Foursquare Financial Ltd Weekly Blog – Episode 2

Good afternoon, one more day until the weekend!
 
This week – How to help your loved ones on to the property market without the extra cost involved, what we’ve been up to this week, an important event in our network and information from our resident EPC expert, Andrew Gilbertson with some much needed advice for landlords.
 
Read on to find out more!

More lenders entering the joint borrower/sole proprietor market – Source: Newcastle Intermediaries
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Newcastle intermediaries is strengthening its mortgage portfolio with the introduction of a range of intergenerational joint mortgage sole proprietor products, available for those from 18 to 80 years of age.
Joint mortgage sole proprietor mortgages are proving a popular vehicle for families who wish to lend a financial helping hand across the generations. These schemes increase the borrowing power of the purchaser by combining the income of both the borrower who will occupy the house, and the non-occupying family member.
Newcastle Intermediaries has outlined a number of two and five year fixed rates on offer as joint mortgage sole proprietor mortgages, with loan to values from 60% to 95%. All of the products are available with no fees to pay.
To help first time buyers, a two year fixed rate at 3.89%(5.8%APR) is available at a max LTV of 95%, it comes with a free valuation, £500 cashback, 10% overpayments per annum and an early repayment charge of 2% until 30.11.2019 and 1% until 30.11.2020.
For those with a larger deposit to put down, a two year fixed rate at 2.49%(5.4%APR) is available at a max LTV of 60%, which also comes with free valuation, £500 cashback 10% overpayments per annum and an early repayment charge of 2% until 30.11.2019 and 1% until 30.11.2020.
Steve Carruthers, head of mortgage distribution, said: "Introducing our joint mortgage sole proprietor product range strengthens our first time buyer and later life lending propositions. It recognises that a significant number of people are in the fortunate position to be able to provide financial support to help family members on their home owning journey. It's flexible enough to enable them to come off the mortgage should the occupier be able to manage the repayments themselves".
"The majority of these mortgages will be used by parents to support first time buyer adult children, but the mortgage can also be used to support older generations. We're proud to be one of the few lenders offering joint mortgage sole proprietor products, and helping more people own their own home."

For more information on how a scheme like this one could benefit you, please get in touch!

Case Study
 
Staying on the above theme, in May we helped a client who wanted to help her son get on the property ladder. She owned her own home and was anxious about the stamp duty ramifications. Under normal circumstances, she would be liable for the 3% surcharge for second homes and also her son would lose his entitlement to the zero rated stamp duty available to first time buyers in England*. In this particular case, that meant a bill of over £6,000 on completion.
 
Using our expertise, and a lender who specialises in joint mortgage/sole proprietor cases, we were able to use our customers income to assist the mortgage for her son, without putting her name on the title deeds, allowing him to benefit from zero stamp duty on his purchase. Whilst the deal with the lender was around £5 per month more expensive over the first three years, a clear saving on the stamp duty was taken in to account which a previous broker she had seen had not taken in to account. At Foursquare, we look at the entire financial background to our clients before recommending a product. Our customer is one of many on our Facebook page that have given us a 5 star review to thank us. Check out all of them here.
 
*For information on stamp duty where you live, please visit the Gov.uk website. We do not give advice on taxation matters, but if you would be interested in help with this matter, please get in touch with us to be pointed in the right direction.
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​Company News
 
This week has been interesting for all the right reasons. We’ve had a real mixed bag of clients needing everything from straightforward remortgages following on from last weeks blog, to clients looking to buy their first commercial outlet. Every day is something different for us here at Foursquare, and we are best placed to advise on all aspects of home or commercial borrowing.
 
We had a fantastic reaction to last weeks blog, and hope you found it enjoyable/informative or any other applicable adjective. If you have any suggestions for content or would like to be featured in our “From Our Network” section, please give us a heads up!
 
We are very excited to be sending invites out this week to our first ever annual end of year bash (yes it is getting to that time of year!) as a thank you to some of the people in our network and our clients who have supported us throughout the first year of our business. Hopefully you’ll get one in the post!

From Our Network – Andrew Gilbertson, CJH Energy Assessors
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A sensible approach or an April fools joke? - The minimum energy requirements which landlords MUST adhere to...
 
The 1st of April 2018 may well have been a date that was pretty uneventful in your diary, except of course it wasn’t as far as the new ‘minimum energy requirements’ was concerned.
 
From the 1st of April, the majority of rented homes will be subject to the new regulations which, in all reality are quite confusing!
 
Andy Gilbertson of CJH Energy Assessors details the new requirements below;
 
From the 1st April 2018 there has been a requirement for any properties rented out in the private rented sector to have a minimum energy performance rating of E on an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
 
The regulations came into force for new lets and renewals of tenancies and for all existing tenancies.
 
It will be unlawful to rent a property which breaches the requirement for a minimum E rating, unless there is an applicable exemption. A civil penalty of up to £4,000 will be imposed for breaches.
 
There are separate regulations effective from 1st April under which a tenant can apply for consent to carry out energy efficiency improvements in privately rented properties.

For most landlords this will mean that they will no longer be able to rent out a property with a rating of F or G and as such landlords with properties in this EPC bracket should begin preparing themselves.


Where at any time on or after 1st April 2018 a landlord lets a privately rented property which is F or G rated on a current legally required EPC then energy efficiency improvements must be carried out to bring the property up to at least an E rating before the property is rented out, unless the landlord qualifies for an exemption and the exemption is registered on the Public Exemptions Register.

In all the above cases the requirement to carry out energy efficiency improvements for non-compliant properties will arise where the property has a valid current EPC (i.e. no more than 10 years old) and the property is legally required to have one.

These rules regarding new tenancies are ongoing from 1st April 2018 onwards but, additionally, as from 1st April 2020 they will apply to continuing tenancies which are already in existence on that date. They will then apply on an ongoing basis to continuing tenancies which have a current EPC, if there is a legal requirement for the property to have an EPC.

For further information, advice or to arrange an EPC on your property, Andy can be contacted on:- 07966365792 / Andy.s.gilbertson@gmail.com
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More next week from us and our network! Have a great weekend 😊

​Pete and James