EU NATIONAL. Not allowed on mortgage!

JayZed

I don't really understand this - the OP is a permanent UK resident (i.e. she has permanent leave to remain). Isn't that all that's necessary? Not really sure what being an EU national has to do with it.

She's basically in the same position as my wife, who is American (so not an EU national!) but is a permanent UK resident. Never had any problems putting her name on the mortgage (despite being self-employed with no certified accounts). Although of course my wife is married to a British national.

Or is it naive of me to think that Americans and Slovakians would be treated the same by mortgage lenders?

JayZed

Come to think of it, we sold our last flat to a young Polish couple. After various other lengthy delays, the whole chain got held up just before the planned exchange date: their lawyer said that they would not be ready to proceed for a week and she was unable to tell us why.

It was obvious that this was a suspected money-laundering issue and that the lawyer had submitted a suspicious transaction report to SOCA and was waiting for the all-clear (I used to work in AML compliance, and all the signs were there). Given that this was a young professional couple, I assume that the only reason for the lawyer's (over-?)zealousness was the fact that they were Polish (and I suppose it's possible that their deposit money was coming from a Polish bank account).

The exchange did go ahead the following week, by the way.

Conrad

I think it may be the Abbey fear people from other nations are more likely to chuck in the keys and go abroad if the property falls in value, or they lose thier job.

This then makes a repossession procedure so much more dificult as the person cannot be served etc etc.

I'm surprised you have been declined if all else is well. If you have a transient history that would explain things, for example; an address hopper.