ASK489: Which mortgage deal should I go with? PLUS: Do I need a new EPC?

0:02Hi, I'm Rob. And I'm Rob. And this is Ask Rob and Rob. Yes, it is Ask Rob and Rob. Welcome to the show where we answer two of your property questions every week without fail. And the reason this works is because you send in really interesting questions. And Rob, the way to do that is so, so easy. It's so easy whether you want to leave a voicemail, you want to leave a recording via your computer, or you want to get in touch to maybe see yourself in the Sunday Times where we answer your questions every week as well. You can go to the one place. It's propertyhub.net forward slash ask. Go there, submit your question however you please and from that you may see your question in the Sunday Times or hear yourself on the podcast.

0:45Okay let's listen to our first question which is from Dee. Hi Rob and Rob. My name is Dee. I have a question about credit fees. I'm looking at three options, 5 % credit fee, 3 % and 0 % percentage. According to my calculation, 5 % still works out to be cheaper than the rest. If I add these to the loan, would they eat up my capital gains? And all these are from my current lender they gave me these options as i can switch to these deals do i still consider or do i still shop around but my mortgage broker told me these are the best in the market so far thank you d i appreciate your question they are some big meaty product fees but i'm really i'm pleased to hear that you have done a full calculation because some people would just be put off by the headline numbers or attracted by headline numbers and then not work all the numbers through.

1:48And what I mean by working all the numbers through for those listening is taking into account the product fee and the rate and putting them together to understand what you will be paying out each month and in total. Because if it wasn't clear by the question, the 5 % product fee will come with a lower rate and the 0 % product fee will come with a higher rate. So you may be attracted by the 0 % but punished by the higher rate or vice versa depends on what moves you want motivate you and that's why lenders do this they'll do attractive rates but put a bigger product fee in or they'll do higher rates and then put a zero product fee and it can be a bit of a minefield so I'm really pleased that you're doing your sums and working with a broker the good news is at the time of recording, products are getting better almost daily.

2:38So your broker may well have been telling the truth and saying that was the best option. But today, I'm almost certain it'll be a better option. And depending on your timelines and how much pressure you are under, you may be worth waiting another month. Now, if you're buying a property, you don't have that luxury. But I would still, if you're buying, get them to recheck the rates today and get an update on the best product available. If you are remortgaging and you've got a bit of time left before you have to remortgage then you might want to wait. You can also look at what standard variable rate you will go on after your current deal runs out and you may be prepared to stay on that for a bit while you assess the market further.

3:20It's all about calculations and it's all about good conversations with your broker. Now if your broker comes back to you and says it's this one product, doesn't want to get into the advice around either stuff then look for another broker. There are lots of good ones out there who can help you and some specialists we've had on the podcast you can contact them but there are others as well just go with somebody who's helpful who's willing to look again at the products to find you the best deal so it's a bit of a moving feasty but moving in the right direction i'm pleased to say and like i said i'm really encouraged that you're working out the full numbers to make the best decision possible i'm sure you'll end up in a really good place best of luck okay let's have a second question now this is from ryan hi rob and rob How's it going?

4:02This is Ryan calling from New Haven on the South Coast. I've been an avid listener of yourselves for several years. Over that time, we've purchased two properties. We've got one here in New Haven and the other one more recently in Derby. and each one has a letting agent managing them and their setups are quite different in terms of one really is a lovely family-run agency with a personal touch and the other one is a major player in that particular city where well we feel like we're just another number and a license to print money for them so the exact question that i have is regarding epcs and the conflicting advice between the two agents.

4:48Both properties have recently had their EPC expire, both of them within the current tenancy. So they've both got tenants in them and the EPC has expired. So the Derby letting agent messaged to say that they can arrange another EPC to be carried out so that, and I quote, we're still legal. And so I checked the other property, the New Haven EPC, and that has expired as well. But the letting agent hadn't contacted us about them. So I contacted the New Haven letting agent and said that our EPC is due to expire, so we should crack on and renew it. But they said that there's no reason to do so until we come to re-advertise the property for a new tenancy.

5:36So I double-checked this with good old ChatGPT and other sources and found out that it's to be true. It's only necessary to have an up-to-date EPC when advertising and signing for a new tenancy. So I then went back to the Derby letting agent to say that we would hold off and wait if there is a new tenancy and then would renew the EPC at that stage to save money. The Derby agent replied to say that we would be foolish to do so because not having an up-to-date EPC would mean that we can't invoke section 21 should we need to I then went back to good old chat GPT and it turns out the Derby agent is incorrect or chat GPT is incorrect so I thought I'd ask Rob and or Rob GPT what's the truth do you need an up-to-date EPC to invoke section 21 keep up the good work cheers right i like this get to play kingmaker and decide which agent was correct but the answer is if your epc expires during a tenancy that is no issue at all it'll only become an issue when you want to remarket the property or sell it if you want to use section 21 that is fine too all that matters was that there was a valid epc when you marketed the property last time and you provided a copy of that to the tenant when they moved in so when someone moves in you should be giving them a whole bundle of paperwork including the EPC and you should be getting them to sign to prove that you have provided it.

7:05If it then subsequently elapses then that is no problem. So strictly you don't need to do anything you can save yourself a little bit of money by waiting until you absolutely need it. What I actually do is just renew it as soon as it expires because then it's done and there's no risk that it's going to delay marketing the property next time delay someone moving in or any of that. I prefer to just have it out the way even if that's not financially the optimal thing to do but you might feel differently and especially with all the changes that are coming up around EPCs which we still don't really know the details about you might decide to wait to see if things change in your favour or in fact if you're confident that you'd get a grade c or more today you might want to get it done before things change because the one thing that we do know is that once the methodology changes any existing certificates will continue to be valid.

7:54So there's the risk that the methodology will move against you, in which case just get it done now and then you're all good until it next expires. So there you go, that is the actual answer. But as I've said, what you choose to do with that information, the decision you choose to make when it comes to when to renew is completely up to you. So I hope that helps. So that's just done for the week. Thank you for joining us. Remember, you can get your questions in by going to propertyhub.net forward slash ask. And because many of you do that, we'll be back on Tuesday answering more of your questions in the papers on Sunday, Sunday time specifically.

8:25And of course, we'll be back with the main event, the Property Podcast on Thursday. Until those wondrous events take place, take care, have fun, bye-bye. Bye-bye.