juels275

Hi
Finally getting my PR this year & now looking to buy a house in Toronto. I have a property in the UK which is rented out and I'm hoping to remortgage to get the deposit. They know that I'm living in Canada.

Question...do I tell my UK mortgage provider its:

a) for a deposit for a home in Canada (The truth!)
b) a deposit for another Buy to Let in the UK
c) Renovations on my current rented out property

Thanks in advance for any advice....

Aviator

Tell the truth.

dwight-van-man

You MAY find that although they know you're living in Canada and are happy to retain the mortgage, they may not be prepared to offer additional borrowing. There are relatively few uk lenders who will lend to a non-uk resident.

JonboyE

If you are going to be a permanent resident of Canada why not sell the UK house?

juels275

The house in the UK is supposedly going to be our pension...

dbd33

I wouldn't have the balls for this. If things go wrong you'll have a repayment in expensive pounds to pay with low valued dollars on a house that's worth less than you borrowed against it.

Gah!

Novocastrian

Flog it. Buy a house in the country you live in to live in. Why can't that one be your pension?

<bad idea in the first place but why make the badness even badder?>

magnumpi

Also look at the exchange rate, its not going the right way for this to make sense. Sell Sell Sell and buy the biggest house you can afford here.

The money will be safe invested in a house in Canada, your profit will still be there, just in dollars.

Aviator

Any gain in value in CAD$ is taxable when you sell the house. Less than income tax on income, but still a huge gamble with the vagaries of the FX. If you beomce a tax resident of Canada with a lower FX, sell when the GBP is strong and have a capital increase in value.

Also, look at the new rules for domicile in the UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...lan-ahead.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...or-expats.html

Sell now and if you must have property as an investment, buy nearer to where you live.

You also risk the volatility of currency for an asset you cannot dispose of quickly is necessary and a currency plummets. You could end up owing way more than you borrowed. If you boorow to buy another property in Canada, you are also dependent on the buoyancy of the Canadian market.

If you can afford to lose, its just one of life's chances, if not, get professional advice.

Geordie Lass

We were in this position.

We couldn't sell our UK house (bad timing - nothing selling) so we re-mortgaged on a buy to let, got some of the equity out and used as a deposit on one over here.

Tell the truth. It's not worth the stress...

JAJ

No such thing as "couldn't sell" - perhaps you couldn't sell at the price you wanted, not the same thing.

Geordie Lass

Nonsense. It was on for 6 months - almost £40,000 less than we paid for it. We were advised by our financial advisor to rent and sell in a few years time when the market picked up.

Why people like you look for an arguement on here is beyond me. You know nothing of my circumstances so stop trying to rile me by making blanket statements.

R I C H

6 months isn't all that long really, is it? You obviously purchased at a time when prices were higher. It doesn't mean it's unsaleable now, just that you weren't willing/able to take a hit due to bad market timing, so JAJ's comment is fair.

Geordie Lass

My house was a new build in 2007. The market crashed so right now there are loads for sale on my estate that have been on for over 2 years. Nothing has shifted.

A friend on my street has had hers up for sale for 18 months - over 50k cheaper than she bought it for - she has ended up putting it up for rent again in the last month.

So yes my house in the countryside is unsaleable right now. We are not giving it away.

What I objected to was JAJs tone.

jwtimmon

I think the point being made was the house would sell if priced low enough.

Bit of a moot point if you're dealing with a bank mortgage and they have a veto on the sale of your house for less than the value of the mortgage.

But in theory yes you can always sell a house it just depends on whether you wish to be saddled with the debt left afterwards or in the case of cash buyers take the hit.

Lot of not poor people on here who will find the whole concept of not having enough ready cash to absorb losses like this a bizarre concept.

John