Re-Mortgaging to a Buy to Let Mortgage to go Travelling - Questions Including About Equity

Leon12

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies which are very helpful. To answer some of the points made / asked:

• The contingency plan if there was a spell where the tenants were not paying the rent would be that my parents have offered to lend me some money to cover any rent gaps. I dont want to take this (hence trying to fund everything myself) but if absolutely necessary (so rent gaps) I would take it until my agency was able ti find and move in a new tenant.
• I have worked out the rental cover required based on a worst case of 145% and this is fine - the rent I know the flat would achieve would be more than that so I dont expect that to be an issue.
• I would move back in with my parents for a couple of months before leaving so the timeline would be ok in that regard - I also want to do this so I can see that everything is up and running normally with the rental / tenants etc before I head off.
• I does make a difference if it is considered a re-mortgage as Metro Bank offer better rates if it is a re-mortgage hence my question about whether moving from a standard residential to BTL and then back to a standard residential counts as a re-mortgage. Im not quite sure at the moment what Metro are using to define an existing customer - that is something I would need to check should I decide to go ahead.
• The ER'C are a problem I agree. At the moment I would have to pay around £5k to get out of the residential mortgage + n ERC to get the property back again once I return as has been correctly pointed out.

I agree with the consensus here that CTL would be the best option ideally however the reason I am not wanting to go down that route is that Metro will only give it for 12 months. I do not want to be 12 months into my trip with 6 remaining and having to worry about whether they will grant a 12 month extension or not and worst case if they do not grant it, I am then somewhere like South America having to try and sort out the situation. I couldn't or wouldn't arrange a BTL mortgage from overseas and in any case not for just 6 months so my whole trip would be riding on the hope that they agree to grant another 12 month extension. I wouldn't want that worry hanging over me and having the potential to spoil what would be an amazing trip which I think is understandable. I will try to ask Metro bank to agree to a 24 month CTL before I leave as its worth a try but I wouldn't be holding out much hope.
On the point about getting the BTL, yes I would have no salary at the time of applying if I get made redundant but I would have savings which I would use for travel but as the bank wouldn't know that I would be planning to use them for travel would / could those savings be enough to make up for the lack of salary? Im hoping that the bank would see them as a source of backup funds to cover any void periods in rental income and I wouldn't tell the bank that I actually plan to use those savings for travel - I would go travelling with them after bring granted the BTL mortgage and say my circumstances changed. Could that work? The part about having to own my own property would be a hassle - I have no idea why some lenders care about that? 
Thanks
Leon

[Deleted User]

BTL is essentially a business venture but one that is often entered into without due consideration for the risks. To my mind consent-to-let scenarios carry a higher level of risk because it is a short term investment. The consequence of a tenant who does not pay rent, and who fails to vacate the property when you require it back is rarely contemplated. Having to take Court action is a costly, drawn out and dire prospect. You would be unlucky to face this, but theres some decent chance it could happen. And how concerned are you in regard to damage to the property should this occur? You will also be poorly positioned when abroad to manage these arrangements, as you allude to. The discussion of consent-to-let, or buy-to-let, switching between the two and early repayment charges sounds like an expensive mess. It really knocks the idea on the head in my opinion but I say good luck.