Remortgage to move abroad?

pete_mil

Hi,

I am looking to move to Singapore shortly. My house is on the market but I wanted to investigate the possibility of letting it out here whilst living in Singapore. We (my wife and I) do not have a long-term view on when we may return to the UK; maybe after 5 years or so, maybe never.

I have a mortgage of around 125k, on a house currently on the market for 325k. I should expect around £1200/month in rent and would expect that to cover our current mortgage and monthly management fee.

We want to borrow an additional 50k in order to clear some debt but mainly to give ourselves a 'buffer' when we get to Singapore; knowing that we have money available immediately for school fees, shipping, rental etc whilst we get our feet on the ground out there.

I have approached my current bank (but only through a call centre for now) and they said that I could not borrow from them because I will not be a resident here in the UK and would not be earning sterling and paying my earnings into a sterling account. The sticking point appeared to be that I would no longer reside in the UK.

It seems bizarre...surely I am not the first person to need to borrow to move abroad? Can anybody clarify the situation please? In summary, I am looking to remortgage, borrow an additional 50k against my house - and use it to move abroad. I can understand, in the current climate, that it may be difficut...but impossible?

Many thanks for any advice

Pete

feisty1

Speak to the off shore division of yr or any other bank

herbiesjp

Hi Pete

Welcome to the board

There are some lenders that could help on an ex-pat basis - but it will depend entirely on your scenario, as lenders are getting more picky/stringent on what business they want to accept

If these avenues fail there are offshore departments as stated above that could help - again though, these are tightening up on criteria

koexelek

herbiesjp wrote: »

Hi Pete

Welcome to the board

There are some lenders that could help on an ex-pat basis - but it will depend entirely on your scenario, as lenders are getting more picky/stringent on what business they want to accept

If these avenues fail there are offshore departments as stated above that could help - again though, these are tightening up on criteria

The RBS group ( first active, RBS, Natwest) used to be good on ex pat buy to lets, as did BM Solutions.

Not sure if they still are though

pete_mil

Many thanks for the advice all