Purchase a house and only live in it part time

Proton_67

I want to buy a house and live in it only on weekends. 
I currently live with my gf and we are working from home, we don't know if our work will continue to allow us to work from home in the future. So I plan to buy a house out of London and live at hers during the week. We can visit my house at the weekends and other times of year.
My question is whether this is all ok and perfectly legal ?  or anything else I should think of ? 

user1977

Will you need a mortgage? Standard residential mortgages generally require you to use it as your main home, not just as a secondary home. 

AdrianC

Of course it's legal...

The local authority may deem it to be a second home, so charge you a council tax premium. Your mortgage lender and insurer may not like it. But it's LEGAL...

theartfullodger

You can own 17 properties but live in an hotel.  Entirely legal.  I own multiple b2l houses but live in wife's house.  Entirely legal.

Proton_67

yes I will need a first time mortgage, also using a lisa - lifetime isa  .  what constitutes a main home ?
this post is interesting: "The mortgage lender was fully aware I worked away from home. They didn't care at all. They were very happy to offer the mortgage."
Purchasing first house but renting elsewhere - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum  

is it solely up to the mortgage lender then ?

Gentoo365

The lender is likely to pick up on the fact that the property is far away from your work so ask you questions. 
Currently you are dependent on your girlfriend for your place to live near work. 
Of course if you can show that you could afford to commute with a season ticket from the house you buy it may not be an issue.

I have no idea if it is happening, but if I were lending money I would look very carefully at people who's applications assume that the WFH arrangements will reduce their outgoings or allow them to live a great distance from work. As a few years down the line it may go back to normal.

Proton_67

the house is only 2.15 hrs from work. My work pay for the first £300 of travel a month. the plan is to buy outside of London even if I had to go to work every day I can stay at hers 4 nights a week. so what you are saying is basically it is legal all I have to do is find a mortgage lender who would trust I can pay the mortgage even with the commute ? - in case I can't live with my gf anymore 

xylophone

There are a lot of people whose jobs take them away from home - lorry drivers perhaps who spend a number of nights away?

And someone of my acquaintance had a job which required him to complete audits  in companies situated all over the UK  who was in a similar position.

Naturally he told his house insurers but they had no difficulty with this.

hippocrates1

Proton_67 said:

the house is only 2.15 hrs from work. My work pay for the first £300 of travel a month. the plan is to buy outside of London even if I had to go to work every day I can stay at hers 4 nights a week. so what you are saying is basically it is legal all I have to do is find a mortgage lender who would trust I can pay the mortgage even with the commute ? - in case I can't live with my gf anymore 

2.15 hours! You won’t visit it every weekend if it’s that far away. Why so far away? What’s in that location that makes you buy there?

Proton_67

hippocrates1 said:

Proton_67 said:

the house is only 2.15 hrs from work. My work pay for the first £300 of travel a month. the plan is to buy outside of London even if I had to go to work every day I can stay at hers 4 nights a week. so what you are saying is basically it is legal all I have to do is find a mortgage lender who would trust I can pay the mortgage even with the commute ? - in case I can't live with my gf anymore 

2.15 hours! You won’t visit it every weekend if it’s that far away. Why so far away? What’s in that location that makes you buy there?

hahha some people commute this journey every day. 2.15 hrs is nothing compared to some daily commutes & this I just a frid night . 
its by the sea and its in a nice part of the UK  

getmore4less

You make your new home your permanent home(setting everything to operate from there)

The gf restores her place to solo occupant status for council tax  once you have moved out.

You can overnight at each others as is convenient

if both WFH  make sure both are suitable for that and you can mix/match where you stay depending on into the office days or if you want current location or your nice near to the sea place to reduce the travel 2hr+ gets very tedious on a regular basis.