6 Month Rule (mortgage/house sale)

plutocat

Hi, I’m just hoping someone with recent experience can possibly give me some advice/reassurance on my upcoming house sale. I’m having to sell my home that I purchased with my now ex partner due to our relationship ending. The house was only purchased by us 3 months ago and we’ve recently accepted an offer on it. 

However, I’ve since been made aware of the dreaded ‘6 month rule’ for buyers trying to obtain a mortgage on a recently purchased property. The mortgage advisor at my estate agents has advised me that there’s plenty of lenders who will still lend to my buyers but I’m still not convinced. Any recent experiences will be helpful!

Thanks

MattMattMattUK

plutocat said:

Hi, I’m just hoping someone with recent experience can possibly give me some advice/reassurance on my upcoming house sale. I’m having to sell my home that I purchased with my now ex partner due to our relationship ending. The house was only purchased by us 3 months ago and we’ve recently accepted an offer on it. 

However, I’ve since been made aware of the dreaded ‘6 month rule’ for buyers trying to obtain a mortgage on a recently purchased property. The mortgage advisor at my estate agents has advised me that there’s plenty of lenders who will still lend to my buyers but I’m still not convinced. Any recent experiences will be helpful!

Thanks

The six month rule is from the date of registration with the land registry, not the date you purchased, they should be close, but not always. Some lenders require longer than six months and there are very few that will ignore the six month rule (officially guidance from UK Finance). I would plan for it things to have to go over the six month limit, you should also inform your potential buyer so that they can speak to their mortgage advisor, who will otherwise potentially only find out at the conveyancing stage that the property was registered less than six months earlier and then have their mortgage refused for that property.