Ask the experts

About our experts...

At John Charcol, we are constantly asked for advice by borrowers on what they should do when it comes to mortgages.  As such, we created this section so that you can submit your questions to our experts.  The answers are provided by a number of people who have years of experience in the mortgage market.  The team is led by Peter Woodward who works in our technical department.  Peter spent his formative years as an underwriter with one of the major UK lenders so what he doesn't know, quite frankly, isn't worth knowing...

So please do submit your question and we will do all we can to answer it as quickly as possible

Please be aware that these answers can only be generic and no personal recommendations can be made.


Posted on 6 February 2009

I have a property worth 140-150k.

I wish to buy a second property which needs renovated for 140k let to buy seems the right way but how do i raise the capital for self cert deposit now as i think the property will sell...

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Category: Let-to-buy, Raising capital out of property, Remortgaging, Self-certification


Posted on 8 May 2008

I have a house in my sole name on the market for £350,000 with £130,000 left on the mortgage. In the current climate it's not shifting. We don't want to lose the house we want to buy which we have agreed a fee of £440,000 for. I...

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Category: Let-to-buy


Posted on 29 April 2008

I want to buy a new home. I have a £159k mortgage on a house which is not selling at the moment and the rental figures for this house won't cover 125 % of the mortgage payments. I also have a holiday house in Scotland with no...

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Category: Current rates & the market, Let-to-buy


Posted on 29 April 2008

My partner and I currently have a joint mortgage with Nationwide. Our property is worth approximately £200K. The outstanding balance is we owe is £130K. Our total take home salaries amount to £60K.

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Category: Buy-to-let, Let-to-buy


Posted on 5 February 2008

Hi, I currently have a 5 year fixed residential repayment mortgage with the Nationwide. Back in October, due to personal circumstance and the possibility of losing my job, I rented out my house and moved in with my parent until I...

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Category: Buy-to-let, Let-to-buy


Posted on 14 December 2007

We have a London flat, (no mortgage outstanding) currently on the market @ £1.5million. We have made an offer of £455,000 on a leasehold (113 years) flat in Bath. I am 78 my wife 79, our joint pension amounts to £50,000 pa. Would...

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Category: Let-to-buy, Mortgages in retirement


Posted on 4 October 2007

Our house is nearly mortgage free (£20K left with virgin one) and it's market value is £525K. My son has started working and earns £35K, we are thinking of moving to a bigger house near his work but want to keep our existing...

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Category: Let-to-buy, Remortgaging


Posted on 1 October 2007

I currently have a 2 bed flat with a mortgage on it. I would like to buy a house with my partner and let my flat to cover the current mortgage on that. What kind of products should I look for, will I need to change my existing...

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Category: Buy-to-let, Let-to-buy


Posted on 20 August 2007

What does rental cover mean?

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Category: Buy-to-let, Let-to-buy, Special circumstances


Posted on 13 August 2007

We own a flat outright which is currently rented. Is it possible to get a buy-to-let or let-to-buy mortgage as we wish to buy a property in Portugal? We also own outright an apartment in Portugal.

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Category: Buying abroad, Let-to-buy


Posted on 23 July 2007

I currently own a house with a fixed mortgage in london. I have recently bought another flat off plan with a friend which I am intending to live in and rent my own house out. Just wondering what mortgages are available and how I...

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Category: Let-to-buy, Remortgaging


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