Advice

Mortgage Express, Northern Rock landlords

2 March 2012

During the past few months rumours have been rife within the property industry about the way UKAR, the company that is in charge of the banks: Mortgage Express, Bradford & Bingley & Northern Rock,

all of which were bailed out by the government during the height of the economic crisis. About how they have been handling customers’ accounts, so much so an article was in last week’s Mail on Sunday,  when we contacted them their official response was

"UKAR has around 750,000 mortgages on its books. Whether a homeowner or a landlord, we aim to deal with everyone fairly and sensibly. We understand that landlords with little or no equity face particular problems and we will always try and do our best to deal with these on a case by case basis."

However we have heard from people that where they have more than 1 mortgage with Mortgage Express and they have sold 1 of their properties, rather than the landlord being able to retain the profit, Mortgage Express instructed the solicitor to repay all monies from the sale back to the lender so that they could reduce the overall lending exposure of the client and reduce their lending, they are able to do this apparently, it is in the small print under their T & C’s. When we spoke to their PR company, they said that they only call in receivers as a last resort, landlords mentioned in various press publications have had issues with their accounts, and as such we have to do what we think is best for the tax payer, interest rates are at a historical low and rental demand is at an all-time high and is set to continue, we can’t let mortgage accounts continue to fall into arrears, we have to take action.

We can see why they are taking action against defaulted accounts and landlords who have conducted their mortgage accounts satisfactorily have nothing to fear, we would suggest that you try and put in place all protective measures and managed your properties effectively, yes we are in an economic crisis, which have no end date in sight, but being prudent and efficient you can save yourself a lot of heartache in the future and if you are worried that your tenants’ employment might be under threat, then consider rent insurance, with a premium as low as £60.00 pa + IPT and covers up to £2500 pcm rent with nil excess, it gives landlords piece of mind that their rent will get paid on the day it is due and thus are able to pay the mortgage, which at the end of the day, this is what banks such as Mortgage Express want.

If you have had any dealings lately with any of the banks mentioned, we would like to hear from you