Virgin Money Mortgage - warning

sipkin

I'm in the process of remortgaging my leasehold property and was accepted by Virgin Money. At the very end, just before issuing the offer, they've stated that they need the EWS1 form (which has an A2 rating so should be fine) to be uploaded to a Building Safety Portal. This can only be done by the engineer who issued the EWS1 form and they need permission from the leaseholder. My management company, who are the leaseholder, are refusing to grant permission as they've not heard of this portal. Virgin Money are incredibly pedantic about this requirement and won't go ahead with the mortgage so now I'm having to go to a different lender and start the whole process again. According to my broker, Virgin Money seem to be the only lender that requires the EWS1 forms uploaded to this portal, all others seem to accept the form as a PDF. 

Just a warning for anyone who does decide to use Virgin Money for a mortgage/remortgage on a leasehold flat and requires an EWS1 form - check that it's uploaded to the portal otherwise don't bother using them. Frustratingly, Virgin didn't mention this on application and only right at the end.

Thrugelmir

sipkin said:

 My management company, who are the leaseholder, are refusing to grant permission as they've not heard of this portal. 

Doesn't seem to be a Virgin issue at all them. What's the leaseholder concerned about? 

sipkin

Well the leaseholder hasn't heard of this portal. It's more of a warning to anyone thinking about using Virgin to mortgage or remortgage a leasehold flat to check that the EWS1 form has been uploaded to the portal or that their leaseholder are willing to do so. Other lenders don't need the requirement of it being uploaded, just that it has been conducted. Hope that makes sense? 

Probably a better warning would be not to buy a leasehold property in the first place... 

steampowered

Thanks for the info. What a joke. Virginmoney are crossed off the list of lenders which I would consider.

"not buying leasehold" is nice in theory but not practical in London.

Thrugelmir

sipkin said:

Well the leaseholder hasn't heard of this portal.

I'm struggling to ascertain the relevance of this. No reason why they would have. I'm sure if they had the inclination their reservations would be satisfied. They are just giving you a load of bull. 

sipkin

For sure - my leaseholder are being difficult by not uploading to this portal but I don't think they're under obligation to do so. I'm now going through Nationwide and they're happy to accept the form and cover letter as is. It's just a watch out for anyone with a leasehold property that is considering using Virgin Money (or Clydesdale) for a mortgage to check whether the EWS1 has been uploaded to this portal / whether their leaseholder will do so before they start their application. 

I've literally been on the phone to Virgin for hours (their wait times are ridiculous) only to get told 'computer says no' on this final issue so want to save others the grief! 

Hope that helps!