Benson55

Thre is one way to use HSBC.
Open a standard chequing account around $12 a month here but overn 60yo free in Canada anyway.
THEN when you can put $100,000 from the sale of your property upgrade the account to the Advanced one, then HSBC will open a UK account in the town nearest to where you are going to live. You don't have to transfer your funds to the UK using HSBC thats where the forex brokers come in to save you a lot in the transfer.
It takes 3 weeks to open the UK account from when the HSBC account is loaded with the $100K.

Go into the HSBC where you are and talk to them about it, they don't like talking on the phone.

A commercial property is going to take longer, insurance is needed, in some areas an environmental survey, a building survey for the insurance, a business license, a business account, maybe a fire inspection depends on the town.

oodlemum

We went into our local HSBC and they told us they needed a regular deposit of funds on a weekly/monthly basis. We couldn't do that as no income other than pension, which wasn't enough. They don't have checking accounts in Australia. We looked at the reviews for HSBC and couldn't find one single good review, most were terrible. Put us off using them.
Thanks for the advice about buying a business. We need to factor that into our living expenses.

BritInParis

If the OP ever had a UK bank account previously then it would be worth contacting them. If you are already on the system they should allow you to reopen your account by just providing your passport and new address. My Australian other half did exactly this with Barclays.

oodlemum

Thanks BritinParis we tried to remember where we had bank accounts but it's over 30 years ago! I thought inactive accounts were deleted after a period of time. And we were in the North of England then not Dorset. But anything is worth a try.
I was hoping someone on the forums would have used First Contact and might be able to give us feedback.

BritInParis

The big banks will have branches all over the country so the county is not important. They may very well no longer have a record of you but if you can remember which bank it may be worth giving them a call to check.

oodlemum

durham_lad

Bensons' suggestion about using your nephew's address is good, our son did similar last year when he moved over to the UK from the US. We only had to provide a signed letter to say that he was staying with us, plus one our utility bills to prove our address. We did not have to provide a rental agreement with him as a tenant for him to open a bank account. He used his British Passport as id and stayed with us about 10 weeks until he bought a house and moved in. However, if a rental agreement is what they insist on then it would be worth it.

oodlemum

Thanks durham lad. We haven't found a way around it so this seems to be the favourite. We have managed to get a house sit for the first two weeks in August then will look at accommodation.