Opening a UK bank account when an expat

[Asterix]

Hope you chaps can help.

I'm an expat of +5yrs. I don't have an UK bank account - stupidly closed them all when I moved.

I'm now buying a property in the UK, have had mortgage approval - they know I'm an expat and will be renting it out - yet have demanded that I have a UK bank account to service the payments (just found out at the end of the whole process).

From my online research of the major banks, I need to be a UK resident to open one - The Halifax that have approved the mortgage knowing I'm an expat, buy to let etc... cannot offer me a current account for the sole purpose.

I don't require a cheque book, ATM/debit card, credit cards just a mechanism to service the mortgage payments.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.