estate to pay it off as well rather than use them on the upkeep of the house we are inheriting/buying. 

ACG

Find a new broker, there are potentially lenders out there at 50% LTV, it may not be high street lenders but should not be astronomical - it will depend on the details. 

Donury236

ACG  I have contacted another, and awaiting confirmation from the solicitor dealing with the estate - and who will be doing the conveyancing - that it is indeed classed as concessionary.  Very annoyed that it was not mentioned until now!
TBH, the whole situation is showing me how ridiculous lending actually is.  Had we shirked our debts, gone bankrupt and likely paid £0 back we would be in a better position than we are for paying them back!   And also the mortgage that we looked at was a lower monthly payment for 124k than it was for our old one at 76k with 74% LTV shared ownership. 

[Deleted User]

Are there no other assets in the estate you can pass on to have the whole property left to you instead? 

Donury236

Nope. The house is all that is remaining. There were shares but those were used to get our house up for sale, pay the sale fees and with ongoing care and maintenance of my dad's house as it is an older house and couldn't just be left unkept until we knew what was happening. 

ACG

I dont think it is a particularly hard job, I think the broker has just been a bit useless. 

I remember the first time I had something like this and I was pulling my hair out, its actually relatively straight forward - but we all have to learn at some point, its just frustrating when its your case and they cant actually get the end result and give you a b/s answer that is completely wrong - if you cant do something just admit you are out of your depth or get some help. 

Donury236

ACG - I think that is what has me most angry. That it was not told to us 2 years ago.  We could have taken a very different path and been in a better financial position now which would mean that we are not screwed.  He has basically said we need to wait at LEAST 6 months to apply.  My sister wants her money NOW.  If we sell the place that will mean less £ for her though, and we take a risk on the open market.  
The will says I had the option to buy, and it has not stipulated any timeframe in which to make the purcahse.  Though sis is of the opinion that at 2 years since our father passed, and 16 months since we got confirmation that it has dragged on too long already.  I am loathe to do anything else to the property or put anymore effort or funds into the place in case we dont get it. 

I am waiting to hear from the solicitor to confirm that it is a concessionary purchase.   I have been thinking that technically I will already own 50% of the property that I am buying the remainder of.  So I am also going to see if what can happen is that my sister sells my partner her share. 

ACG

I dont understand this concessionary purchase, maybe I am missing something. 
Some lenders would treat it as a concessionary purchase but that does not alter anything. As you already own 50%, there is a good possibiltiy it would just be treated as a remortgage by lenders and include free legals and free valuation - although you would need to pay for the transfer of equity which would be maybe £100-300 at the legal stage. 

Donury236

The issue is that the FA has told us that when it is a concessionary purchase there is stricter lending criteria apparently.  And that you need a higher than normal credit score.  Ours aren't good and we have used monies from the sale of the last house to pay off all our debts.  So they will improve, but FA has said that it would take 6 months minimum to get them up to a level that we would be considered closer to the 'above average' needed for a Concessionary mortgage.  
I am going to consult with a different FA, as I am not fully buying what this one is telling us.  Even looking it up online it doesn't say anything about CP and deceased estates - only living relatives.  And being told we would have to pay Halifax £200 to have the house valued before they would even consider mortgaging it! 
Currently, the property is still in the name of the estate.  The other issue is that my sister has LARGE debts, and if the house gets transferred into both our names I worry that her creditors will manage to force the sale somehow.  As the bill for dealing with the estate, in general, has been settled the solicitor obviously isn't keen to advise on the situation. 

ACG

I think the issue is possibly that you are using a financial advisor. They specialise in pensions and investment, not mortgages. 
But even so, they are talking more rubbish than Dave down the pub who knows everything about nothing you would expect better form someone qualified. 

I am not saying they are 100% wrong, but it sounds like they maybe only use one lender on a regular basis and are just talking about their way of working rather than how the market works as a whole. Ditch them, you would be unlucky to find anyone worse. 

Donury236

They are FA/ mortgage advisor but attached to the solicitor.  Currently, we have preferred Halifax as I admit to being stubborn and wanting my early repayment back if at all possible - especially as it would lower the amount we need to borrow by £2820 as well.  Though given that its only a 3 month grace period I think we can wave that bye-bye. 
I am speaking to another advisor tomorrow.  Though with our credit karma score being 440/710 and 476/710 I think we are very very limited to who we use .