Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

I currently own a property in the UK - have a mortgage (in this case with OneAccount). Living in the property and working locally.

Within the next few months I'm looking to move to Australia - permanently - and rent out my UK property and retain a UK mortgage, preferably the existing mortgage. On speaking to OneAccount, I'm advised "Living in Australia and renting out a UK property (with a UK mortgage) is not possible". Living in any other country and renting out the UK property is not an problem.

So, as anyone had similar experience? Any advice?

I don't really want to sell the property for several reasons, one of which being in makes long term financial sence to keep the property...

Any help appreciated :-)

Paul

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

It's not true - lots of people do it. What might be the case is that it's not possible on that particular mortgage, so try a few other companies and see what they say.

Suzi

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Thanks for the reply, that what I thought.....

Did sound very strange when I heard it!

From replies on other sites the financial advice seems to be convert to a buy-to-let mortgage....

Cheers
Paul

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Please do not take that advice as it is totally wrong, if you are a British Citizen you have a right to keep your house on rent although you have the terms and conditions that you need to check, but what you got told is really not true, as for myself i'll be doing the same, i do not wish to sell up and just go....as in case Aussie does not suit me within the year then i will not be able to afford to comeback and re-buy, therfore atleast if i know i am fine there i can always sell later,meanwhile it will bw rented out on an agreement term for atleast a year if not two. I guess thats what you plan to do hey!!!, but really please take other advice.

Jasi

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Hi Paul

As others have said, its complete rubbish. The only restriction may be your mortgage. We're in Oz and are renting out our UK home. We converted to an Interest Only Buy to Let Mortgage - we dont really make any money on the deal but the rent covers the Mortgage payments and pays for our UK Life Insurances while we decide whether or not to set up new ones in Oz. We've got landlords Insurance with Norwich Union which seemed to be a good deal when we were shopping around.

HTH :)

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Theres another side to renting property out, one I wouldn not like to manage from such a distance. Our rental property here was totally trashed by the female tenants last year, this year the family in there have just declared they cant afford rent :rolleyes: and just gave up paying, its thorugh the RTA so they will eventually be evicted however wever been warned in that case its usual for them to flee leaving another trashing.

Big hassle if you ask me.

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Citizenship has nothing to do with it.

Most reputable lenders are perfectly ok with a house being let out, but they have the right under a mortgage to give (or refuse) consent. If lender says no, then consider refinancing with another provider before leaving.

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

We are in this position. We spoke to our lender, Nationwide, and just had to sign a form confirming we would not rent to DSS or students!! Fine by me.

Good luck!

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

What has being a British citizen or not got to do with it? That is irrelevant to whether you can keep a house in the UK and rent it out.

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

There ought to be no problem. The fact that you are going to Australia is not an issue here: there is nothing in either Australian or UK law to stop you living in Australia and owning a rented property in the UK. If OneAccount don't like the idea for some reason, find another lender who will agree to it - and tell OneAccount that you've done that, for what you have been told by them is ridiculous. (Could it be that the person who told you was either completely unversed in the matter or else couldn't be bothered taking the enquiry any further and saw this answer as a way out?) They may choose not to allow their borrowers to rent out a property, but the reason given is spurious.

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

sorry i meant in a more legal terms, than of having more advantages ect.

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Our house has been on the market since July and although we have received an offer on it, the potential purchasers are having problems selling their own property and we have not had any viewings for over 2 months now.

At some point we will have to commit a date to our employers in Oz and book flights etc, but until the house is sold we cannot do that. We plan to land Down Under on 1.8.07

Renting out our property here in the UK has been mentioned but we are under no illusions that this can be a far from hassle-free experience

Can anybody recommend any good websites, as a first point of call, which explain the in's and out's of renting so that we can explore this option further?

Thanks

TT

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Paul

As other posters have said you can change your lender to someone who allows renting out property.

Please note that you will need to have any gas appliances safety checked annually and I believe they are in the process of requesting safety checks to be carried out to the electrics also in the near future.

Also, I would check out your building and contents insurance to see if covered with tenants living in your property - and seriously consider getting tenant insurance to cover non-payment of rents etc if using an agent.

Also note that the rental income is taxable - one of the questions on the P85 (to claim back tax paid on income in the UK prior to migrating) is wether you will be renting out any properties in the UK and I am pretty sure the Oz tax return will need the information listed as income.

We investigated the rental route - now selling everything and going as is.

Good luck with your decision

Paula

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

Hi,
I have an not unrelated question regarding mortgage. We do not have one at the moment but are considering re-mortgaging to give us some capital to potentially buy in Aus... Are there perticular companies that are more likely to do this than others? Is it quite straightforward? Can it only be done before you move? I had previousley had a mortgage with the Nationwide who seemd quite flexible. The income from the rent should pay the mortgage and life insurence and presumably we could benefit from offsetting some costs against tax. Has anyone else re-mortgaged to rent and provide finace for the move downunder?

Cheers

Re: Living in Australia: UK property rented out
 

The hardest part about remortgaging is the ability to prove that you can pay (via the tenants rent).
We ended up going through a financial advisor who found a mortgage which suited. Previous mortgage lender (small building soc) would not allow letting against their mortgage, but plenty of the bigger lenders do.