For pension planning, many British Expats invest in UK properties to let out to tenants. It could be said that as UK housing displays long-term price inflation, if you are a British expatriates living abroad, investing in property in the UK could make financial sense.
A minimum of a 25% deposit on the property will be required.
If you are currently working and living outside of the UK, there are lending options open to you*.
Lenders will wish to know the answers to the following questions to grant their lending approval:
- Are you (or your joint applicant) a British passport holder with ‘British Citizen’ noted in the nationality section of your passport?
- Are you (or your partner) a UK expat and will you still be expat at the time the mortgage completes?
- Do you want to buy a property in England or Wales?
- Is the property for Buy to Let purposes only and not for you or a family member to live in, or to support a property purchase for a UK resident?
- The property to be purchased must NOT be:
- A House of Multiple Occupation (HMO)
- Under Construction
- Grade A / Grade 1 Listed
- Affected by Invasive Plant Species, e.g. Knotweed
- A flat in a block over 5 floors with no access to a lift
- A Ex-local Authority flat exceeding 5 floors
- A Studio flat / Deck Access flat / gallerised (mezzanine) flat / bed sits
- Let to Students
- A Holiday Let
- A Flat exceeding 48 units in the block.
- Can you confirm that you do NOT plan to live in the property in the future?
- If in Employment, are you (or your joint applicant) employed by a clearly identifiable well established employer? Can you provide 3 months of pay slips and your employment or pension contract in English?
- If Self Employed, can you provide evidence that annual income is in excess of £60,000 p.a. sterling/ £75,000 p.a. currency equivalent, and confirmed by an accountancy firm? Can you provide two years accounts (an average figure will be taken into consideration, if the second year’s income figure is lower than the previous year’s income figure, the latter figure will be used for the mortgage application)
- Can you provide 3 months of bank statements into which your salary/pension is paid?
- Do you have a UK bank or building society account from which Direct Debits can be arranged to pay your mortgage
- Will the property be let on a short / long term Tenancy Agreement and not used as a holiday let, House in Multiple Occupancy or bedsit?
- If you currently own other properties which are mortgaged, can you provide 12 months of mortgage statements for each property?
- Can you provide 5 years of consecutive address history and your last address of where you lived in the UK?
*subject to change, credit checks and a property valuation.
