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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 .

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.

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