If you have ever bought a property, whether it’s for your own personal use or if you are working within the property industry, you’ll know the limitations when it comes to the mortgage process and application. And these limitations can cause problems, delays and feelings of frustration.
But for those working within the property industry, it can cause a whole new set of problems. The 6-month rule was brought in during the early 2000’s to stop property developers from buying a property on a Monday from one mortgage lender, and then refinancing it on the Tuesday for its full value with another lender, for example. With this rule, property developers can not refinance the property before the 6-month mark. And this can cause issues when selling the property onto its new owners as some mortgage lenders will only approve a mortgage application if the property has not been refinanced before 6-months. If the property is being sold before the 6-month mark, and the mortgage lender is not willing to approve the application, the completion of the sale can only happen once 6-months has passed.
This is something we have experienced. When we sold one of our previous properties, the buyers mortgage lender would not approve of the transaction because of this 6-month rule. This extended the amount of time ourselves, and the new buyers, had to wait before they could move into their new home. It wasn’t a dealbreaker and the wait time was only for an extra 3-4 weeks but it did draw out the whole buying process and cause unwanted stress and feelings of frustration on both sides.
As mentioned, not all mortgage lenders adhere to this rule, but if you are buying and selling property and don’t want to wait the complete 6-months, it may be best to prioritise selling your properties to those who are buying cash, or to those who have lenders who are not as strict with this rule.
For us, the 6-month rule allowed us to address the problem within the first 18 months of our journey, and factor in how this may impact any future property purchases. But for those who don’t know about this rule or have just learnt about it either from this blog or because you are currently experiencing it first-hand, it’s important to know what may delay the completion of sale or extend your ownership of a particular property.
For more information on the 6-month rule and the mortgage process altogether, please visit https://www.tsplegal.com/general/6-month-rule-on-selling-or-mortgaging-your-property/