Hotscot

In a forum where terminology and precise information is valued, as it should be, always, Pulaski's pedantry accuracy is very welcome.

Georgette

Hey everyone

Just thought i would come on and give an update. The offices are based in Tysons VA so looking at properties in this area. My husband had a meeting with someone from HR this week. They have asked us to write down everything we would like included in the package and any financial commitments we have here.
They are only doing a 2 year visa for now, we own our house here so they are saying they may pay for our mortgage for us so we don't have to sell but not sure if this is going to effect his salary. Once the HR lady has our requests she will put together an expense proposal and it is to be authorised by is manager and his managers manager. I personally think the cost of moving us is going to be quite high considering we are a family, but my husbands manager really wants him out there so fingers crossed

civilservant

Be aware that any benefits received as part of the move are taxable - including them giving you the money to pay the mortgage (if that happens)) so you will want to ask them to 'gross up' the payment so you do not end up worse off than you expect.

Georgette

Ah great advice thank you

Pulaski

Tax planning tip - don't ask the company to "pay your mortgage" ….. have the company sign a lease to rent your home. ….. Then under US law all and any expenses you pay for your home in the UK would be tax deductible from your rental income - mortgage interest, repairs and maintenance, insurance, property taxes (assuming you continued to pick that up) and the one you probably aren't aware of: depreciation, which is 1/40th of the cost of the building, but not the land (rule of thumb: the building is worth 80% of what you paid). By the time you have deducted all those expenses from your rental income, there would likely be little or no tax payable in the US ….. and this is totally normal for rental properties in the US, so don't worry about it "looking weird" on your US tax return (in fact it is even weirder for US rental properties because the depreciation is 50% greater! ) Anyway …. in the UK your rental income would, presumably, be not much more than your tax allowance anyway, so little or no tax would be due in the UK either.

Georgette

So i don't know if they would be able to sign a lease to rent our home as we have only just swapped mortgage providers and under our terms and conditions we aren't eligible to rent our house out until we have been with them for 12 months? does that make sense, i assume it would still count if its a company signing the lease?

Pulaski

That could be iffy then, and would presumably depend on how comfortable you would be "forgetting" to tell your mortgage lender, as I suspect that many people do, and suffer no ill consequences. …. At least in your case you wouldn't have the problem of a tenant tearing the place apart or setting it on fire with a chip pan.

robtuck

You can still ask the mortgage provider, given you have no intention to sell and will continue to pay the mortgage on time and you are not asking to switch to a Buy To Let mortgage, they may well approve in 12 month periods especially as nobody will actually be living in the property.

Georgette

Yes hopefully as i'm not actually taking on tenants it might be doable, i just need to change our home insurance to non occupied

spouse of scouse

Yes, it would still count if the company signed the lease. You're wise in not considering breaching the terms and conditions of your mortgage.

Georgette

My husband has suggested just not telling them but im not sure how i feel about it, in the rare case they find out it would really effect our mortgage i think and i don't think it's worth it

spouse of scouse

Read this to your husband
Firstly, you will be committing mortgage fraud by deliberately staying on a residential mortgage while letting your property and not telling your lender. It's a lower level of mortgage fraud than the kind that usually sees people end up in court, but it means your lender could call in your mortgage - that is demand you pay it up in full and leave - at short notice and that you would have to tell any future lenders that this happened.

Secondly, if you let your property you need landlords buildings insurance. If you just have a standard residential policy and your house burns down, your insurer might refuse to pay out. There is even a risk that if you do take out a landlords policy.

Underlying all this is your mortgage agreement. When you signed your mortgage contract, the terms and conditions almost certainly said that if you wanted to let your home out you must seek permission. If you break this agreement and the lender finds out, then you are at their mercy.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...ng-lender.html

Pulaski

I would lean towards siding with your husband. …. If you dig in the small print you may also find that leaving your home vacant for a very extended period breaches a clause too, not least because an extended period of it being vacant will cause problems with your insurance coverage.

Remember a lease is a private document, and the mortgage company wouldn't see any sign of the house being rented even if they came and looked.

Pulaski

Er, but they'll have insurance issues anyway! Normal homeowners insurance doesn't cover a property if it is vacant for an extended period (more than 30 days IIRC), so they're going to be stuck telling porkies to avoid having to admit that they need special insurance because the house is vacant. …. Or is that OK in your book, even though being evasive with the mortgage company is not OK?

MidAtlantic

Not telling your insurers or mortgage company that the house will either be sitting empty or let is likely a breach of the conditions in both cases. Just think of the potential consequences eg house burns down and you have no insurance. Don't go there.

Decide if you want to leave the house empty or let it, then calculate the additional costs and put that in your husband's "package" as his employer has asked him.