Mortgage Renewal Woes

tomatron

Hello,
I bought a new build flat a couple of years ago and am due to renew my mortgage. However something has arisen that is causing me problems.

It seems that as my purchase went through the warranty became invalid (Alpha Insurance went bust) but it happened during the sale so didnt get picked up. A cheque came to cover the 'refund' for the insurance but went to the last owner of the property (I feel like that should likely of gone to me but that is a different issue). Now 2 years later I am trying to renew my mortgage and am struggling to find a lender that will offer me a mortgage without the warranty, many also will not accept indemnity insurance either. As I am a leaseholder on the property am I right in thinking this is something that the freeholder should look at sorting? I have spoke to them previously and they do not want to replace the warranty. I guess my question is 'What options do I have?', can I buy the warranty for just my flat? Should I just keep looking at lenders until I find one that accepts no warranty? 

If its is any help the flats were built in 2015 so still have a few years before the 10 year term is over.

Thanks for any help!

K_S

@tomatron If you're with a high-street lender, can't you do a product-switch/rate-switch/product-transfer and stay with the same lender?

As you say, it's probably only the builder/freeholder who can sort out some form of retrospective warranty.

If it's a large block, it might be worth looking up recent sales on the Land Registry and finding out how/if they got a mortgage.

tomatron

K_S said:

@tomatron If you're with a high-street lender, can't you do a product-switch/rate-switch/product-transfer and stay with the same lender?

As you say, it's probably only the builder/freeholder who can sort out some form of retrospective warranty.

If it's a large block, it might be worth looking up recent sales on the Land Registry and finding out how/if they got a mortgage.

Thanks for the quick reply.

There are a couple of flats in the process of selling, I know one lady almost sold last year but it fell through for the same reason. She has sold again now but it hasnt completed yet so I can't see ay info at the moment.

I hadn't considered a product switch. I will look into this. Are you suggesting as they have already given me a mortgage they won't look into/require these documents? Even though it may of looked like I previously did have the warranty?

K_S

tomatron said:

K_S said:

@tomatron If you're with a high-street lender, can't you do a product-switch/rate-switch/product-transfer and stay with the same lender?

As you say, it's probably only the builder/freeholder who can sort out some form of retrospective warranty.

If it's a large block, it might be worth looking up recent sales on the Land Registry and finding out how/if they got a mortgage.

Thanks for the quick reply.

There are a couple of flats in the process of selling, I know one lady almost sold last year but it fell through for the same reason. She has sold again now but it hasnt completed yet so I can't see ay info at the moment.

I hadn't considered a product switch. I will look into this. Are you suggesting as they have already given me a mortgage they won't look into/require these documents? Even though it may of looked like I previously did have the warranty?

@tomatron With almost all mainstream lenders, a product-switch (with no change in term or borrowing) does not involve fresh underwriting, credit-checks, income assessment, conveyancing, etc. And while you may not get the absolute "best rate" in the market, if you're with a mainstream lender, you're unlikely to be losing out too much.