First Mortgage News

For several months now the mortgage industry has seen mortgage rates plummet to unprecedented levels as the mortgage price war continues between lenders. With a rise in base rate not predicted until the latter part of the year at the earliest, many homeowners have a perfect opportunity to take full advantage of cheaper home loans. […]

In the year and a half before the introduction of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), several lenders tightened their interest-only criteria, whilst others, including Nationwide, NatWest and Coventry Building Society, withdrew from the market altogether. With an interest-only mortgage, as the name implies, your monthly repayments only go towards paying off the interest on your […]

Contractor mortgages are often regarded as a more complex subject and something of an uphill struggle for those who apply for them. One of the main reasons behind this is that contractors are not regarded as your regular type of employee. Their income patterns are typically irregular and are often not guaranteed for a significant […]

Buy to let lenders who are members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), have agreed to a new statement of practice, which is intended to “provide clarity about how responsible buy to let lenders operate”. Initially 31 lenders, accounting for approximately 90% of the buy to let market, have already embraced the statement, with […]

New LBTT Rates Replace Stamp Duty Changes to the rate of property tax payable in Scotland came into effect from 1 April. With the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), anyone purchasing a property costing less than £145,000 will not be paying any tax, an increase of £20,000 on the previous threshold.This is certainly […]

The Scottish Government’s decision to revise its rates and bands for the new property tax is welcome news for many first time buyers and home-movers alike. The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) comes into effect from today (1 April 2015) and will result in more than 50% of all household transactions paying no tax […]