Flat buying challenge

john_uk_234

I tried to buy a nice two-bed, two-bathroom flat in premium city centre location in Nottingham. The flat comes with private underground parking space and in 5 years old, in a very good condition. The price is well under £300,000 and similar properties (converted lofts in renovated old factory buildings) sell in London for £2,000,000 to £3,000,000. My credit score is very good, my affordability is 3-4x of the property price. My broker tried six banks and most of them rejected my application for the same reasons: "the apartment is located in a building where a lot of flats are rented out, which may affect its future value." Since this reason was given by more than one bank and they did not belong to the same banking group, I am inclined to think that it's a general rule that neither I nor my broker were aware of. I'd like to know if there is a way to reliably confirm how many flats/apartments in a building are being rented out and what category do the renters belong to (professionals, students, council, etc.)?

MaryNB

When I was originally looking at flats in my area the only thing that really helped was local knowledge. I had friends who lived or knew people who lived in certain blocks so I could find out what they were like. 

You could check websites like Rightmove and spareroom and see if there are a lot of flats/rooms up for rent in a certain block but obviously will only tell you what's currently up for rent. 

AdrianC

Even if you could get a figure, it may change in the very near future.

Are you buying to live there, or are you after a BtL mortgage to let it?

I'm not sure the relevance of the London value - it sounds like it'd be about £120k-worth in Hereford, probably less in other cities.

AFF8879

£300k for a 2 bed flat in Nottingham sounds extortionate to be honest…

john_uk_234

AdrianC said:

Even if you could get a figure, it may change in the very near future.

Are you buying to live there, or are you after a BtL mortgage to let it?

I'm not sure the relevance of the London value - it sounds like it'd be about £120k-worth in Hereford, probably less in other cities.

I intended to live in it.

john_uk_234

MaryNB said:

When I was originally looking at flats in my area the only thing that really helped was local knowledge. I had friends who lived or knew people who lived in certain blocks so I could find out what they were like. 

You could check websites like Rightmove and spareroom and see if there are a lot of flats/rooms up for rent in a certain block but obviously will only tell you what's currently up for rent. 

Is this what banks do or do they have their own sources of information on the rent vs. own ratio of flats in a block of flats?