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You are not wrong. I wonder how much damage they will do. Can't be worse than the last lot of conservatives though. I voted a local independent as I did not want my vote going to the major parties. After watching PM questions, I believe that the house is just turning in to a bunch of children. I could not believe what was being said and the pathetic jeers for either side

no point in worrying - alcohol is here for. a reason!

Will be interesting to see how labour do in the coming years... Current election results put them way ahead of anyone else. Not sure if we should be worried or not🤣

There's been a lot of murmuring from both BoE and the Fed about rate cuts so they're definitely preparing for it, it'll all be timed around the elections though - I know they're not supposed to be linked but I'm sure they are lol. When banks start raising their rates it's often because they're expecting rate cuts. It's all very uncertain though so right thing to do to just lock in at a rate that is affordable for you - sorry your plans to move didn't work out!

Everyone is just guessing what's going to happen but there is no certainty. I just wish I had locked in a new rate 18 months a go but the reason I didn't is we were planning on moving shortly. It's backfired and now I'll be paying more and with how the housing market currently is we'll be staying put for a while. I'm going to see what happens with the next BoE meeting and how many vote to lower the base rate, if any do. Then I'll accept the 4.46% fix I've locked in. That will reduce the interest by nearly £100 a month which I'll then use to overpay on the capital. Plus add extra to that so I'm at least clearing some of it before we do move in a few years - hopefully. I'm just thankful my mortgage is small compared to some who have overstretched themselves.

It's always a gamble... But fixing for 5 years gives you the certainty of outgoings, at least for your mortgage. FYI your mortgage adviser is talking out his backside, they are no wiser than you or I for what rates will be in a few years.

Santander have announced rates are increasing tomorrow, so it looks like I was wise to lock the current one in.

I have got the 4.46% fixed rate locked in for 14 days and will see what happens at the next BoE meeting. My mortgage broker says I need to do what's right for me and I would prefer to know what is going out each month. I think his opinion is stick with the tracker for now even if it is more. It's probably going to drop 0.25% in the next couple of months or so and maybe further by the end of the year. He's confident by 2026 it could be as low as 3% but it's all speculation. With the 5 year fix Santander will charge an ERC of 5% in the first 2 years, 3% the next 2 and 1% in the last. If we move in 2-4 years time and need to repay a chunk of the mortgage back that's going to wipe out any saving I would've made fixing the rate and overpaying. If I extend the term and switch back to a repayment mortgage that makes the payments more comfortable on the tracker. Our tracker is 0.34% and we have that until September 2025. By then we could be seeing alot of rates under 4% so maybe the tracker is better. I would just have to hope the base rate doesn't actually increase rather than drop! Unlikely but you just never know.

It's always a gamble... But fixing for 5 years would give you the financial certainty that you know your monthly outgoings

Seems some providers are increasing fixed rates again! I have no idea what to do now. I can take 4.46% for 5 years, which is 1.17% less than my current tracker but once I accept it I can't change to a lower rate penalty free. It could take a year for the BoE to drop the base rate by 1%, that's if it even goes that low. Will find out what my exact payrise will be next week so can then make a decision.

as usual its always the smaller businesses that take the brunt end of stupid legislation...

And existing owners can't do this without paying stamp duty again........

unless you set yourself up as a limited company... I can see why all this is putting private landlords off

Yep - as an example, interest is fully deductible for corporates, not for private landlords.

You mean there is a different tax relief regime?

Definitely - not all private landlords are great and the system definitely needs more control in place for how they operate but now that all reliefs have been removed for private landlords but not for corporate landlords it's created the perfect environment for them to simply buy up everything (which they are doing rapidly).

Is there a war on private landlords? My experience of renting when I was younger was not a good one. The balance of power was always with the landlords. We should have rent controls here and I agree that everyone should have an affordable home. Having said that, stopping speculation is easier said than done - specially when we have politicians that are as bent as nine bob notes 🤣

I didn't realise lots of property was being bought by investment companies. That is so wrong. People should be entitled to buy their own home at an affordable price. I was in North Norfolk today, we're looking to move close to Norwich and I couldn't believe the difference in price looking at the estate agent window. A 4 bedroom detached house with double garage was £325,000. Close to Norwich you're looking at around £450,000. Where we currently live you could double that! 😳

Exactly, it's a perfect storm. Also the war on the private landlord was made to look like it'll free up a lot of property for people to buy, but that's not happening at all - it's all being snapped up by the likes of Blackstone in their 1000s so the property market is about to get a whole lot worse........

I completely agree. People may not have invested in property if they were getting a good return on their savings. Property values probably wouldn't have increased so much allowing more people to buy too. Now we have lots of people with massive mortgages who's fixed rate deals have finished or will do soon, that are facing having to pay hundreds extra each month. It's easy to say well they would've been stress tested but no one could've predicted utility bills, fuel, food etc increasing in price like it has at the same time.

This is the key, if interest rates had never dropped to such a ridiculously low level we never would have ended up in the mess that we are in. It's funny when you think that those who created the 2008 financial crisis are the ones who have benefited the most from the post 2008 financial environment......... 🙄

Gotcha! 👍🏼 Yes I agree, everyone should be able to buy a house, especially when rents are usually more than the mortgage payments. My Dad had a second house but sold it last year after his tenant moved. He did well out of it but now interest rates have gone up he's making the same return from having the money in the bank as he was in the rent he received.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/category/directors-dealings

The stock market seems to be hitting new highs - Dow at 40,000, FTSE at whatever it is - seems to be doing ok but I see that insiders, ie company owners and directors are making big sales cashing out some of their stakes. Hard to say what the next few months will bring, if I knew or was any good I would be a lot richer than I am

Hi Rich We moved part was through a fixed term mortgage so had to take a second mortgage to bridge the gap from old house to new. Wish I did own another property as that's where the real investment is (wrongly so). A house should be a home, not a capital investment