Ukoneday

I am wondering if anyone knows how easy it is for a dual UK/US citizen to buy a house with cash (US held USD) in England.
I want to purchase a house in my hometown in England while the dollar is strong, so want to know how fast I can move and any red tape people have encountered.
I currently live in DC and have lived in the USA for 14 years, 9 in Southern California and 5 in DC. Sometimes these things are state dependent, hence the info.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

Jerseygirl

It is quite an easy process. I pushed for a 28 day closing. I can’t see why you would have a problem living in DC or Cali.

robin1234

I bought a home for cash in England in 2015. I’m a dual citizen. The fact that I was resident in the US was irrelevant, I think. The process will be as fast or slow for a US resident as it would be for a UK resident, in that each purchase might have its own complicating factors that might delay a closing. (Or a completion, I think they call it in England?)

spouse of scouse

Can't help with US specific information, but from the UK side:
If you already own a residential property in the US (or anywhere else in the world), you'll need to pay an additional 3% stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on the purchase price of a property in England or Northern Ireland. This is on top of the usual stamp duty land tax rate.

In addition to the above, property buyers who aren't resident in the UK (inclusive of British citizens) pay a surcharge of 2% of the purchase price of a property in England or Northern Ireland. There are a few exceptions. Bottom line is, if you're liable for both the second property additional SDLT and the non-UK resident surcharge, you pay an additional 5% on top of the usual SDLT.
https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-t...property-rates

spouse of scouse

I did exactly the same in 2015, but there are new rules now (we dodged a bullet)

Pulaski

I can't remember when the rules changed, but now a buyer of a second home in the UK, irrespective of where in the world their current home (if they own it) is, will have to pay significantly higher stamp duty.

robin1234

Yes, that’s true, I was forgetting that. I was really lucky with stamp duty, we closed on the flat, January 2015, literally just a few days or weeks after a major reduction in stamp duty (at our price range - the flat was only £140,000.) I remember our solicitor gave us an estimate of stamp duty in the thousands, in the event it was just a few hundred.

I noticed there were a couple of major changes since then.