Selling a house while overseas

Leew1231

I currently live in Australia, due to work mainly. I rented my house out in the UK. The tenant has been in about 8 months now. It is quite a financial burden as I am having to contribute a fair amount to cover the mortgage. I have therefore decided to sell it. So, I will have to give notice to the tenants at 10 months to leave in the 12 months to get them out to sell it.

My query is, do I need to come home to sell it? It is a joint house with my wife, she could come home at a push if required, but can I do it while staying here?

We have an agent who does the legal side of the renting, so assuming everything goes to plan that they agree and move out, agree to allow access to show people the property (I am hoping they will buy it but that is a different thing) and then I sell it. Can the contracts be exchanged and money transfers done and mortgage settled etc without me having to come back to the UK?

Mr_Thrifty

By law, blah blah blah blah blah....

hcb42

yes, although personally i would want to check it over myself before putting on market

Leew1231

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

By law, blah blah blah blah blah....

Could you expand on your comment somewhat please?!

Leew1231

Ideally I would like to check it over, but I have people I trust who can do that for me, and it would first of all save me alot of money not to come back, and it isn't really practical with work. Also, I want to price it to sell, so hopefully it isn't in the pristine position it was in I would like to think people will see past that when they see the price.

BritAbroad

I've done this. Get your lawyer on board, they should be able to do a lot by mail or email. They might also suggest setting up a Power of Attorney to be able to act on your behalf - useful for dealing with estate agents and the like.

TBH, it wasn't really any more difficult than selling whilst living in the UK. You just need to be persistent at chasing the EA as they can think 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Your major difficulty will be in getting the house ready to sell since you've got tenants in place.

troubleinparadise

I am selling some assets abroad as part of a deceased estate process. I have instructed an overseas law firm to act for me in the matter, and have given them Power of Attorney to act on my behalf in the matter.

I will say that takes an act of faith to do all that - I have to trust that it will be above board and that all will happen as it should.

And it is costing a fair bit - but sometimes that is the way it has to be. But mine is all to do with paperwork, not a property. And I have done some legwork in choosing a firm I think I can trust - do you have someone in mind?

You could start out by enquiring how much a solicitor would charge for acting for you in this way. Then you would know what the ballpark figure would be, and weigh up the costs vs your time (and associated costs) to return to the UK to oversee some of the process as necessary.

DVardysShadow

You will need the tenants out before marketing. You will also need to select an estate agent and a solicitor and you will need the property to be managed - grass cut, eye kept, repairs managed and kept in winter mode. Even if you decide to keep everything turned off, you will still need to monitor in case some visitor turns the water back on. You will also need to manage the disposal of furniture to give true vacant possession.

Overall, with 4 months to go, you will be back on the market in December - which presumably influenced your choice to rent out. In your position, I would think about leaving the tenants in place until February or March, to have the place looked after for the winter and go on the market in the spring.

Apart from having these aspects sorted, I doubt you need to be present in the UK.

Leew1231

Thanks for your help guys, I had realised it would be on the market December time, which is generally bad timing, then we have January & February, of which the last couple of years have been particularly cold so it would be best having someone in to stop frozen pipes and all that.

I will also contact a Solicitor to weigh up the costs of POA or travelling home. My wife may be coming home in December but I think unless we were both there we would need some POA.

DVardysShadow

Leew1231 wrote: »

.... I will also contact a Solicitor to weigh up the costs of POA or travelling home. My wife may be coming home in December but I think unless we were both there we would need some POA.

A PoA will be cheaper than travelling. And a PoA to your wife to set things up with the EA and to grant PoA to a UK solicitor may be a good way to go.

I would suggest postponing her visit to the start of the sale process.