UK mortgage for expat
Discussion
Morning,
I've just read the most recent (2017) thread on this same topic but as I don't yet work with any mortgage brokers, I thought I'd ask for resident Sarnie's or others' assistance for a friend of mine living in Germany.
The house next door to his mother has come on the market. The two properties together make up the detached building on a decent sized plot.
Might he do any better than requiring at least a 25% deposit to get a mortgage? He would be a first time buyer, his wife not.
Thanks.
I've just read the most recent (2017) thread on this same topic but as I don't yet work with any mortgage brokers, I thought I'd ask for resident Sarnie's or others' assistance for a friend of mine living in Germany.
The house next door to his mother has come on the market. The two properties together make up the detached building on a decent sized plot.
Might he do any better than requiring at least a 25% deposit to get a mortgage? He would be a first time buyer, his wife not.
Thanks.
Sarnie said:
Ok..............most mainstream lenders will not lend to him.............he would need to go via a specialist lender, expect rates of 3% upwards......
Having been in this situation myself, the only lender who would lend to me was Al Rayan bank so I ended up with a Sharia Mortgage. I also had to pay 1% to the broker, and 1% to the lender.With a Sharia mortgage you cannot pay interest, so effectively you are "renting". Because of this, the deeds to the house were in the name of the lender (Al Rayan) and not me. I didn't 100% understand this, so when I tried to remortgage with someone else once I had moved back to the UK I had the following situation.
Lender)So the property is Freehold?
Me)Yes
Lender)We have just checked this and it is leasehold.
Me)No it isn't
Lender)Land registry have the leaseholder as "Al Rayan Bank"
Me)WTAF???
Lender)I don't know what is going on, but I would recommend you get legal advice immediately.
5 Minutes of panic from me before I realised this cannot be right. I got a call back from someone who knew a bit more about this and they explained this is normal with a Sharia mortgage and it will just cost another £300 to get the deeds back in my name once the remortgage has gone through.
So pleased I have back in the UK long enough now that I can go to any lender I like.
https://www.alrayanbank.co.uk/home-finance/buy-to-...
Seems they want 4.39% now, I am sure it was nearer 3% when I was with them
Oh and as his wife owns another property, secondary stamp duty applies.
Basically it is going to be very expensive.....
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 21st January 13:02
I've been through this 3 times in the last 7 years 1 BTL and 2 residential and the truth is that the story has changed a lot.
My most recent was a residential purchase in the UK. I was fortunate to have 30% deposit available and present as a positive risk but still, 25% was minimum I could find. My rate is at 3.42% with Dudley Building Society.
Skipton were also very helpful but general mainstream banks wouldn't touch me in 2019 (my others are with Natwest and HSBC from 2014/15)
My most recent was a residential purchase in the UK. I was fortunate to have 30% deposit available and present as a positive risk but still, 25% was minimum I could find. My rate is at 3.42% with Dudley Building Society.
Skipton were also very helpful but general mainstream banks wouldn't touch me in 2019 (my others are with Natwest and HSBC from 2014/15)
Might be worth taking a look at Skipton international - https://www.skiptoninternational.com/mortgages/exp...
I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
mark seeker said:
Might be worth taking a look at Skipton international - https://www.skiptoninternational.com/mortgages/exp...
I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
HSBC were not interested unless you were physically in the country frustratingly rather defeated the object of an expat mortgage!I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
MarkGArgyle said:
mark seeker said:
Might be worth taking a look at Skipton international - https://www.skiptoninternational.com/mortgages/exp...
I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
HSBC were not interested unless you were physically in the country frustratingly rather defeated the object of an expat mortgage!I heard HSBC were looking last year to offer expat UK mortgages, not sure if that happened.
They made it seem very straight forward, although I didn’t use it in the end. Having said that, many of my expat friends have mortgages on U.K. property via HSBC, albeit quite low LTV (50-ish, anecdotally).
Royal Jelly said:
Strange. I had a good experience with HSBC in this scenario. I’m an expat in Hong Kong, and a department called HSBC Expat would send arrange it via HSBC (don’t retire it was U.K. or Channel Islands) although it was only for BTL I believe.
They made it seem very straight forward, although I didn’t use it in the end. Having said that, many of my expat friends have mortgages on U.K. property via HSBC, albeit quite low LTV (50-ish, anecdotally).
There are entirely different requirements and regulations between BTL and Residential lending........They made it seem very straight forward, although I didn’t use it in the end. Having said that, many of my expat friends have mortgages on U.K. property via HSBC, albeit quite low LTV (50-ish, anecdotally).
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