Mortgage In Principle Fine, Declined later due to being too far from work (even if work from home)

pmortl

My daughter 26 is looking to get her first mortgage, she has a good credit record, a good 10 percent deposit, but her mortgage broker L&C have just informed her that after having just had home buyers survey done (£900) and other various checks that they are likely to decline her mortgage even though it was agreed in principle due to the distance from work place to new home.  However, with current situation of most people working from home (my daughter included) it looks like this won't be good enough, understandable that the house is near Grimsby and she currently lives in Buckinghamshire (at home with parents) but this is due to being affordable and being able to get on the housing ladder.  There must be some mortgage providers willing to lend in these situations, can anyone suggest anything or is this looking like her purchase will fall through, and then be forced to rent closer to the area for approx 18 months before trying the whole process again having lost over £1000 on various solicitor fees and purchase checks etc.  Please help!  I thought L & C would have been a good choice as being on Martin Lewis' Mortgage Guide, if this isn't the case, perhaps it should be removed.

sparklep0ny

pmortl said:

My daughter 26 is looking to get her first mortgage, she has a good credit record, a good 10 percent deposit, but her mortgage broker L&C have just informed her that after having just had home buyers survey done (£900) and other various checks that they are likely to decline her mortgage even though it was agreed in principle due to the distance from work place to new home.  However, with current situation of most people working from home (my daughter included) it looks like this won't be good enough, understandable that the house is near Grimsby and she currently lives in Buckinghamshire (at home with parents) but this is due to being affordable and being able to get on the housing ladder.  There must be some mortgage providers willing to lend in these situations, can anyone suggest anything or is this looking like her purchase will fall through, and then be forced to rent closer to the area for approx 18 months before trying the whole process again having lost over £1000 on various solicitor fees and purchase checks etc.  Please help!  I thought L & C would have been a good choice as being on Martin Lewis' Mortgage Guide, if this isn't the case, perhaps it should be removed.

I'm not sure how renting closer to Grimsby is going to help?  The issue isn't where she lives, it's where she works.  Unless she gets a job closer to Grimsby then I'd imagine she's going to get declined in 18 months too.

lonibra

London country are not always best for these kind of situations. I imagine you need a bank that shows some common sense which may not always be the cheapest one. Ask you daughter to find another MB who can find a more suitable bank to lend.

pjcox2005

pmortl said:

My daughter 26 is looking to get her first mortgage, she has a good credit record, a good 10 percent deposit, but her mortgage broker L&C have just informed her that after having just had home buyers survey done (£900) and other various checks that they are likely to decline her mortgage even though it was agreed in principle due to the distance from work place to new home.  However, with current situation of most people working from home (my daughter included) it looks like this won't be good enough, understandable that the house is near Grimsby and she currently lives in Buckinghamshire (at home with parents) but this is due to being affordable and being able to get on the housing ladder.  There must be some mortgage providers willing to lend in these situations, can anyone suggest anything or is this looking like her purchase will fall through, and then be forced to rent closer to the area for approx 18 months before trying the whole process again having lost over £1000 on various solicitor fees and purchase checks etc.  Please help!  I thought L & C would have been a good choice as being on Martin Lewis' Mortgage Guide, if this isn't the case, perhaps it should be removed.

Is she genuinely intending to move to Grimsby or not? I expect that will give very different answers on the route to go down to get the appropriate mortgage product. From your statement I don't think it's clear but presume she is moving there so anyway work could confirm location being appropriate for work.

kingstreet

Lenders will view this as a back-door BTL. An FTB living in an expensive part of the world buying a cheap property with a small deposit is ripe for what's known as "scheme abuse." Placed up-front with the right lender, this wouldn't have been an issue.

pmortl

She is genuinely wanting to move to Grimsby, we have lived there over 10 years ago.  She currently works from home and is getting a letter from her employer to state this fact.  When you say "Placed up-front with the right lender" can anyone suggest alternative independent brokers that might be willing to help, even if more expensive as getting a foot hold is initially more important.  The renting idea wasn't really an option, but what do people really have to do to show they are honest and wanting to purchase a property they can actually afford due to location only to be told you can't because you don't work close enough. Chicken and egg thing, get a house to get a job close to it, or get a job to get a house close to it, even though she'll be working from home.  Mortgage products should really be available for this, as people are willing to pay more to satisfy requirements. 

Salemicus

1. L&C are just the broker. They aren't declining anyone, they are passing on the lender's decision.
2. Why on earth has your daughter spent £1k without resolving the mortgage issue?
3. Find another broker. There are lots on these forums. They can't reach out to you, but you can reach out to them by PM-ing them. For example, haras_n0sirrah is one, and has been running a popular "Mortgage Broker, ask me anything" thread for some months now. If you PM her (or others) they may be able to help.

sparklep0ny

pmortl said:

She is genuinely wanting to move to Grimsby, we have lived there over 10 years ago.  She currently works from home and is getting a letter from her employer to state this fact.  When you say "Placed up-front with the right lender" can anyone suggest alternative independent brokers that might be willing to help, even if more expensive as getting a foot hold is initially more important.  The renting idea wasn't really an option, but what do people really have to do to show they are honest and wanting to purchase a property they can actually afford due to location only to be told you can't because you don't work close enough. Chicken and egg thing, get a house to get a job close to it, or get a job to get a house close to it, even though she'll be working from home.  Mortgage products should really be available for this, as people are willing to pay more to satisfy requirements. 

Can she afford to buy this house on Grimsby wages?  Obviously one problem with something like this is that if she's currently on "down South" wages but looking to buy "up North" is it still going to be affordable if she's getting paid those "up North" wages instead?  That's what will probably concern a lender the most (other than the backdoor BTL issue of course.)

She may be working from home right now but I don't expect that to continue for the vast majority of workers, and they're fools if they think it will.  Even the most "open-minded" employers to WFH still seem to be expecting a day or two of office work every week, and that's not going to be sustainable in the long term for the vast majority of people if they need to travel twice a week from Grimsby to (somewhere near) Buckinghamshire.

pmortl

Accord are the lender who are looking to decline, mortgage was agreed in principle, you have to get a solicitor in place to try and go through the purchase procedure which includes getting a home buyer's survey as requested by L & C and Accord.  These costs aren't taken lightly and then when they pull the rug from under you it's understandable how the system is against people in the first place. Would you please kindly be able to list a couple of brokers who would be better to look at.  It's not my daughter's fault living in Buckinghamshire (a rich area, where we are I wish) with me (her parent), she's simply looking to get on the housing ladder, trying to do the sensible thing, looking in an affordable area, just being told you have a mortgage in principle, they saying no, MIP is not worth anything nowadays so it seems, so why do estate agents still ask for them.

pmortl

Her current job is a good one, £35K +, the house is £128K, there are other jobs in Grimsby area paying same as here, she's looked so even if she did change job she would still be on same salary or better.  

lonibra

pmortl said:

Accord are the lender who are looking to decline, mortgage was agreed in principle, you have to get a solicitor in place to try and go through the purchase procedure which includes getting a home buyer's survey as requested by L & C and Accord.  These costs aren't taken lightly and then when they pull the rug from under you it's understandable how the system is against people in the first place. Would you please kindly be able to list a couple of brokers who would be better to look at.  It's not my daughter's fault living in Buckinghamshire (a rich area, where we are I wish) with me (her parent), she's simply looking to get on the housing ladder, trying to do the sensible thing, looking in an affordable area, just being told you have a mortgage in principle, they saying no, MIP is not worth anything nowadays so it seems, so why do estate agents still ask for them.

@ACG, @K_S, @Deleted_User are all experienced MBs who regularly post on these threads.

None of them will be free of charge like L&C but will certainly provide far superior advice, even if it is to say that your daughter's plans are unrealistic.

I used one of them to get me out of a hole created by another less competent specimen.  They can't contact you or encourage you to contact them but you can PM them, and get your daughter to consult them.