Mortgage Lenders Are Refusing To Move Your Mortgage – Even Though The Small Print Says You Can

The Financial Ombudsman Service – a free service that can compel banks and other financial institutions to compensate consumers when they are treated unfairly has been receiving increasing numbers of complaints from mortgage customers who want to transfer their mortgages to a new property according to lovemoney.com.

Many mortgages are portable. When you sell your home and buy another, you can move your mortgage to a new property. This process is called 'porting'.

The Financial Ombudsman's annual report states that mortgage complaints as a whole are down to 7,100 in 2011 from 7,500 in 2010. And while it does not give exact figures about porting, it writes that it has seen an increase in the number of complaints from people who have had their ports refused.
The problem is that lenders reassess home owners as if they were new customers, yet they have also toughened up their lending criteria in the past few years. Hence, if you fail the new criteria, you can be turned down for the port even if you don't want to borrow any extra money and your financial circumstances have improved.

The FOS writes 'It is unusual to see mortgage contracts that allow the consumer unconditionally to “port” their mortgage as a contractual right.' It seems that lenders might not have explained this clearly enough to some aggrieved customers.

If you have recently gone self-employed, you may be rejected as more risky, even if your income has risen. While this might also have happened to you before the financial crisis, it appears more likely now, since lenders are being more conservative.

Mark Green from imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit, community lead estate agency firm says “mortgage lenders should make it clear that the porting of the mortgage (moving your mortgage from one property to another) will only be allowed if your circumstances have not changed.  If your circumstances have changed, lenders should tell customers they will be assessed as a new customer which may mean they may not be able to port the mortgage”

House Prices in South West Continue to Rise Despite Depressed Market

House prices in the South West rose by 0.6% in May 2011, compared to April 2011.  According to property portal website Rightmove, the average asking price in May was £262,243 compared to April’s £260,593.  This is despite the gloomy picture many experts are painting of the market.

Seller’s are now waiting for around 90 days to obtain a sale says the Rightmove report.

“Seller’s need to be aware of just how difficult the housing market is” says Mark Green from imove Cornwall.  “The South West has been hit hard with the average earnings to property price gap increasing, making it unaffordable for many local people to buy a property”.

imove Cornwall is calling on the Government to step-in and help local people.

“We believe that in some Cornish towns, property prices are still relatively too high.  Something needs to be done to ensure that local people can afford to purchase homes in their local area”

Graph from Rightmove, showing the average time a property is on the market

Rental costs will keep rising, says Rics

Rents are continuing to rise for tenants and more increases are expected in the coming months, a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)  has suggested.

About 42% more surveyors reported a rise in rents than those who saw a fall during the three months to the end of April, the RICS survey said.

Some 33% more surveyors expect rents to go up than those predicting a fall.

RICS spokesman James Scott-Lee says "Although we are beginning to see more mortgages aimed at first-time buyers, many potential homeowners are still restricted from getting a foot on the property ladder, leading to increased demand in an already oversubscribed rental market".

"There has been a small uplift in supply, but the imbalance between demand and availability can only mean rents will continue to rise."

First-time buyers

A separate survey, published last month, said that rental costs in England and Wales had reached a record high in April 2011.  LSL Property Services said the average rent stood at £692 a month.

“There is a distinct lack of first time buyers looking for property” says Mark Green, Chairman of imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not for profit online estate agents based in Wadebridge and Truro.

“Since the launch of our new service two weeks ago we have had many buyers register on our database, but not one first time buyer” says Green.  “And that’s despite the fact that we are selling, what I think is a very, very cheap first time buyer property in St Dennis, near St Austell, for just £45,000”.

imove Cornwall - as seen in The Observer newspaper!

We continue to be overwhelmed by the local and national media coverage we are receiving.  Today imove Cornwall has an article printed about us in The Observer newspaper.  The article focuses on the new wave of online estate agents who are saving seller's thousands of pounds, just like imove Cornwall.

imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit online estate agents which charges a low one-off fixed fee of just £399 to sell any size property, anywhere in Cornwall.

"There has been some negative criticism of imove" says Chairman Mark Green.  "However this criticism is from other estate agents.  I think it's difficult for traditional agents to accept that we have decided to setup a not-for-profit social enterprise which invests profits for the local community rather than for investors or shareholders".

"It's not all about making profit for yourself" says Mark, "there are vulnerable people in my community that need financial help and if we can raise significant funds to help local good causes, then that makes me feel a lot better than making profit for myself"

You can read the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jun/05/cut-price-estate-agents


www.imovecornwall.org

Dan Rogerson, Minister of Parliament for North Cornwall on imove Cornwall

imove Cornwall has received a welcome comment from Dan Rogerson, MP.

"Your new social enterprise sounds very interesting and I am sure that there is room in the local market place for it"

Dan Rogerson is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North Cornwall. He is campaigning for a fair deal for Cornwall.

He joined the Liberal Democrats while still at school to help fight for the election of Paul Tyler, who was Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall from 1992-2005. Dan then graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a degree in politics including a work placement in Parliament with Paddy Ashdown, the then party leader. From 1996 until 2002 Dan worked in local Government and then for a University while fighting political campaigns in his own time. He was elected a councillor in 1999, gaining a seat from Labour with a 27% swing. He then served as Deputy Group Leader.
He was elected to represent his home constituency in Parliament on 5th May 2005

imove Cornwall makes the Cornish Guardian newspaper

This mornings edition of the Cornish Guardian newspaper has carried a storey about imove Cornwall, the UK's first not-for-profit estate agents.

Mark Green, Chairman of imove Cornwall says "we are of course delighted with the press coverage we are experiencing. and hope this leads to more people choosing imove to sell their property".

imove Cornwall is an online estate agents covering the whole of Cornwall.  For just £399 people can sell their property and save thousands of pounds.

Famous philanthropist wishes imove well

Dame Stephanie Shirley (http://www.steveshirley.com/) , the famous philanthropist this week sent imove these very kind comments:

"What an interesting, and ambitious, enterprise! 

You won’t be popular with the established agents but I wish you well!"

FROM WIKI : Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, DBE, FRA, FREng, FRSA (born September 16, 1933, Dortmund, Germany) is a British businesswoman and philanthropist. She originally arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied Kindertransport child refugee.^[1] She was placed with foster parents and later re-united with her biological parents, but later claimed she "never really bonded with them".^{[citation needed]}
In 1962, Shirley founded the software company, F.I. Group (later Xansa, acquired by Steria), and was concerned with creating work opportunities for women with dependents - and employed only women until 1975's Sex Discrimination Act made that illegal. She adopted the name "Steve" to help her in the male-dominated business world.^[2] She officially retired at the age of 60 in 1993 and has taken up philanthropy since then.
Shirley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours,^[3] and promoted Dame Commander (DBE) in the New Year Honours, 2000.^[4]
In 1987, she gained the Freedom of the City of London. She was President of the British Computer Society from 1989 to 1990. In 1985, she was awarded a Recognition of Information Technology Award. In 1999 she received the Mountbatten Medal.^{[citation needed]}
She has reportedly donated most^[5] of her £150m wealth (from the internal sale to the company staff and later the flotation of F.I. Group) to charity during her retirement.^[6] Beneficiaries include the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the Oxford Internet Institute, part of the Oxford University, through the Shirley Foundation. Her late son Giles (1963–1998) was autistic and she became an early member of the National Autism Society.^[7] This special interest has led her to instigate and fund research in this field, for example, through the Autism Research Centre led by Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen.