Hi all,

I have a relatively difficult decision to make and would appreciate any advice.

I have a £125,000 mortgage on a property which was worth £200,000 when I bought it but now I reckon is worth £190,000.

I am currently on a tracker which is 0.3% below BoE base rate with no collar (lucky me!), however this deal ends in Feb (boohoo!) my rate will then go to 1% above base rate. Now it seems that I am still in a pretty good place in terms of the interest rate, however, I have a further problem. In the summer I intend to move to China for a few years (probably 5). My intention is to rent out the property while I'm away as selling now seems like a bad move. All I want is the rent to cover the interest and I've been told to expect about £875-£900 a month for the rent (I would have to take off £100 from that for the estate agent). I know that BTL mortgages are very uncompetitive at the moment and would make the property close to the edge in terms of rent covering mortgage and repairs etc. Therefore I have a few options:

1. Try and get consent for let from A&L (my current tracker deal is with them - I don't know how they are disposed to consent to lets) and hope that rates remain low for the next couple of years - if they shoot up I would be in trouble as the rent may stop covering the mortgage.

2. Remortgage with a lender on a fixed rate deal in the spring with a lender that has a good reputation for consenting to let - I don't understand quite what will happen to fixed rate deals over the coming few months but maybe by the spring I will get a reasonable deal and have peace of mind while I'm away and then get the consent in the summer

3. Get consent to let from A&L and if rates do start to rise try and fix then - this may be after I've moved to China so I may struggle to get a 'normal' mortgage and be forced onto an uncompetitive BTL deal.

Any thoughts or advice - I would truly appreciate it!

Thanks

Dave

probably worth calling them and asking! until LIBOR rates drop, I wouldn't expect any good fixed rate deals, so not really any time soon i suspect. Good luck

So is the general feeling that LIBOR rates will not drop over the next 6 months?

I have two BTL properties, one with a BTL mortgage, and one with a normal residential mortgage with permission from the lender which cost me just 50GBP. In general BTL mortgages cost more APR A five year fix is likely to cost more than a shorter term fix, but at least you would know what you are paying. What about switching to interest only during this period, that would be much cheaper.

I will almost certainly switch to interest only, however, I still don't want to pay an inflated BTL rate when I'm not 'buying to let' I'm letting my residential property while I live abroad. Good to hear you could get permission for a nominal sum - I'll call A&L and see if they are keen.