Hi, I'm Rob. And I'm Rob. And this is Ask Rob and Rob.

It is Ask Rob and Rob. Thank you for joining us. It's Tuesday. That means we've got two more of your lovely questions to answer. Those heading your way. But if you've got a question of your own, you need to recap how to send it our way.

Yes, you do, but it is very, very easy. You just go to this one place, and there's a selection of options once you arrive there. Go to propertyhub.com. There you can phone in, if you so wish. You can leave a message directly there on that website. Or you can write in and maybe see your question in the Sunday Times. Whichever option you prefer, we do not mind, but for the purpose of this show, audio helps. And luckily, we've had some audio in. Okay, let's listen to our first question in from Sam. Hey, Robinrovitz, Sam. You're a fan of your podcast. Thank you for all the good stuff you guys do. I have a question, so I'm a first-time buyer, and I think I found a property that seems to be really good value.

But it's a little small still for me and my partner to live in, but I think the investment case is pretty strong.

I understand as a first-time buyer, it's very hard to get a buy-to-let mortgage.

So I wanted to ask your views on working with a broker and a lender

to potentially get it on a regular residential mortgage and get a consent to lend, which I believe

is sometimes an option. Thanks once again for all the good work you guys do and would love to

hear your thoughts on this. Sam, thank you for your

question. So doing what you want to do, if I understand correctly, is buying a property but not

living in it is not allowed. So you can't get a residential mortgage, pretend you're going to live in

it and then turn it to a buy-to-let. Now, that said, I know first-hand people have done it. And I also

know people who've got away with it. But it is a risk. And if the lenders find out they could black

mark you, which could affect your lending prospects in the future. At least that's what I'm

told. I don't know actually happening to anyone, but that is what I'm told. So the sensible, safe advice

for me to give you is don't do that unless you are prepared to take a reasonable risk around

your future lending prospects. Now, if you are willing to live in that property and you just so

happen after a few months, decide to move out and rent out instead, that's okay. But you will

have to live in the property for a short while before you do that. So it depends on how close it is

to where you would want to live anyway, how much of a compromise it is for your needs. But if you

did that, that would be a way of achieving

what you want. But that said, I think you may have more options open to you than you think.

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