Consent to Let but will Halifax be awkward about recent dispute?

Consent to Let but will Halifax be awkward about recent dispute?

8:17 AM, 21st April 2017, About 7 years ago 7

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I am currently working outside the UK and will need to let me property, that I lived in previously. The mortgage is with Halifax and they require a ‘consent to let’ form. I understand that I can apply for 1-2 years consent to let it out.

Does anyone know if the approval / consent is a straight forward process, or are there things that Halifax will take into consideration that may be problematic for me?

I recently got into a dispute with them, as they hadn’t told me that my mortgage payments were in arrears when I called their call centers to get my balance information – essentially I argued to them that I shouldn’t have my credit rating penalised as they gave me the wrong information, and if I had received the correct info, I would have paid straight away.

I really appreciate your help and advice, thanks in advance!

Elisheva


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Comments

Neil Patterson

8:23 AM, 21st April 2017, About 7 years ago

Hi Elisheva,

Consent to let is not normally a huge process, but if a lender is going to be funny about anything it is mortgage arrears.

If this is an issue it is possible that the customer services call was recorded to help prove your point. However, it is perceived to be your responsibility to keep the payments up to date. If it was a few days late this may not be much of an issue, but if it was more than a month's payment and more than a month in arrears this will need more explaining.

I would suggest start by playing very nicely first and see what happens.

Nash HARJI

9:00 AM, 21st April 2017, About 7 years ago

Halifax were perfectly reasonable when I applied for 'Permission to Let'. Our intention was to retire to the property eventually and they were happy with that. After the initial period expired and we were still not ready to move they extended it for a further 2 years. This time they understandably applied a surcharge to the interest rate as we were effectively now in an informal BTL arrangement. The form is straight forward but they do need a reason for why you are renting it out. Living abroad sounds like a perfectly acceptable reason but expect to pay a surcharge perhaps not immediately but eventually if this goes on for a long time.

Sand Jagger

22:18 PM, 21st April 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Nash HARJI" at "21/04/2017 - 09:00":

Hi Nash Harji,

Thanks for your posting.

I currently have a residential mortgage with Halifax on a 5 year fixed term. My fixed term expires at the end of next year. For the remainder of that term, I'm looking to let out the property.

Could you briefly outline what the process entails once you apply for a consent to let? How long after submitting the form do you receive a decision? When you first applied for permission were there no changes to your existing mortgage terms or any fees involved in receiving permission?

I would be grateful for any advice you could provide me with.

Thanks

Nash HARJI

23:30 PM, 21st April 2017, About 7 years ago

Hi

The simple form giving the reason why you wish to rent it out and for how long (12 and 24 months in my case) was all that was needed. They responded positively within 2 weeks on both occasions. Best of luck.

mr00155

13:25 PM, 11th October 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Nash HARJI at 21/04/2017 - 23:30
Hi

What was your reason for consent to let?
I would like to apply for consent to let .

Nash HARJI

15:00 PM, 11th October 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by mr00155 at 11/10/2018 - 13:25
Our property was on the IoW and we just weren't using it often enough so we decided to rent it. After 2 years of 'Consent to Let' we just got a BTL mortgage. We had no difficulty with the lender. After 2 years they simply wanted to charge a premium of 1% on top of the existing deal rate, not unreasonable, but we found a cheaper BTL deal.

Dgriz

13:48 PM, 11th March 2021, About 3 years ago

Does anyone know if Halifax would let me do this shortly after mortgage completion if circumstances had changed?

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