webgum

Hello all,

In a bit of predicament as we want to pull some capital out of our house in the UK so we can buy here. I spoke to our mortgage provider and they said no way, they do not allow this.

So, I've been trawling around looking to remortgage our 'buy to let' with another provider, but everyone requires me to be a UK resident.

DISASTER.

Anyone out there done this, and if so - who did you use?

thanks for any help in advance.

Pomster

find a mortgage broker who can help- we did this but the mortgage broker we used I think has retired.

it was not easy but can be done- as long as rental income covers payments and you can prove income

scrubbedexpat055

The other issue maybe LTV ratios, as these have got a lot tougher.



Found these, no idea if they are any good, or just robbers

Peter

Scotty1

Not done it from Oz but previously used these guys and found them helpful

http://www.lcplc.co.uk/buy-to-let/

Think you will need a broker on this one

Scotty

Famous 5

We used Halifax, about a year ago, as it was one of the best deals for expats at the time. It wasn't really a buy-to-let mortgage (even though we are overseas and the property is let out) because we do intend to return.

We used London & Country as the broker - www.lcplc.co.uk - who made sure it all ran very smoothly.

webgum

Thanks everyone for your input.

I am going to speak to a broker - I've realised that will be the easiest way forward.

I did get some joy in the end from Barclays Wealth who use the same Woolwich mortgages as Barclays - they at least were not phased by our non-resident status.

aubound

Hello,

I am being extremely nosey here, but was wondering how you got on with the broker and Barclays Wealth.

We are in a horrid situation where we had a remortgage with a terrible company to buy property in Spain (which we lost money on). Anyway, we want to try and get a better mortgage, but don't have a lot of equity left. Living here in Aus, with the house in the UK is prooving to be very difficult, as you will know!

Just wondering if you had many options given to you, and if you were successful in your endeavours?

Thanks

faf

Hello there

We used Barclay's to get a Buy to Let mortgage whilst in Oz, the process was pretty straight forward but I found the experience stressful. We too were using the money to buy over here and we had a 90 day settlement, which would of been plenty of time to get things organised, but due to the fact that they forgot to arrange for a valuation to be done on our UK property the whole thing came to a halt, it was a nightmare.

I had to phone all 3 agencies involved on a regular basis and beg them to push everything forward (not easy when doing it late at night cause of the time difference and not to mention the cost) otherwise we would not of been able to settle on our date. Which in turn would of meant penlites here in Oz! In fact I had to put a backup plan in place just in case the money didn't come through in time. It came good in the end, but really on the 11th hour Phew!

I did actually put a complaint into the bank but because the mortgage was processed within the time scale given then it wasn't up held, even though it was ONLY because of my involvement that it did get processed in time.

So I would say yes I'd do it again but I wouldn't sit over here trusting that things were being done when they should be. I would be making regular phone calls and checking!

Hope this helps

Sara

bingobob777

what's the fascination with holding on to a depreciating asset thousands of miles away?

House prices in UK will earn far less than a bond yielding 5% in the UK.

over 5 years you'll be 15-20% up by selling the house.

faf

The reason I kept my house was just in case we didn't settle in Oz. We would have something to go back to, instead of starting on the property ladder all over again.

Sara

aubound

Thank you for this Sara, god it sounds like you had a horrible time getting this sorted out, poor you!

I looked at Barclays site the other day after reading your comments, but it said that you had to have a lot of money in an account, so it scared me off a little, because we haven't got any money! Another company did look into our case and could only give us 65% of the value of our property for a buy-to-let mortgage, which wasn't enough unfortunately.

How long have you been in Perth? Do you think you will settle? I want to keep our house in the UK for the same reason that you do, but it's hard, and expensive isn't it?!

Anyway, thank you for your help.

Jane

faf

Hi Jane

I'm pretty sure we didn't need loads of money in the bank as we didn't have it but we were in the fortunate position of both of us having banked with them for over 15 years. Also we only needed a small mortgage compared to the value of the house.

Not to sure where you get Perth from as I'm in Melbourne we've been here 5 years now and I do love our life out here, but as I'm a stay at home mum I've really struggled to make friends, so never say never!

Where abouts are you?



Good luck!

Sara

aubound

Lol! It's me who's in Perth!! After I sent you the message, I re-read yours and gasped in horror as I couldn't see Perth anywhere, my daughter came rushing in asking what was the matter!! Sorry about that! I must have just seen it written somewhere before I started typing!

Ah, that was good that you'd banked with them a while, I'm glad it all worked out. We remortgaged our house when we bought a house in Spain, so the mortgage is almost the value of the property, so I guess we'll stay with the company we're with at the moment, see if the value goes up, you never know ...

Glad you're enjoying Melbourne, my hubby's just flying back from there right this minute! We're in Perth, been here three and a half years, love it, but as you say, never say never. What I find difficult is that my parents are in the UK, as they get older, I feel terrible that I am not with them. Apart from that, I guess this is it.

Yeah, it's difficult whilst you're at home, but as your kids start doing lots of things, you'll make lots of friends, probably some you don't even want!

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help, take care and good luck to you too!

Jane

killerhales

We used ADS brokers in Maidstone. You can find them on Google.
They arranged a mortgage for us with the Halifax.
Everything was pretty smooth, Halifax charged a lot in fees, plus the brokers fees made it quite expensive to arrange.
I think the minimum deposit was 25%?

Anyhow the service from a fellow called Grant (can't remember the surname) was professional and communication was good; all by email with a couple of calls to get things going.

Good luck

aubound

Hello,

Thank you, I will certainly have a look into this. That's really sweet of you for giving me these details.

How are you finding life in Australia? Do you think you're here for good?!

Thank you again

Jane