About 18 months ago I had a meeting with the bank who holds the mortgages on my buy to let properties. I wasn’t in arrears, loans were "performing" but I knew I was fucked and was looking for a medium term solution.
They were so far underwater and weren’t coming back anytime soon. They are all apartments with hefty service charges so I was asking for permission to put them on the market, short sell them with a view to working out a plan for the shortfall. I also floated the idea of allowing me to sell one or two and allow me to buy other properties which might yield a higher rent or that I could renovate to add value, and try to get myself out of the hole.
The manager suggested that they extend the interest only period for another 2 years, because anything could happen. To quote him “You could be earning more money, the rents could go up, the market might even go up or you could win the lotto"
I nearly fell off the chair.