Offset mortgage problems

jill2002

When you say 'ex-council house' do you mean that you are still in the Right to Buy period? If you are, then it will be difficult as the council/housing association has a second charge on the property, which is not allowed on most offset mortgages.

If is is not within the RTB tie in period then it does not matter whether it's ex-council or not. However, if it is an unusual construction - that may cause you different problems not just for 'offset' mortgages.

UK007BullDog

Its concrete, natwest will not touch it.
Adviser will say yes and put it through to get the commission but it will be declined. Make sure the adviser calls the underwriters before submission!

I think a broker would be the right person to speak to.

Bricked up or not, the High Street lenders/banks are very picky and very skittish at the moment and prefer the vanilla type properties. Building Societies are more flexible in their outlook.

silvercar

Its concrete, natwest will not touch it.

Do you mean, "if it is made of concrete then NatWest won't touch it" or "it is a [concrete] fact that NatWest won't touch ex-council"?

If the latter, I beg to differ.

UK007BullDog

The poster said the property is concrete but was bricked up and he has a certificate that the concrete is now fixed.

Well I just go by my experience with those and when I tried to put them through they were declined by the underwriters. NatWest only lends to a few concrete type properties. Poster might be lucky and they will take it on.

The only way for the poster is to go and find out directly, but as bank advisers are having to meet a target I dont want the poster to send in a submission only to find and paying for the survey that its been declined.

The building society deal might work out cheaper though as the rates are lower and so are the fees.........

consumers_revenge

Have been into nationwide and they said providing its 'bricked up' it should be fine. Told the same by his head office.

Now I said that I didnt want a valuer to charge me and then so no ( as has happened before ). He told me as the lifetime tracker has NO FEE's for the product, if they do say no then its just a waste of time not money.

Hope this works out.

consumers_revenge

Well the valuer came around and declined it because next door wasnt brisked up, even though the proper engineering forms say this is classed as a single property ( too technical, dont aske me )

He went all round the house for 30 mins.

2 days later nationwide told me I was declined. So why bother going round my house if he can tell that from the outside.

MUPPET

jamesd

Sorry to hear that. Good luck with finding someone else!

silvercar, if you see the words Cornish or Mundic and concrete together, you know you have potential trouble because Cornish is a regional code-word for concrete made with defective aggregate that can fall apart. It affects concrete block construction as well as the poured concrete that you might expect. You need engineering reports to prove that it's been fixed before any mortgage lender will touch these properties and not all properties can be fixed. "Cornish, cash buyer only" sales aren't uncommon in the affected areas. Use of mine spoils for aggregate in other parts of the country can have similar effects. consumers_revenge has the required report and remedial work done but still you can see how cautious the lenders can be.

ukwoody

James, the OP does have his PRC certifcate to show remedial work has been done, which will at least be of some help. But yes they are a problem.

The Woolwich certainly used to do them and it may be worth speaking to them, asking them to contact their valuers before putting in an application.

(they also do offset morts as well)
woody

UK007BullDog

OP, call up your local valuers and ask them to tell you which lender in the last 6 months lent on a Cornish. Maybe that will help. But due to the credit crunch a lot of lenders that used to lend on anything had to close their doors. It might be very difficult to get any remortgage done. You might just have to stay with your present lender and ask them for their best deal.

Who are you currently with if I may ask?

consumers_revenge

Halifax

Due to some very poor wording on their paperwork I nearly left them only to find out later that Im on a deal at 5.84%. So Im staying put.

Have had a good financial review this year, got off my backside ( yes a quid or 2 bleeding away here and there soon mount up ) changed to higher interest banking accounts accounts. Checked and rechecked tariffs, rates, cashbacks etc and am now sweeping them into mortgage overpayments that now I dont even have to find money for!