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Hi My father-in-law's interest only mortgage ends in around 18 months. He does not have the cash to settle the outstanding amount, and due to his age is not going to be able to remortgage over a term that will make it affordable for him on a monthly basis. Being a builder, he took the decision a couple of years ago to split his property (which he originally built himslef, and is a detached property) in to two with a view to selling one half of it to fund the mortgage, now that all his kids are grown up and moved away. He did not speak to the mortgage company before commencing the work. The work is now complete. He has now broached the topic with his mortgage company (Barclays), with a view to finding out how he can split the title to release the equity. However Barclays are being very inflexible, and telling him that the only way that he can split the title is if the remortgage is repaid in full. However he can only repay the remortgage in full by selling the half of the property, which he can't do until the title is split, so he is in a catch 22. He has asked them if they would allow him to split the existing mortgage across the 2 properties, so that they retain a holding in each of the 2 properties until one is sold (at which point he could then repay both mortgages), but they are having none of it currently. Does anyone have any suggestions or smart solutions? The only way I could think of doing it would be to try and obtain some form of bridging loan (probably with the property as security?) for a short period of time, with the intention of repaying the mortgage and splitting the title before then taking out a new mortgage against one/other/both of the properties until 1 of them can be sold. I haven't explored this for him further yet as I suspect it will be extremely expensive, and I was hoping to find a more efficient solution. Any suggestions would be massively appreciated. Without a solution he is going to be stuck unable to repay his mortgage and with the potential for the property(ies) to be reposessed. Many thanks Doug

Hi all, Looking for some advice as I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer from estate agent or potential conveyancers. I'm selling a property which has planning permission for the garden, as two 'lots' - the house as one, the land as one. I own both freehold and leasehold of the property, which is registered as one title at present. I'm selling the house to one party, and the land to another party. I understand I will need to split the title, but not how to do it, what it will cost, and if I need to sort that out before going ahead with the two transactions. Also I don't know if I'm selling as freehold or leasehold, and how that will work. (This came about because I bought as leasehold, 700-odd years, then had a heated debate with the freeholder over renting the property out, resulting in my decision to purchase the freehold from them and save the trouble. I'm not a strategic thinker.) Has anyone done something similar and can advise? I know it'll be more costly because of the two transactions involved, but I can't get an accurate figure at present because I don't know what the process is. Thanks

I'm a newbie to the forum and started my property investment journey last year. I live in London and would have liked to invest close to home but put off by prices. So the first property I did was a 6 bed HMO in Bolton. Had a few problems but good learning curve and now fully let and managed by agents and making about £900 profit a month. I have just had an offer accepted on my second property also in the North West. Its a former pub which has been converted into 4 flats, 3 x 2 bed and 1 x 1 bed. It also has 4 garages with it. The flats are all let out and the annual rent is £19,500. Purchase price is £190,000. Stamp duty and legal fees survey etc about £10,000. My plan is to buy with cash and then split the freehold title into 4 leasehold flats. From my research and speaking to local agents I believe the 2 beds should be valued around £70k and the 1 bed around £60k giving a total value of £270k. If I then get 4 mortgages on the flats at 75% LTV I should be able to extract £202,500 from the deal and leave myself with nothing left in. I appreciate I have to leave the cash in for 6 months from the date I split the titles to when I can get finance. The legal fees for splitting the title have been quoted at £1,500 and there will be 4 arrangement fees for mortgages. i will be left with the Freehold and possibly 4 garages to either develop or sell if I do not include them with the Leaseholds. I don't know what a garage is worth but they must be £5-£10k each at a guess. Seems like a great deal to me but am I missing anything?

Hi! I have a question, I own a 3 bed flat with my partner in London. It is a leasehold prop (999 years remaining) but I am a shareholder of the company that owns the freehold so we own a share of the freehold. I am considering a title split and a division of the flat in 2 one bed flats. Since the property is mortgaged, can I do this? is it viable? thank you in advance MF

Hello, I live in south east London and have for some time thought that I could split my property currently a 4 bedroom property into two x 2bed properties and significantly increase the value. I wanted to know if anybody had done anything similar and if they had any tips or advice. I have put some details below. - The property we live in was originally a 2 bed end of terrace which the previous owner extended to make into a 4 bed property. The 4 bed property is worth around 400k but as two separate properties would be worth around 550k. - Another person did something similar further down the road which gives me hope that the planning permission could be possible - We have finances in place so wouldn't need to borrow to do the work, but would aim to remortgage the two properties at the end of the works. - The one side of the house would involve only minor works to convert, the other side would involve more work, kitchen instillation, layout remodelling, new staircase. Some questions I am pondering and would appreciate any advice on are: 1. How difficult/expensive is a tittle split, is setting up separate water/electricity supply going to cost lots and how quick can this be done? 2. How should I select a company to assist with the work, is it best to get a architect and then employ separate builders or should I look for a company that does it all (less hassle but possibly more expensive?) 3. What are the tax implications when I come to sell? to what extent do i still get principle private residence relief. How would the capital gains tax be calculated if I sold one or both of the final properties. Let me know if anybody has experience on this type of thing, I have quite a bit on splitting a property into flat but not a lot on splitting into separate houses, Maybe I should be splititng as flats, but to me houses just seem to fit the property better. Jason