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Hi I'm new to the property hub and I am looking to start my first investment next year in Norwich. I just wanted to know if the majority of investors use interest only mortgages for buy to let property's? And also if I could get an example of how you would eventually pay off an interest only mortgage in a buy to let. Many thanks look forward to hearing from you! Scott

Hi All, Has anyone purchased a property with a 'good lease title'? The property we are in the process of purchasing is in the NE and has has a 'good lease title'. Our solicitor seems quiet wary of this and has said this may cause issues for when we are refinancing or selling the property. The vendors solicitors have refused to upgrade the title to an 'absolute lease title' before purchase, we have been advised to get a legal indemnity insurance policy in the unlikely event there is a claim on our lease. Our broker on the other hand has said it shouldn't be an issue refinancing, so we are a bit perplexed. For info, this will be a cash purchase, carry out renovation works to convert to a 6 bed HMO and then refinance. The lease itself has about 800 years left on it. Thanks

Lenders are already steering away from certain flats with cladding unless they have the required certificates - Most don't. Even one of our most accommodating specialist lenders today made it clear that they will be unable to lend on: "Flats with cladding and/or balconies that stack vertically above each other containing combustible materials or the balconies are directly linked by combustible materials where the EWS1 form identifies that remediation work is needed and has not been carried out" Read the article for more background. https://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/market-news/surveying/blog-cladding-crisis-forward-06-09-2021/ Steve Walker www.promisemoney.co.uk

Hi all. I'm looking for a bit of advice as I'm in a bit of a frustrating position with a remortgage I'm currently going through and it's costing me money the longer it goes on. I listen to the podcast religiously and know there is a great community here so really hoping to get some advice if anyone can provide any. I've outlined my predicament below. I own a flat in Hinckley, Leicestershire which I rent out. The building is three stories high, and my flat is on the top floor. I've been trying to get the flat remortgaged recently but the lenders are asking for an EWS1 form to confirm the cladding on the building isn't flammable. On the RICS website it states that these forms only really apply to apartment blocks over 18m, or six stories, in height, or with balconies. Mine doesn't sit within these guidelines but having pointed this out to the lender and showing that it is clad in brick, they are still requesting the form. I have been trying to get this EWS1 form from the management company, Warwick Estates, but it is taking a long time. I've been emailing them for well over a month as they are currently not taking calls due to reduced staff as a result of Covid-19, and a Property Assistance has been speaking with their risk assessment department, who have said they are starting to look at quotes to get the surveys done, but they can't confirm a timeline. I've asked for a direct line to someone in the risk assessment department, or someone higher up their, but I doubt I will get this as their communications are abysmal. The really frustrating thing is my other mortgage is now outside of its fixed rate terms so I am paying a lot more per month for that mortgage whilst this gets sorted. Rent is coming in, which I am very grateful for at this time, but the profit is taking a serious dent. I've looked into getting a survey done myself but have had a quote back of around £2000, which I'd rather not pay as it's not my responsibility to do so, it's the management companies. I was wondering if anyone has been through this situation at all and can provide any advice? Do I go to one of the governing bodies and put a complaint in about Warwick Estates? Or is there something else I can do? I fear this could go on for months and months. Thanks in advance for anyone that can impart any information. Cheers, Joe

Hi, We have a buy to let that has been performing relatively well and with the exception of a few bits here and there we have done nothing to the house since we purchased it 14 years ago. We have about 70 worth of equity in the house and the according to the building society we have the ability to draw out 24k based on ltv / rental income. Question is, do I re-mortgage and take the 10k out of the house for refurb via mortgage but obviously incur big interest cost over the remainder of the term (15 years), or do I use my own money or a personal loan (10k would cost me £700 in interest over 5 years) and still have the option to re-mortgage the house in the near future to capitalise on any buying / refurb opportunities that come available in the next 12-24 months . Obviously trying to map out the property cycle is hard at the moment - do I just undertake the refurb and accept the increase in rent for a few years and wait for an adjustment in the market to buy? Obviously re-mortgaging when the market is flying (now) is great as you can pull out more money, if the market crashed I maybe couldn't rely on pulling money out to invest elsewhere as obviously the value of mine would have gone down so I would miss the opportunity. So confusing!! Any help on the above or a different point of view would be great ! Thanks

Tipton and Colsey building society has announced it is to give holiday-lets and buy-to-let mortgages to customers wanting to specifically rent the property through Airbnb. Currently, this is a gap in the market as the number of people renting through Airbnb is on the rise, with few lenders offering this type of let as a condition of their mortgage. The facts: - Available to applicants that want a shorter or no fixed term agreements. - Available for second homes, holiday-lets, and remortgages - Maximum LTV is 75% - In addition to personal earnings, income made from the property will be taken into consideration when looking at overall lending. Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2LoSnzB

Hello, New to this site and new to buy to let investing! Considering setting up a SPV Limited Company to purchase my first BTL investment property in Scotland. Looking for advice/recommendations for a mortgage broker who can help and advice on which lenders to go for/avoid. And anything else that might be relevant! Thanks in advance.

Reading all this stuff about some properties now starting to be pushing back at the valuation (mortgage) stage due to asking price vs actual value and some banks getting nervous about over valuing. I will have a house refurb completing mid November and want to get it re-financed as quick as possible ahead of any potential cooling off of the market next year. Some questions; 1)Am i being savvy by doing this now during this mini boom, guess no one knows what’s going to happen next year and my thinking is negative equity would be short term in my overall long term plan..obviously it would happy to be a mega drop in value to get to that. so trying to get the highest valuation possible is my idea to fund another purchase next year. 2)are new lenders more will to give you a more favourable valuation than your existing? When I looked into remortgaging with my current lender they would only give me up to what worked out to be 67%ltv, hoping for 75%.

Anyone got any experience of setting up a declaration of trust, or currently have this set up..with an understanding of how this effects your borrowing abilities? want to set up declaration of trust in favour of my wife 99vs1%. Can we still have joint mortgage or not? Thanks

Hi All, I'm back with another dilemma. In 2018 myself and wife had the Right To Buy (RTB) our flat from our local authority which we progressed with this. We opted for a 2 year residential mortgage. Shortly after completion we had found out we was expecting a child and we had to plan to purchase a larger property as our flat was not going to be big enough for our family. We asked our mortgage lender and local authority for permission to let which they did grant our request. We purchased a house and rented our flat. 2 years on our mortgage deal is coming to an end and we would like to re-mortgage our property but thought it would be better to switch to a Buy To Let mortgage. When we was exploring our options with our mortgage advisor he hit a snag because all the lenders have no products if you are still within the 5 year period of the initial RTB purchase. When we briefly looked at a product switch with our existing lender the option to do so was not available and a message had said it was currently being let. We are in a bit of limbo now because it seems that the option to remortgage on a residential would not be possible because we do not live in the property and not going to move back in. To move to a BTL mortgage is not an option because lenders do not lend to customer within the first 5 years of their purchase. If we knew this was the case we would've opted for a 5 year mortgage. Has anyone had any experience with this scenario or is there any mortgage advisor who know a way around this issue. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi. Newbie here. This site is awesome. And this corner of it is the most exciting bit. Go mortgage advice! I read somewhere (possibly here) that someone had bought the property as an individual (thereby benefiting from better mtg rates) and was renting it to their ltd company (thereby benefiting from better taxation). It sounds too simple! Does this work? Is it legal? Will lenders be OK with it if they find out? Your thoughts please :-)

Hi all New investor to the property market, wondering if I can use a BTL mortgage for a Holiday Let property? I have heard that technically you are not supposed to do that, and that in fact you should seek out a specific holiday let mortgage, but that they are then much harder to attain and at worse rates? Anyone brave enough to advise!? Many thanks in advance Dan

Hello All, I'm trying to get into the buy-to-let world. I don't own any properties (I rent), and I'm planning to buy properties through an SPV. I know normally lenders don't like first-time buy-to-lets, however, after speaking to a couple of brokers, they came back to me with literally 0 lenders. They said their lenders are not lending to first-time buyers through an SPV, at the moment. Do you have any broker to recommend for this case? Thank you!

Hi All, Given the recent uncertainty created by Coronovirus and 'fake news' stories about insurance companies not paying out on policies I wanted to provide you with some clarity on the situation direct from our protection team. Please take a look at the link below for more information... https://www.privatefinance.co.uk/news/blog/2020/03/25/coronavirus-covid19-and-your-protection-insurance I hope this is helpful to some of you, given the current situation. Stay safe! Best regards Nathan Cole

Hi everyone i'm turning 18 in a few months and looking to get on to the property ladder (based in Nottingham, so looking to invest here). I'll be looking to get a residential mortgage and rent out one of the rooms on spareroom to help pay the mortgage, and hopefully will be able to benefit from capital gains that i will be able to pull out in a few years once i'm 21, which i can use towards a BTL mortgage. Would appreciate anyones thoughts on this and if its even possible (I will be earning £18k a year when im 18), as well as any recommendations for a mortgage broker that could help me out here. Many thanks

Hi all, my name is Douglas, I am 29 and I live in South West Scotland. I recently did a large house renovation on my own home and now wish to take some equity out so I can start investing in property to hopefully get financial freedom in the future as I wouldn't say I love my current job. I hope to buy my first Buy to let property this year in Preston. The one thing that is holding me up a bit is finding a good mortgage broker and accountant. I just am not sure where i should be looking. If there are any recommendations for either, it would be much appreciated. If anyone is currently investing in Preston any advice again would help me out greatly. Thanks for reading, Douglas.

Hi all, I currently have a residential mortgage on an apartment but I'm looking to move in with my partner, who owns a property, so I would like to rent my property out. I can currently do a consent to let with my mortgage provider but they've said they wouldn't be able to provide me with a buy to let mortgage after my 5 years fixed term mortgage is up as I'd need to own a residential property to be eligible for this type of mortgage. I've looked into it and I'm struggling to find a buy to let mortgage where I don't need to have a residential property. I will be moving in with my partner but my name won't be on the mortgage. We are thinking of buying together in the future but would like to live together in his place for at least a couple of years. Has anyone else had experience of this or have any advice on which lenders I could approach? I thought my circumstance would be fairly common so I'm surprised to find little on the subject. The only articles I can find on the subject tend to be referring to first-time buyers. Thank you in advance

Hi, I'm new to property investment and I am getting closer to getting a deposit together and so was starting to think about getting a personal buy to let mortgage in principal, before I start viewing potential properties. For my residential mortgages I have always used Land & Country mortgages free service, which I have been reasonably happy with, so was wondering if anyone here has had any experiences using them for getting buy to let personal mortgages? Thanks, Chris

Hi hubbers, I was hoping for a little bit of advice. My wife and I are currently looking to buy our 2nd BTL and we are not sure whether to buy in a Ltd company or not. We are both basic rate tax payers and can afford to buy in our personal names and not be pushed into the higher tax bracket providing we equalise our salaries (although we will be close to the 40 percent tax bracket). We are both 27 and I would like to think that in the next 3-5 years we would have had pay rises making us higher rate tax payers (myself more so as my wife is now working part-time). So my question is; Do we bite the bullet and invest through a Ltd Company even though the interest rates and costs are higher or do we invest in our personal names and buy all subsequent properties through a company? on a side note, our current strategy is to invest in areas that are likely to see high capital growth and then recycle that deposit when we remortgage. Is this a flawed strategy when buying in our personal names? My reasoning is that with the lending criteria stress test at 5.5% interest rate x 145% rental income - it now seems that lenders are more interested in achieving rents than the LTV? Because of this, would we need to buy in a LTD company (where the stress tests are more leniant) for our strategy to work? A very long winded question! If any of you can give any advice it would be very much appreciated! Thanks all! Adam

Happy new year, I hope you’re well. I have a hypothetical scenario based question and was wondering if you could help. Scenario: · I own a flat (~£550K – £600K) and my girlfriend owns a flat (~£325K. Both are mortgaged. She has now moved in with me and currently renting her flat out. · We have seen a property we would like to purchase together. We envisage funding the prospective purchase through equity release from the flat I own, the sale of her flat, the rest being made up of a mortgage and cash. · The intention is to keep the flat I own and roll it into a buy to let mortgage. Questions arising: · Does anyone have experience in holding a property via a company? Would it be more economical for us hold the flat we keep via a company in which we are both directors? Would this help avoid second home stamp? · Regarding the mortgage on my girlfriends flat which we intend to sell: What options exist to getting out of the mortgage, aside from porting it? Grateful if anyone on here can help here / point me in the direction of a resource which will help?

Hi all, Ok, where do I start? Me and my partner have 1 BTL in our own name and are living in a property that we own outright. I also have started a Ltd company with my brother and cousin of which we have 3 BTL there.... about 5/6 months ago my parter had a brain tumour and was diagnosed with 6/12 months to live and I was devestated, as we have two kids under 10. I have reduced my hours at work down to two days a week in order to look after my partner and dropping the kids off/up from school and to be fair my partner has recovered from the initial operation very well although she is undergoing 6 months of chemotherapy and if it wasn’t for the hair loss I don’t think to an outsider you would of been able to tell as my partner was never that active (sports/running etc) So the more I think about it I can’t ever see me going back to work at least not for the next 7-10 years. Fortunately I had life insurance for my partner of which they have paid out and am thinking of using some of this to buy a couple of properties in the hope that me and my family can live of the rent at least partially until I am in the position to return to work full time. Alternatively I could take equity out of my residential property and buy a handful of terraced houses? The question is is should I start my own Ltd company up or purchase these in my own name? Also my salary has gone down to just over @ £18k plus I have the income from my BTL but I still think this may take me under £25k limit that is required by most BTL mortgage company’s although I haven’t really looked in to this? Thanks for any advice... Neil

Has anyone had any dealings with sharia compliant mortgages? I'm currently dealing with a bank called Gatehouse who offer competitive rates and no early redemption charges but the concept of a sharia compliant mortgage is new to me whereby you pay the bank 'rent' rather then interest for their share of the property. Thanks!

Hi all, I currently have 1 BTL in my own name and by Christmas will have 3 BTL in a ltd company. I intend to continue to buy property’s on interst only mortgages for the forseeable future until my income can be replaced by the rent that I will be making from them... So with that in mind I am wondering in the next 5-10 years when this time comes, how this will be possible as I have to have a source of income (ie a job) to pay for the interest only mortgages...? i would be intrestrd to hear what other people have done...? many thanks, Neil

Hello Hubbers! We have finally got an offer accepted on a one bed flat facing the sea! We aim to short-term rent it on booking.com and Airbnb. After speaking to two mortgage brokers, there is only one lender who will offer a mortgage to us as a holiday let through a limited company. They are offering an average 3.3% for a two year fixed rate but has £2800 of fees attached to it (property is only £160k). Plus really horrible rates for solicitors which I might be charged twice for (dual representation??) My accountant doesn't really understand about property specifically and isn't super savvy in this area. Does anyone have an idea of what to do for a new business that will be renting through sites like Booking.com or Airbnb? Can anyone give any advise on how to set the company up and any alternative mortgages? I don't want the property to fall through my fingers! Thanks in advance! I truly appreciate any help.

Hi My name is James. Bit of a back story; My dad bought a 2 bed flat near where I grew up in `97 after reading rich dad poor dad. He was terrified of making a loss and its turned into a gold mine. When he died in `04 my mum used the money from his life insurance to buy more property and now has a small portfolio. Two flats in South East London near where we live, a flat in Preston and a student pod in Loughborough. She built this up as her pension. It has had fantastic capital growth and great cash flow with a very low loan to book value. A little over a year ago my mum was diagnosed with dementia. She's still early stages but I it seems that she had not been managing will with her property's and finances in general for some time. She had always been quite secretive about her finances. But after a frank discussion she agreed to let my sister and I look after her finances for her to ensure that she is looked after. The properties need tending to and her taxes and accounts were a mess. It took me forever to search the whole house and find all the bits of paper and still don't have it any any real kind of order but i am working on it. We took financial advice from a tax adviser and decided to transfer the ownership into an LLP with my mum my sister and myself as members. This has the benefit of helping with inheritance tax but also means that my sister an I can manage the portfolio without having to use LPA all the time (which i have found to be frustrating and limiting.) a mum can still have all of the income. The process of transferring the properties into the LLP has taken a lot longer than i expected with lots of details I didn't know to expect. We need to refinance to cover the existing lending on the portfolio, i had to get a business bank account which Barclays made a nightmare [i might write a post about this] found out that the property bought in `97 had a short lease and needed extending. We want to draw capital out of the properties at the point of refinancing with the aim of having cash to be able invest further. Turns out lenders want to know exactly what we want to spend the money on. Ive felt like there has been a lot of hoops to jump through and i have been put through the ringer. much of it is a result of inexperience. And during this time i have changed jobs and got married. so have had a lot on my plate. I started listening to the property pod cast and found Rob and Rob kept saying "we talked about that in episode..." and so i thought i would start from the beginning and am just getting to the point where they are introducing the property hub and i heeded their advice to get on here and chat. My aim ultimately is to grow the portfolio and the cash flow so that if and when my mum needs more intensive care we can afford the best available. She currently lives a good life, has a great social life, plays tennis several times as week and goes on at least two cruises a year with her partner. but unfortunately she has a degenerative disease an i want to be prepared for the worst and provide the best. My first priority is my mum but I'm hoping that there might be some surplus for my sister, my wife an I to enjoy. I love the idea of the dream line and want to sit down with everyone and work out how to forfill everyone's dreams. I've yet to do this and want to work out how. In the short term i need to shaw up what we currently have. some of the properties are quite tired and need work to bring them up to a high standard, and things like extending leases. fighting with management companies ensure all service charges are paid and upto date, working out what has been spent in the past few years and see if i can get mum a rebate as im sure she overpaid. While the cash flow is good i feel that everything that comes in goes out on some unexpected debt or charge or tax bill. I like rob and rob's mentality of outsourcing and want to get a good team of solicitors and accountants in place. I feel like I've picked up a ball of sting with lots knots and ends sticking out everywhere and i need to weave it into a beautiful quilt. generally turning chaos into order. To this end i am really interested in finding processes that make everything run smoothly. The flat bought in `97 needs a complete refurb. Like I said my dad was scared of loosing money and spent the bare minimum at the time to bring it up to a rentable standard and has had no money spent on it since. now needs a new bathroom, kitchen, rewire, floors boards, carpets, boiler and more. Currently my wife and i rent it off my mum as nobody else would. slightly longer term i want to expand the portfolio and like i said the cash flow. I have followed the markets for years tried to invest myself and have several thousand saved up in sliver. i feel the property market might be in for a bit of a slow down with increasing interest rates and a slowing turnover environment i feel there could be a killing to be made with foreclosures and probate and distressed sellers in the next 18 months. I want to be in a position to pounce. While my mum mainly went for two bed flats im open to many options, considering shop's with flats above, airb'n'b property , im also interested in agricultural land. but as with everything i know little and want to learn. I look forward to learning lots in this forum and joining the community. I've already signed up for the meeting in Waterloo on the 6th September (august was fully booked) if there are any posts or threads that people can point me to relating to inheriting a disorganised portfolio or from someone with dementia. how to plan for dementia care. or regarding the process of transferring into an LLP. also i will soon be undertaking the large refurbish (i have to) and any threads relating to the process to get everything done as quickly as possible will be great. speak soon