How to avoid 6 months waiting to sell a property to a BTL purchaser?

We just fell foul of the “six month rule” for the simplest of reasons. We had one sale and three house purchases fall through and fed up of paying broker fees and for surveys that were then useless we decided to pay for the fourth property with cash, thinking we would then apply for a BTL mortgage once we owned the property. Our solicitor then informed us about the six month rule when we went to sign the paperwork to exchange. We phoned our broker who informed us that “rule” was indeed not applied to all BTL mortgages but when it wasn’t applied companies usually charge about 2% above the best rates. The broker said it is to make sure you are not living on the mortgage money. Apparently some people had been taking out bridging loans, then getting a BTL mortgage and then living on that mortgage money. So the six months is to make ensure they comply with affordability criteria. We were looking to apply for a BTL mortgage next year after the 6 months but given the new tax laws coming in maybe we have done the right thing by default. There is a list on the CML website giving the companies that don’t use the rule but having rung several of them it seems to be fairly widely used. Look for a good broker is the best advice!