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Help to buy success story


This week's case study illustrates how Alexander Hall rescued a first time buyer's Help to Buy purchase, having been let down by his bank and another mortgage intermediary.

Our clients' challenge

Our client had found a property for sale via the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme for £320,000 and required a mortgage of £161,000. In order to pass the HTB affordability calculation, our client needed a lender that could lend on a 40 year mortgage term, which took the client up to their expected retirement age.

The property that the client wished to purchase was in a development that was a new build office conversion, with some commercial premises on the ground floor, including a supermarket and a restaurant.

The client had approached his bank directly in the first instance, who was unable to help. He then spoke to the mortgage broker recommended by the developer, but was also informed that because he needed a 40 year mortgage term to meet the HTB scheme requirements, combined with the property situation and type, that there were no lenders who could assist.

Alexander Hall's solution

The client then approached Alexander Hall seeking options on specialist lenders who might be able to help.

Despite the property being outside of standard policy for the lender in question, Alexander Hall was able to get the case agreed with a non-specialist lender. This was due to our access to the lender's in-house valuation team, who were prepared to look at the property on its individual merits pre-application and confirm whether an exception to standard policy could be considered.

Having successfully secured agreement on the property, we submitted the full application to the lender and also simultaneously applied for the HTB equity loan on the client's behalf, taking away a huge amount of paperwork the client would otherwise have had to manage himself.

We managed to secure a 2 year fixed rate of 1.75% with the addition of £500 cashback for the client.

This was a fantastic result, considering the client had approached us to see if we could access a specialist lender who could consider the combination of HTB, the particular property, and the 40 year mortgage required by the HTB scheme, expecting to pay a significantly higher interest rate.

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