Mortgage for non-residents

Dragonista

I am an expat in Asia. My partner and I both get paid in local currency but want to purchase property in the UK for when we return. Our combined income is around £60kpa (currency equivalent) and this is our first step on the property ladder. How easy is it for us to get a mortgage in the UK even though we are living overseas? (My permanent address is still noted as the UK) My partner unfortunately has a poor UK credit rating (made some silly financial decisions as a teenager / young adult). My parents have kindly offered to act as guarantors, would this help our application? Or is the thought of buying in the UK futile?

Any knowledge or advice is very much appreciated. Thank you.

zzzLazyDaisy

I cannot comment on the mortgage situation. Someone more knowledgable will be along when the world starts waking up in UK.

However, re the credit rating - defaults drop off your record and become statute barred 6 years after the last time they were acknowledged. So dents going back to his teenage years should not still be affecting his credit record (depending on how old he is, obviously). If he has a credit rating problem it is to do with something in the past 6 years, so I'd suggest that you need to get to the bottom of that before going any further.

The next thing to consider is what are you going to do with the property if you do buy one, since you won't be living in it? If you plan to rent it out, you will need a btl mortgage, which will affect the advice given.

If you don't plan to rent it out, but just leave it standing empty, that raises a whole host of other issues.

Dragonista

Thanks for your response.

My partner's in his mid-thirties but sadly, he racked up a lot of debt. He was freelance for a long time in the UK so only paid back the minimum amount as his income was changeable so it took him some time and he hasn't reached the 6-year cut off yet (I thought it was 7 though so good to know!).

I didn't know that we would be entitled to BTL as I didn't know if there were different rules for first-time-buyers. I thought you already had to own property to get BTL (maybe because the only people we know who've done BTL owned a home already). Showing my ignorance! But yes, we had planned on letting it out and engaging an agent to manage it (that or my brother).

zzzLazyDaisy

Dragonista wrote: »

I didn't know that we would be entitled to BTL as I didn't know if there were different rules for first-time-buyers. I thought you already had to own property to get BTL (maybe because the only people we know who've done BTL owned a home already). Showing my ignorance! But yes, we had planned on letting it out and engaging an agent to manage it (that or my brother).

I don't know if you would be eligible for a BTL mortgage, but that was the reason for my question. You cannot obtain a residential mortgage for a house that you are buying with the intention of letting out. So if you are going to do this at all, you are going to need a BTL mortgage.

Daelim

Google Liquid Expat Mortgages... he was helpful for us even though we decided to wait another year or two and buy outright.

I read on their blog that it might be a better idea for those with poor UK credit to use their overseas address if you have lived abroad for the past 3 years. Banks require the last 3 years address history for mortgages so if you provide them with your overseas address bad credit won't affect your application... check with them for full details.