Chins

We have sold our condo in San Diego so are now thinking about buying a BTL in the UK.

I have been talking to HSBC expats and it yes we can qualify, but some of their qualifying criteria are quite strict. Anyone else know of any flexible lenders ?

Yes i used search and found this thread, but maybe things have changed
Using US income on a UK mortgage - is this possible?

Thanks

Jonathan

TheKingOfHearts

Just my 2 cents, but I looked into this previously and whilst the favorable exchange rate certainly makes it look appealing, actually running a BTL with the challenges that arise from being international simply wasn't worth the hassle.

You have tax, maintenance, mortgage, lettings etc all of which are a nightmare when you're in the US.

spouse of scouse

We live in Australia and have two rental properties in the UK, I agree that being a long distance landlord can be very difficult. The only way it works for us is that we bought the properties when we lived in the UK, found a good letting agent (they're good but they're not perfect, have to keep an eye on them!), and most importantly, we found some good local tradies for maintenance work (electric, gas and painter/decorator). The maintenance dept. of letting agents will handle repairs/maintenance if you want them to, but they charge like wounded bulls for doing so and the few times we've used them we found the work to be nowhere near as good as that of our own contractors.

You have to be very organised and make sure all the legislative requirements are met, such as getting a gas safety certificate done each year, keeping the EPC up to date etc. More and more local Councils are introducing Selective Licencing, which requires the landlord to prove that they're a 'fit and proper person' to have a rental property. We get a specialist landlord tax service to do our HMRC tax returns.

It's certainly doable, but you need to do a lot of research on the responsibilities of being a landlord - having a letting agent manage the rental doesn't absolve you from the legal responsibility of making sure the property is well maintained and safe for your tenants.

mrken30

I would recommend following landlordtweets on twitter to see all the legsilation nightmares that being a UK landlord has. Also it looks like S21 is going away, so getting people out is going to become a lot harder.

Chins

I'm lucky in that one of our best friends runs the letting department for a big estate agency