Hi All, I might be posting this in the wrong forum .. I am uncertain where it should go really .. but ..
I hope anyone can shed some light on this I have come across ... My Landlord has a 'buy to let' mortgage. He has contacted me today asking for the dates of birth of my children (who are all over 18 years old incidentally) that live with me in his property as his Mortgage company requires this information. Has anyone ever had experience of this happening to them? Thanks in advance for any replies.
And even if so, why not say so, why claim his lender requires it?
Frankly, the tenants' personal details are none of the landlord's, nor his insurers', nor his lender's business, and this applies in particular to children. The disclosure of the children's ages (even though in fact they're over 18) should be resisted on the principle that if the ages were suitably low, it could attract the attention of latent paedophiles on the staff of the insurer/lender who have access to this information. Or perhaps the landlord is one!
I have heard of this before, it's to do with the lenders ability to repossess the property as the children may be regarded as tenants, which would involve a little more work in getting them evicted.
It general it is not customary for lenders to be kept up to date on who the tenants are. Some will ask to see and approve a copy of the lease before it is signed (so they know the wording is OK), and to get a copy after it is signed (so they know who the tenants are), but it's unusual to keep sending them copies whenever the tenants change. Most will just let the landlord get on with it. Many say "no students", most say "no diplomats".
So even if the landlord were to keep the lender informed, he would generally do so after the fact, by which time it's too late for the lender to object. In any case, lenders generally insist that tenants be put on an Assured Shorthold basis (which in any case is the default these days except in Scotland where we still need to serve prior formal notice to prospective tenants that they are about to enter into an SAT).
It would be most curious if children (should they come of age during the tenancy) could acquire stronger rights of tenure than those their parents have under the tenancy agreement. Would they get forced to co-sign the lease to make it easier to kick them out?
Sounds like his mortgagee doesnt know the property is let. If they did, they wouldnt need to know this, but they would if they thought your landlord was using it himself.
The situation would be slightly different (but similarly curious) in the case (suggested by JB) where there is *no* tenancy, i.e. where the borrower/owner with a normal (not BTL) mortgage has his own children, and if they come of age and haven't signed anything which would acknowledge the lender's rights to repossess.
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