6 month rule?

Claire2626

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

housebuyer143

Claire2626 said:

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

By the time you complete 6 months will be long gone. I wouldn't worry. 

kingstreet

Halifax criteria;-

Sub-sales and back-to-back transactions are not acceptable.

A sub-sale occurs when a property is bought and then sold on within six months, i.e. the borrower is buying the property from someone who has themselves bought the property less than six months before. The date of registration at the Land Registry is how we determine the length of ownership.

This means that the current vendor must have owned the property for at least six months before we can accept an application to purchase that property.

There are exceptions such as part-exs, probate sales and repossessions but this doesn't appear to fall into that category.

user1977

Claire2626 said:

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed.  

It's the date of submission of the application which matters - how long the LR takes to process it is irrelevant.

K_S

Claire2626 said:

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

@claire2626 I second what Kingstreet has said above. I had a similar client a couple of months ago and Halifax was the cheapest but couldn't place it with them as they said the date of application needs to at least 6 months after the vendor purchased the property.

There are exceptions to the above and perhaps one of those applies to your case but I don't see anything in the limited info in your post that indicates it.

On the plus side, you're less than 10 days away from the 6 months timeline so even if Halifax withdraws the offer it should be fairly straightforward to find an alternate lender.

Claire2626

K_S said:

Claire2626 said:

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

@claire2626 I second what Kingstreet has said above. I had a similar client a couple of months ago and Halifax was the cheapest but couldn't place it with them as they said the date of application needs to at least 6 months after the vendor purchased the property.

There are exceptions to the above and perhaps one of those applies to your case but I don't see anything in the limited info in your post that indicates it.

On the plus side, you're less than 10 days away from the 6 months timeline so even if Halifax withdraws the offer it should be fairly straightforward to find an alternate lender.

Hi, thank you for your advice, that really helps to clear things up. Out of interest ( if you’re able to say), were you able to find your a client a lender who would progress with an application within the 6 months? 

K_S

Claire2626 said:

K_S said:

Claire2626 said:

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

@claire2626 I second what Kingstreet has said above. I had a similar client a couple of months ago and Halifax was the cheapest but couldn't place it with them as they said the date of application needs to at least 6 months after the vendor purchased the property.

There are exceptions to the above and perhaps one of those applies to your case but I don't see anything in the limited info in your post that indicates it.

On the plus side, you're less than 10 days away from the 6 months timeline so even if Halifax withdraws the offer it should be fairly straightforward to find an alternate lender.

Hi, thank you for your advice, that really helps to clear things up. Out of interest ( if you’re able to say), were you able to find your a client a lender who would progress with an application within the 6 months? 

@claire2626 That wasn't a problem at all, there are quite a few mainstream lenders who don't have a 6 month rule such as Nationwide, Virgin, etc. There are a few additional criteria depending on the lender - for example some lenders will take the original transaction value rather than what you are buying it at, underwriters may need extra information about the vendor before issuing the offer, etc.

Tbh, if it comes to that, given how close you are to 6 months I would recommend just waiting till after 1st October before putting in a fresh application if needed.

Claire2626

K_S said:

Claire2626 said:

K_S said:

Claire2626 said:

Hi all, 

I’m after a little advice. Myself and my partner are first time buyers, and had an offer accepted on our dream property in mid August. All has been going okay, our mortgage offer has been secured with Halifax for about 3 weeks. 

My solicitor has recently raised an issue that the sellers only purchased this property on 31/03/2022, and the land registry application has only just been completed. As such, I’m now concerned that our mortgage offer may get pulled, due to a ‘6 month rule’ where by banks are reluctant to lend on a property purchased less than 6 months ago. The sellers are moving due to family commitments, so I’m not concerned about their motives; the property is only 9 years old, and on the estate we currently live on, so I don’t see any problems with the house/area. 

Has anyone experienced anything similar (and had it work out okay?) I’m very worried our mortgage offer will get withdrawn, and with how quickly rates are rising, we’ll struggle to afford a new rate if we have to reapply. 

@claire2626 I second what Kingstreet has said above. I had a similar client a couple of months ago and Halifax was the cheapest but couldn't place it with them as they said the date of application needs to at least 6 months after the vendor purchased the property.

There are exceptions to the above and perhaps one of those applies to your case but I don't see anything in the limited info in your post that indicates it.

On the plus side, you're less than 10 days away from the 6 months timeline so even if Halifax withdraws the offer it should be fairly straightforward to find an alternate lender.

Hi, thank you for your advice, that really helps to clear things up. Out of interest ( if you’re able to say), were you able to find your a client a lender who would progress with an application within the 6 months? 

@claire2626 That wasn't a problem at all, there are quite a few mainstream lenders who don't have a 6 month rule such as Nationwide, Virgin, etc. There are a few additional criteria depending on the lender - for example some lenders will take the original transaction value rather than what you are buying it at, underwriters may need extra information about the vendor before issuing the offer, etc.

Tbh, if it comes to that, given how close you are to 6 months I would recommend just waiting till after 1st October before putting in a fresh application if needed.

That’s great, thanks so much for your help. We’ll wait to hear off Halifax and sit tight to 1st October, but glad to hear we’ve options that don’t have the ‘6 month rule’ also