Husband wants to remortgage our house

[Bluedolphin1971]

DH has always said he would like to own property that he can let out, then sell when we retire. He is looking into this more seriously now but I'm really not sure about it.

We have a mortgage on our own home, it's only for approx £36000 but we have about £220000 worth of equity. We only have about 5 years left on our current mortgage.

I've told husband we should wait approx one year because he works in the oil industry as as we all know that is a dodgy area at the moment. His work is very quiet and understandably I'm concerned. I only earn about £900 per month and we have children.

He keep saying we need to Do this now (he is 47 and I'm 44). I Have asked him to wait about a year and see how his work is but he's not happy. I feel I'm going to be bullied into this because if he doesn't get his own way he will be like a bloody man child and throw a right strop which I can't be bothered with.

He doesn't worry about his work, his attitude has always been I will get another job, but I'm losing sleep over this, and although he knows this he isn't bothering.

Is it me being unreasonable and this is actually a very good idea or is it him being unreasonable. I thought it was perfectly reasonable asking him to wait a year.

He can't make you do anything, you know that. He needs your consent to remortgage.

Personally, I think there still are possibilities for btl to be an ok investment (my property is worth 110kish and rents for 550, even with expenses and the change in the system that's an ok return) but it's not the gold mine some think of. I wouldn't assume that rent from a btl will cover a full-repayment mortgage unless you have a very good deposit (in which case there might be better investments for the money).

Honestly, if he doesn't have around a 40% deposit in cash then he needs to get that first surely? He can do then do this without remortgaging - just takes a btl mortgage. Chances of losing your family home are minimal (unless there's a massive market crash) and he gets his second property. Happy times surely?

OP, you do have some control here. You can say to him that you are not happy with an equity release & are not happy to manage the property. If he wants to go ahead, he must raise a deposit without involving your current home. And employ an agent to manage it.

See an IFA with him, go through figures & ways of raising finance, perhaps when he sees how little is in it financially he will see sense.

As others have said, BTL has sailed.

My DP works in property & I am a LL. We both agree another recession/market correction is due soon - to the extent that his company has changed policy in the last month or so, by stopping/reducing future property investment. The owner of his company is a millionaire (self-made) & very astute.

Don't let yourself be bullied into this.

You would be a total fool to let this man bully you into doing something so incredibly stupid.

'I feel I'm going to be bullied into this because if he doesn't get his own way he will be like a bloody man child and throw a right strop which I can't be bothered with.'

Then let him strop! Why put up with behaviour like that?

You 'hold him back'? I'd tell him, there's the door then.

i am getting worried on your behalf,op. If you and dh are having differences and he is saying you are holding him back, all the more reason to hold on to what you have and not to allow any more debt. Plus he is getting advice from a man who operates on his own laws makes it worse. For you and your 10 yr old ds's sake sign nothing and look to protect you and ds.

Forgot to ask if you are in Scotland, OP? (Just with the mention of the oil industry).

If so, there are so many implications of BTL, beyond the financial side eg compulsory LL registration, being unable to charge tenants for inventories/signing tenancies/credit checks etc, these are unique to Scotland.

And of course all the usual deposit scheme stuff, gas/electrical/legionella checks (the buck stops with you on these as a LL, even if you use an agency). Not to mention credit checking/referencing, inspections, checkouts, repairs. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's a lot of work. If he is seriously thinking you will do this well as a novice, he is deluded.

All of these costs need to be borne by the LL. And using an agency adds to the cost too. Mustn't forget capital gains tax when selling either.

You can see why few people make a decent amount of money from being a LL. And why the forthcoming tax changes will squeeze profit margins further.

Stand firm.

If you're in the North - East, property is not a good idea just now. The market is falling and is likely to get much worse. People are handing back the keys to their houses, things haven't reached rock bottom yet with redundancies. Keep your house safe, you're so close to it being paid off, and would have the option potentially to switch to interest only for a period of time to reduce outgoings until things pick up again. Don't sign anything.

This situation with oil is temporary, it's not sustainable for any of the oil - producing countries to keep selling so low. Try to reduce outgoings/bank what you can meantime, you may have to ride it out for a year or two. The equity which your DH wants to gamble with may be needed just to keep you afloat until oil picks up again.

It's still (just about) sustainable for Saudi - hence the issue. I still think we've got at least two years of low prices (if not more) unless Saudi destabilises (which isn't outside the realms of possibility). Honestly if his job is easily transferable outside the sector then he should be looking to move.

I'm not in Aberdeen, I'm in the GCC. It's a mess here. Everyone's concerned about job security because the money from the o&g sector funds everything. Still 2009/10 pretty much passed by unnoticed for me so I guess I'm getting my comeuppance now.

Sorry, I'm not helping your anxiety! Do not sign anything you don't want to. It's your house too. If he desperately wants to get into btl there are plenty of properties that are fairly cheap - he can start with one of those and not remortgage.