Rachel Lacey
Tim Leonard
A student mortgage might appeal if you think paying money to a landlord feels like pouring money down the drain. In particular, a buy-for-uni mortgage, as they are often also called, might seem attractive if the place you’re renting leaves something to be desired.
In addition to providing you with a stable home of your own, buying a property as a student is a great way of taking your first step on the housing ladder. Renting rooms out to friends or fellow students may also provide help towards mortgage costs, as well as useful extra income.
Can a student get a mortgage?
It is possible to get a mortgage as a student but before offering any mortgage, lenders will want to know that you can comfortably afford monthly repayments. For students without a reliable or substantial income from employment that can prove tricky, and lenders will reject an application on this basis alone.
However, some lenders will accept applications from students. Rather than basing their decision on your finances alone, they most likely will request that you provide a guarantor who can step in to make the mortgage repayments if you can’t.
How to get a student mortgage
In the case of student mortgages, lenders are likely to request that guarantors are either your parents or another close family member and that they own their own home. There may also be a maximum age for guarantors – typically between 75 and 80 when the mortgage term ends.
Although first-time buyers can get on the property ladder with a 5% or 10% deposit, student borrowers are likely to need more – often around 15% mark – to reflect the additional risk they pose.
There are a limited number of 100% student mortgages, which mean you don’t need to put down a deposit at all. Often referred to as buy-for-uni mortgages, the downside is that mortgage rates are likely to be higher than deals that require a deposit. Parents will also need to make a greater financial commitment to support the purchase – for example, by putting their home up as security and by investing a lump sum (acting as your deposit) in a linked savings account.
If you have enough money to put up a decent deposit – either with parental or grandparents’ support through a gifted deposit or through an inheritance from a grandparent – a conventional student mortgage may be the cheapest option.
Although parents’ names may be on either type of student mortgage, they won’t be on the title deeds of the property. This is beneficial for them as it spares them the 3% stamp duty charged to people investing in second homes.
» MORE: What help is there to help build my mortgage deposit?
How do student mortgages work?
Once you have jumped through the hurdles to prove that you (or your family) can afford the mortgage, a student mortgage works in the same way as any other.
Repayments are made monthly over the term of your mortgage or until you come to sell. However, if you cannot afford to make repayments the lender will turn to your guarantor or other named borrower on your mortgage.
» MORE: Calculate your mortgage repayments
Which lenders offer student mortgages?
Mortgages for students are available from a number of the larger high street banks and building societies. The more niche 100% loan-to-value (LTV) student mortgages are limited to a handful of smaller building societies. A mortgage adviser may also be able to help if you’re struggling to find a suitable deal or want advice as to whether a student mortgage is right for you.
» MORE: Best mortgage lenders
What types of properties can you buy with a student mortgage?
You won’t be confined to new builds, like with some homeownership schemes, or have to buy designated ‘student accommodation’. However, the lender may stipulate what and where you can buy.
For example, the property may need to be within a 10-mile radius of a university and have three to four bedrooms to ensure there is space for rent-paying house mates. Ex-local authority properties may be off the cards too.
What happens after graduation?
At the end of their course students have three choices: they may decide to sell the property; carry on living there and renting out rooms to help pay the mortgage; or move out but keep renting it.
Before making any decisions, it is important to check your lender’s policy. If you intend to stay living in the property, it may need to be remortgaged on to a standard mortgage, while if you decide to move out but keep the property as a rental you will likely need to convert it to a buy-to-let mortgage.
Student mortgages versus buy-to-let mortgages
Purchasing a property to rent to students is a popular investment, and most landlords would typically use a buy-to-let mortgage to finance the purchase. However, matters are complicated if parent investors plan to let the property out to their child, or any other family member.
If less than 40% of the property is to be occupied by family, then you may be able to get a standard buy-to-let mortgage. But if that’s not the case, a so-called family buy-to-let mortgage is required.
» MORE: Everything you need to know about family buy-to-let mortgages
Parents using a buy-to-let mortgage will also have to pay the 3% stamp duty surcharge because they are purchasing a second property. Student mortgages avoid this because the parents’ names won’t be on the title deeds.
Buy-to-let mortgage interest rates may be lower, however, reducing monthly mortgage repayments.
Student mortgage pros and cons
Buying a student property may seem like an effective use of the family’s cash but it is not without its hassles.
The student, or their parents, will become a landlord with all the responsibilities that entails – from finding tenants to collecting rent, sorting the inventory and maintaining the property. This could be stressful to say the least for a teenager renting to friends, particularly if there are problems with rent payments, or damage to the property.
It is also important to note that with more purpose-built student accommodation being built with modern facilities, the market is becoming more competitive and students’ expectations are rising. That means you may have to do more than give the walls a quick lick of paint to get the accommodation up to scratch and to a lettable standard.
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