Mortgages for those serving in the forces

A question about : Mortgages for those serving in the forces

I'm serving and just working on re-mortgaging my house. Since I bought the place I have been posted and as such have let my house. It is on a residential mortgage but it is subject to higher fees than if I was living there (like I have a choice...lol) and I didn't think anyone would re-mortgage me again on a residential whilst it still had tenants so started looking at buy to lets (which would result in being left with a higher interest rate than if it was a residential mortgage..grrrr).

Soooooo...the good news....my broker has managed to find some banks that will give servicemen/women a residential mortgage rate, knowing that they are going to rent it out, without any penalties.

Not all lenders do this so it's well worth checking around. The ones I know of currently is Royal Bank of Scotland and Alliance & Leicester.

Hope this helps others in a similar situation.

Best answers:

• Barclays do something similar as well. Can't remember the name of hand, but that is what the mortgage advisor explained to us, we didn't need a BTL mortgage
• Our mortgage is with the Halifax and they're quite happy for forces to let the property on a residental mortgage. Some smaller branches aren't always aware of this, so get them to check with the Head Office. We simply completed our mortgage as normal and then filled in an A4 application form for 'consent to lease' This consent is normally granted for 3years and can be extended. They may try to charge you an admin fee, but they will do it without if you persist.
• I think most places can do this. It is a little known loophole, the idea being that if you intend to live in the house eventually, you can get a regular residential mortgage. I know that the Abbey do this, Cheltenham & Gloucester, and Virgin. However, I was told very forcefully(!) by the Halifax that they definately do not do this!! I suspect that the (jobsworth) mortgage advisor didn't really know what she was talking about!!
• Have rented my house out for the last 4 years on a residential mortgage without any concerns from the Woolwhich, just called them and stated that i was being posted away from my home port and could i have my mortgage statement sent to another address. Further more have moved back to my base port and moved into FSA and continued to rent my property. Changed my mortgage product to a liftime variable rate residential mortgage in November, again no questions asked from the Woolwhich
• Very interesting replies...makes things seem a lot easier than they are in reality...one of the lenders I originally mentioned withdrew their offer once they received the paperwork from the broker...even though she'd called ahead and checked with 2 underwriters that they would do a residential mortgage for a property already let out. The lender even stated they would do it, if the broker told me to bend the truth a little...then after the mortgage had gone through tell them I'd been posted...NOT ON AT ALL especially as they were going to charge me a fee to get permission to let the property - after they'd charged me the arrangement fees for the re-mortgage!!!
  In my experience, Abbey won't do it if it's let before they give you the mortgage - I'm with them at the moment. The Halifax did do it once for me but that was because I was initially living there and then got posted. Did charge a fee though....really gets on my nerves that I have to pay extra for the privilage of having my own home...I know I choose to live out of it as I've chosen my career path in life but what does it matter as long as the mortgage is paid at the end of the day :confused:
  Still chugging away and must give all credit to my broker...she's going above and beyond to ensure that I get the right deal whilst being able to tell the truth about my property and it's tenant.
• Have rented my house out for the last 2 years on a residential mortgage without any concerns from Northern Crock , just called them and stated that i was being posted away from my home and could I have my mortgage statement sent to another address. The also said yes, a one of admin payment of Ј100 would keep it at the residential mortgage rate. Which is a 15 year fixed product @ 5.0%
• Hello,
  I am in a similar situation as I am posted away from my house and am about to try and let it. Our mortgage company is telling me i must change to a buy-to-let mortgage, which is significantly more expensive (approx increase of £250 per month!).
  A few here have mentioned some legal stuff, does anyone have an actual reference or document that proves this? My partner and I are about to go back and try and negotiate with the Mortgage company to try and stay on our residential rate.
• C&G allowed us to let out the property that we lived at in the UK on a residential mortgage while I am serving overseas.
• Hi
  We took out our mortgage with the Halifax -after being told that they don't see members of the forces as "buying to let" if it is just 1 house they own..
  We took out the mortgage when hubby was in his final 2 years -planning on moving in there, but he has now extended for 5 years -so the house is still let..
  When we were asking about it initially the biggest difference we were infomed of was that if we went somewhere that saw it as a buy to let mortgage then we would need at least 15% deposit
• on doing a little research into this it seems that the banks etc don't have to do this for you.....but most will (might be worth saying this bank will do it why don't you etc)
  what about your admin office the RAOWO maybe able to offer some help in shedding light on which banks will do this
  ask friends etc or ring up one of the mortgage advisors that is advertised in the forces discount book as they could shed more light
• Hello all,
  thanks, some good advice there and most importantly information on other lenders that support this situation (I shall be quoting them in my letter to the Chelsea).
  I will let you know if Chelsea do not allow me to stay on our residential rate! My boss at work (Lt Col) advised me to go the media and publicise that the Chelsea are anti-armed forces and hope that market/media pressure could force them to relent!
  I think it will be worthwhile to publicise this amongst the Forces a bit more. I intend to write in to Soldier Mag and post on the ArmyNet forum as I feel strongly that we must support those lenders who are understanding of our unique situation!
  REgards to you all.