Consent-to-let to buy. Can they do this?

INeedToStartAGarden

My partner and I are desperate to get out of his 1 bedroom flat but unfortunately, EWS1, need I say more.
His mortgage lender agreed that if we rented out the flat on a consent-to-let basis, we could buy a 2nd property with a 2nd mortgage. Happy days. Rental income covers most of both mortgages. I sold my business to raise the deposit. This is how badly we want to move. We received our mortgage promise, found our dream home and had our offer accepted.

Now we have gone to apply for the mortgage proper and the advisor tells us that it was her mistake, and that she should not have agreed to it on a consent to let rental income. She did not know that at the time and it was her fault. We are obviously devastated.

Firstly, does anybody know if we have any legal recourse here? A promise is a promise etc?  Secondly, is there anybody trapped in this EWS1 nightmare that has managed to do something similar to what we were hoping on a consent-to-let? If so, through which provider? Everything sucks. Thanks in advance for any advice. 

dimbo61

You also need to have an income or joint income to cover both mortgages in case the tenant moves in and fails to pay the rent for whatever reason.
Lending criteria changes daily at the moment so No there was No promise made.
Rental income to cover both mortgages 
Thousands of flat owners stuck waiting for the EWS 1 nightmare to be sorted with very very few surveyors qualified to sign off a building without checking all the materials for fire safety.
They also need indemnity insurance which can cost £ Thousands of pounds a MONTH 

haras_n0sirrah

There are lenders who can use the consent to let income towards affordability
Which lender were you speaking to?

ACG

I agree with haras, there will be other lenders who will do the new mortgage - subject to you fitting everything else. 

She made a mistake, people make them. If you made a complaint you would probably get some compo but maybe £500, not enough to make this fit. I once had a lender (nationwide) give me information on a recorded call. They even found the recorded call and listened to it, but they wouldnt do what they said they could on the call. 


Speak to a broker, there will be options out there for you by the sounds of it.

INeedToStartAGarden

There are lenders who can use the consent to let income towards affordability
Which lender were you speaking to?

Halifax

INeedToStartAGarden

ACG said:

I agree with haras, there will be other lenders who will do the new mortgage - subject to you fitting everything else. 

She made a mistake, people make them. If you made a complaint you would probably get some compo but maybe £500, not enough to make this fit. I once had a lender (nationwide) give me information on a recorded call. They even found the recorded call and listened to it, but they wouldnt do what they said they could on the call. 


Speak to a broker, there will be options out there for you by the sounds of it.

Yes thanks, we were thinking of speaking to a broker but thought we should check first in case it is established that no lenders will do this.   I understand she made a mistake, but I can't help but feel considering what her mistake led us to, they should be forced to honour the promise!

haras_n0sirrah

Get in contact with a broker with the figures. If you don't have a broker some of us who post here are independent brokers and are identifiable by our signatures. We are not allowed to approach posters but most of us are happy to respond to pm's asking for help.

katie91_2

We’re in a similar situation, we own a flat which we couldn’t sell due to EWS1 (albeit now can due to receiving an A1 a few weeks ago) so proceeded with our purchase and mortgage offer on the basis of having an existing mortgage. 

We received our offer from Halifax last week via Habito, who I have to say were very helpful with the whole situation. We had to provide a letter from a registered estate agent confirming the potential rental income of the flat but other than that it was very straightforward. As others said it will come down to affordability, we luckily have quite high LTV in the flat so both mortgage payments combined are about 40% of our net salary - I assume we were offered to based on being able to pay both mortgages in case of no or a non-paying tenant.

Thrugelmir

Mortgage advisors aren't in a position to make binding promises on behalf of their employers. 

INeedToStartAGarden

Thrugelmir said:

Mortgage advisors aren't in a position to make binding promises on behalf of their employers. 

Then I really do fail to understand the whole point of that persons job and that entire part of the process! 

INeedToStartAGarden

katie91_2 said:

We’re in a similar situation, we own a flat which we couldn’t sell due to EWS1 (albeit now can due to receiving an A1 a few weeks ago) so proceeded with our purchase and mortgage offer on the basis of having an existing mortgage. 

We received our offer from Halifax last week via Habito, who I have to say were very helpful with the whole situation. We had to provide a letter from a registered estate agent confirming the potential rental income of the flat but other than that it was very straightforward. As others said it will come down to affordability, we luckily have quite high LTV in the flat so both mortgage payments combined are about 40% of our net salary - I assume we were offered to based on being able to pay both mortgages in case of no or a non-paying tenant.

So they will do it. We could absolutely pay both mortgages too, however they can't take my income into account as I will be between jobs at the time of moving. What a nightmare. Glad to hear of someone who has actually managed to get their hands on the EWS1 form though! Best of luck with your move.