dannytype1

Hi I live in Sydney and and originally from UK. I am looking at mortgages for investment properties in UK. Impossible to get one i know i have tried for 18 months. How long do u have to remain in UK to be considered not an expat. Hope that makes sense

Many thanks

Danny

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

You will probably have to be a UK resident, have a permanent UK address, be on the electoral role, UK bank, good UK credit rating etc.

dannytype1

I have a UK address and bank account. Not sure about electoral role. So u dont see it as a time thing for of a right documents thing

Thanks

Danny

Jerseygirl

Are you a resident of the UK?

BEVS

It may also be a UK earnings thing.

Pal of mine moved back to the UK after 8 years in New Zealand. Had plenty of equity money but needed a small mortgage for a property that they felt was suitable for them both.

He gain employment in his field but the contract was not full time and permanent. It was renewable on a year by year basis.

They have been back in the UK for over a year now and are still unable to gain a mortgage of any sort.

Jerseygirl

Think about it...why would anyone lend money to someone living at the other side of the world? If you default on the loan...how earth are they going to get their money back?

Sorry.

dunroving

There were some companies used to do that before the economic crisis (The Money Centre comes to mind). I got a UK mortgage while living in the US, but that was back in 2004.

I think the Money Centre has restarted lending to UK expats, but may be BTL mortgages only - worth checking their Web site.

Jerseygirl

Hopefully the OP will find a way but from what others have posted previously...it's an uphill struggle.

Famous 5

Apparently lenders are not keen on expats in Australia and many deals that are available to expats in other countries are not available to those who live in Australia, but nobody I have spoken to seems to be able to explain why.

I had informal advice from a broker that I have used before that you would need to be resident and employed (probably on a permanent contract) in the UK for 6 months before you would be considered for a mortgage and that was before the new rules on lending were introduced at the end of April this year which have made it considerably harder for anyone in the UK to get a mortgage.

bigglesworth

I got an offer from Capital Fortune a few months ago. In the end I decided not to go with it as the variable rate kicked in too soon, but they certainly offer mortgages to overseas expatriate residents

Giantaxe

Did you use another lender or simply not get a mortgage?

bigglesworth

As you say, I chose not to.

They did chase me for nearly a month to take one out.

I also had my advisors chase some up.

All require solid evidence of income. (I know - define "solid")

holly_1948

There is no formal status of expat.
There are residence, ordinary residence, habitual residence and domicile.
Each has different rules and laws

For residence, the primary considerations are the aggregate amount of time in country over years and your relationship with HMRC.

For ordinary residence the primary consideration is the regularity (not the amount) of time spent in country. That is periodic and scheduled versus on random dates or spontaneous (the latter are by definition irregular).

For habitual residence the primary considerations are physical presence and legal abode (that is citizenship versus other right to reside and status of legal presence).

For domicile the primary considerations are long term intentions and (retained) tangible links (banks, family, real estate etc).

There is well settled case law around each and it should be read with care and understanding if necessary.

Editha

I think the OP just wanted to know about mortgages Holly.

between two worlds

We too got a mortgage back in 2004 while living in USA--but even back then the only one our mortgage broker could find that we were eligible for, as people living out of the country and the earner being a US citizen, was a Buy to Let mortgage.

Which was fine for us, as we were buying to let, at the time.