Q We have recently extended our home to allow my father-in-law to live with us. As part of the extension we had a new kitchen built for us, and a new downstairs shower-room with a WC for my father-in-law and also a small living area. He uses the old kitchen so we now have two.
Our fixed-rate mortgage is coming to an end soon so we thought we would get the house valued. It was valued at £350,000 and we currently owe £160,000 so we were very pleased. The estate agent then said we may struggle to get a new mortgage as we have two kitchens.
Is this right? SL
A I’m afraid that your estate agent is right. Unless they are there for religious reasons, lenders tend not to like properties with two kitchens. They take the view that having two kitchens makes it possible to rent out part of the property which, in turn, makes a residential mortgage inappropriate.
However, some lenders may be prepared to consider offering you a mortgage on your home so it would be worthwhile using a mortgage adviser who is able to identify a lender prepared to be flexible.
The other thing you need to worry about is council tax. According to guidance from the Valuation Office Agency, it is required by law to apply a separate council tax band to every “building, or part of building, which has been constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation”.
This would apply if your father-in-law’s living accommodation had its own facilities for sleeping and preparing food as well as washing facilities and a toilet – all either with independent access or access from a hallway, landing or other common area.
But you shouldn’t need to worry if your father-in-law doesn’t have a self-contained unit – if, for example, his bedroom is upstairs along the landing from yours and the other accommodation he uses is downstairs.
Muddled about mortgages? Concerned about conveyancing? Email your homebuying and borrowing worries to Virginia Wallis at virginia.wallis.freelance@theguardian.com
