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No, not while it has a standard buy to let mortgage on it. Buy to let lending is granted on the basis that you will not live in the property, and moving in breaches your mortgage conditions. If living there is the plan, the property needs to move onto a residential mortgage first.
That answer surprises people, because it is your property and it feels like it should be your choice. But the mortgage was priced, assessed and regulated on the basis of a tenant paying rent, not you living in your own asset, and the difference between those two situations matters more than most landlords realise.
Why lenders do not allow it
Two reasons. First, the sums were done on the rent. A buy to let is assessed mainly on what a tenant pays, stress tested against the mortgage interest, with your own income often playing a small part. Move yourself in and the rent disappears, but the mortgage does not. Second, regulation. Lending on your own home is regulated by the FCA with a set of protections built for owner occupiers. Most buy to let lending sits outside those rules precisely because you do not live there. An owner living in a property on an unregulated mortgage is a situation lenders are not set up to hold, so their conditions rule it out.
Living in a property on a standard buy to let mortgage breaches your conditions.
The clean route is remortgaging onto a residential mortgage before you move in.
Letting to a close family member needs a regulated buy to let instead.
What happens if I move in anyway?
It is a breach of your mortgage conditions, not a criminal offence, but the consequences are real. The lender can insist you remortgage, charge you differently, or at worst demand full repayment of the loan. Your landlord insurance is likely to be invalid from the day you move in, because it insured a tenanted property. And lenders do find out more often than people expect, through the electoral roll, credit records and correspondence addresses that quietly move to the property. If your plans have changed, the answer is not to move in quietly. It is to ring the lender, or me, and get the mortgage changed to match the new plan.
The clean way to move into your rental
The route is a remortgage onto a residential product, done before you move in, ideally timed for the end of a tenancy. The assessment changes completely: instead of the rent, it is your own income and outgoings that decide what you can borrow, the way any home mortgage works. That switch is not automatic and not everyone passes it, particularly if the borrowing was sized on a strong rent that your salary would not support. Timing also matters if you are inside a fixed product, because an early repayment charge can make waiting a few months the better move. I have written about the reverse switch, changing a residential mortgage to a buy to let, and the same principle runs both ways: the product has to match who actually lives there.
If the property used to be your home before you let it out, the position is the same but the history helps, and I have covered that situation in renting out your home and moving back in.
What if a family member lives there instead?
Letting to a close family member, a parent or an adult child paying you rent, is not a standard buy to let either. Because of the family relationship, it falls under regulated lending, and it needs a regulated family buy to let product from the smaller group of lenders that offer them. I have a full page on family buy to let mortgages, including why below market rent is accepted and how the assessment leans on your income rather than the rent.
Speak to an expert
Thinking of moving into a property you let out, or buying somewhere you might live in later? Call me on 01425 203055 or email info@htgmortgages.com and I will set out the right order to do things in.
Common situations I see
The tenancy has ended and you are between homes, so a few weeks in the empty rental seems harmless. A retirement plan where the rental was always going to become the final home. A sale that fell through, leaving you with somewhere to live sitting empty. All understandable, and all the same answer: the mortgage has to change before the use does. A short conversation with the lender or a broker sorts most of these out properly, and it is a far better conversation to have before moving in than after being found out.
The one situation with no workaround: buying a property on a buy to let mortgage while intending to live in it from the start. That is not a grey area, it is mortgage fraud, because the application says a tenant will live there and you know otherwise. Some people are tempted because buy to let borrowing can look easier to get than a residential mortgage. Do not do it, and be wary of anyone who suggests it.
Planning to live there one day?
If the long term plan is to end up living in the property, say so at the start. It changes which product fits, how the borrowing should be structured and what the exit looks like, and none of that is a problem when it is planned rather than confessed. The right order depends on your income, the tenancy dates and the product you are on now, and working that through is what an advice appointment is for. Call me on 01425 203055 and I will map it out with you.
Need Personal Mortgage Advice?
Every buyer’s situation is different. While this guide explains the general rules, the right mortgage for you depends on your income, deposit, credit history and future plans. If you’d like tailored advice, I’m here to help, with whole-of-market coverage.
