Consent to let on a Precise Mortgages mortgage
When a borrower needs Precise Mortgages’s permission to let a property mortgaged on residential terms, and what a conveyancer needs to see before relying on it.
- Topic
- Consent to let
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Handbook
- UK Finance · Part 1 & 2
Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook is amended by lenders without notice. Check the current version before relying on any requirement described here.
What consent to let means here
Permission from a lender for a borrower to let a property that is mortgaged on residential terms, without moving to a buy-to-let product. Requirements, fees and duration differ by lender and are set out in the lender’s own policy.
Two things decide how consent to let goes: the general law, which is settled, and the lender's requirement, which is not, and which the lender can change between the offer and completion.
What has to be in place
Why consent is needed
A residential mortgage is offered on the basis that the borrower occupies the property. Letting without permission is a breach of the mortgage conditions regardless of how well the tenancy is run.
What consent is
Consent to let is a permission granted on the existing product, not a change to a buy-to-let mortgage. It may be time-limited, may carry conditions, and may carry a change to the rate.
Evidence
Take the consent in writing and check its expiry, any rate change, and any condition on the form of tenancy before treating the letting as authorised.
Leasehold titles
A lease may restrict or prohibit subletting independently of the mortgage. Lender consent does not cure a breach of the lease, and both need checking.
Where a lender’s instructions to your solicitor come from
A conveyancer acting on a mortgage is acting for two clients at once, and the lender’s half of the instructions is a published document: the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook. It is the reason your solicitor asks for things that seem to have nothing to do with you.
Part 1
The same for every lender
- The general instructions that apply across the industry: what has to be investigated, what has to be reported, and what the certificate of title commits the firm to.
- Changes rarely, and changes are published.
Part 2
Precise Mortgages’s own answers
- Where the lender sets its own position: what it accepts on indemnity policies, on new-build warranties, on occupiers and on much else.
- Amended by the lender without notice, which is why nothing on this site reproduces it.
Check the current version before relying on any requirement described anywhere, including here.
This site says which Part 2 question holds a lender-specific answer rather than reprinting the answer. A stale copy of a requirement, on a page someone acts on, is worse than no copy.
What to confirm with Precise Mortgages rather than assume
Part 2 of the Handbook carries each lender's own requirements and its overrides of Part 1, and it is amended without notice. These are the points where the answer is Precise Mortgages's rather than general practice:
- Whether consent is granted for a fixed period or until further notice
- Any required form of tenancy agreement and any minimum or maximum term
- Whether the interest rate or product terms change while the consent is in force
We do not reproduce Part 2 here. It is lender-specific, it changes without notice, and a stale copy of it on a page a conveyancer relies on is worse than no copy at all. LM04 tracks those changes.
Acting on this lender’s instructions
Panel membership decides whether a firm can act at all. LenderPanel maintains the directory borrowers search when choosing a conveyancer, including for Precise Mortgages.