Rental restriction placed in title deeds

Rental restriction placed in title deeds

13:10 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago 40

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In 2012, I bought my first house from Places for People – long story short, I am now looking to move in with my girlfriend to her house and rent my property out. Therein lies the problem. In my Title Deeds, Places for People have included a restriction that states that I may not rent my property out (you know, the house that I own…through my mortgage of course). I am aware that this is something I should’ve checked prior to purchasing the property however at the time, I bought the property (with my ex-gf) with a view to it being a long-term family home…no such luck!

Since September I have been trying to get this restriction removed from my Title Deeds. Having spoken to Places for People, they have agreed that I may rent my house out although I need to go through THEIR letting agents. This isn’t the end of the world, but I just annoyed that I am still bound to them! Rental restriction placed in title deeds

Today I have found out that they aren’t going to be removing the restriction from me Title Deeds but have provided me with a letter that states “In order to progress your application for a licence to sublet, I would be greatful if you would complete and return the attached form. this will then be considered in line with our policy, if your request is approved then there is a charge of £250.00 including VAT for the preparation of the licence that is required for you to sublet. If a licence to sublet is issued this will be for a period of 24 months with a need to be renewed after this time…”

The question I’m really asking, is a) how do hey get away with including those sort of restrictions in the Title Deeds of a property and b) are they within their rights charge me £250 bi-annually for a “licence” to rent my property? They have stated that as they are the beneficiary of the restrictive covenants, they grant a licence to “sublet or underlet” my property to ensure that any tenants I have abide by the restrictions set out in Title Deeds.

Any help or advice here would be very much appreciated!

Thanks

Dan


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

15:00 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Daniel Ramsell" at "10/02/2014 - 14:50":

I follow your logic in paragraph one but not in paragraph two.

What part of £4,350 tax free don't you like. Couple this with having a bolt hole if and when required required and the ease of being able to remove a lodger and it seems like a bit of a "no-brainer" to me.

I have to say that if the restriction on the deeds goes as far as to prevent you having a lodger that's really pushing the boundaries of the law I suspect and if I were you I would certainly be taking advantage of the FREE 15 minute call to Mark Smith.
.

Jeremy Smith

15:24 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Can "unfair terms and conditions" , as in ASTs, discussed recently, be applied to putting unfair terms in a Land Registry Document ?

ie: Can Daniel apply to get it removed, or at least relaxed to allow lodgers ?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

15:36 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "10/02/2014 - 15:24":

I don't know, hence my suggestion of Dan talking to Mark Smith.
.

Daniel Ramsell

16:42 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "10/02/2014 - 15:00":

If I rent a single room out in my house, I will still need the permission of the developer (Places for People) in order to do so, which is what I am trying to do at the moment however I of course would prefer to rent my whole house out.
Single lodger = £4250 (tax free) per year
Whole house rented = £12,000 (taxed) per year
I'm just renting to try and cover my mortgage and equity loan. We certainly on keen on have some ragamuffin lodger sharing my girlfriends house with us so it is just my place I'm looking at renting.

The restriction in my title deeds states:
"Not to create any tenancy or subletting of the whole or any part of the property"

So yup, I can't even have a lodger in there (if I wanted to!)

I really do appreciate all your advice and will most certainly give Mark Smith a shout!

Anthony Endsor

6:39 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Dan, is the mortgage portable? (i.e. can it be moved to another property).
The reason I ask is, if all else fails (which looking at the advice given here it really shouldn't) you could sell the property and buy another one. I know this may not seem ideal, but if you could move your mortgage to another property, it would mean you wouldn't lose out on the Early Repayment Charge, and also you could buy another property and therefore have somewhere to fall back on if it does go wrong in the future as you mentioned. It would also mean you wouldn't lose out on any future equity gains from price rises.
It could also be good if there is any house going a bit cheaper than it might do for example if it is an estate wind-up following a death, or possibly a repossession, or somewhere that might need a bit of cosmetic work.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

8:05 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Dan, has your mortgage lender provided "consent to let"?
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Daniel Ramsell

8:57 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Anthony Endsor" at "11/02/2014 - 06:39":

Hi Anthony,

That is a very good suggestion! One I'd not even thought of and one which I will definitely investigate as a last case scenario. I would think I would be able to port my mortgage over but don't know for sure so that is something I will investigate.

@Mark, they have as long as certain conditions are met (rental charged needs to be 125% of my mortgage repayments along with a couple of other restrictions).

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

9:14 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Daniel Ramsell" at "11/02/2014 - 08:57":

I think you have the makings of a new strategy 🙂

What's the LTV on the property?
.

Daniel Ramsell

9:24 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/02/2014 - 09:14":

Not great unfortunately as I am using a Places for People 25% equity loan, 75% mortgage (0% deposit) I have 2 years worth of payments with a 4/5% lump sum overpayment so if I go down that route, I may need to look at a larger mortgage or making use of the government help-to-buy scheme if looking at another place. Of course with the rise in house prices, I will have a bigger sum in my property however I guess it's a bit of a false economy as the rise in house prices isn't just in my property but in all properties lol.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

9:57 AM, 11th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Daniel Ramsell" at "11/02/2014 - 09:24":

Hi Daniel

I'm not entirely sure of my facts on Help to Buy but I think that may well preclude letting as well.

Just to put some figures around this; if you were to sell your property, how much would you think you would be left with after repaying the mortgage and paying the estate agents fees and solicitors costs?

The reason I ask is that you are going to need at least 15% deposit plus costs to get a BTL mortgage.

Porting your mortgage is a good idea in principle but given the low equity and the fact that the mortgage is on a shared equity deal I think you are probably going to struggle.
.

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