Non Eu national purchasing a property in UK

Gettingtherequickly

Hi

Can anyone advise where I can find info on a non EU national buying a property in the UK, what rules are involved for residency etc?. I have googled, but it just seems to throw up funding aspects and nothing with a bit more meat on rules.

TIA

slopemaster

I'm not an expert, but I don't think there are any

AdrianC

There aren't any restrictions. But, unless you've got ILR or similar, you might find lenders very twitchy if you need a mortgage.

clint_S

The main issue will be getting a mortgage, you need a minimum of ILR to be considered for a mortgage and some leaders have a bigger deposit requirement, expect a around 80%, than a UK national.

varghesejim

clint_S wrote: »

The main issue will be getting a mortgage, you need a minimum of ILR to be considered for a mortgage and some leaders have a bigger deposit requirement, expect a around 80%, than a UK national.

This is not true. Many lenders provide mortgage to non-ILR residents. The best way to do this is to go through a broker.

clint_S

In my experience, with a non EU wife, all the lenders I approached required a ILR as a minimum requirement for processing the mortgage application if my wife was to be included.


I'm not stating all lenders have this policy but I couldn't find one when I was looking a few years ago. Now my wife has an ILR and evidence she had it was requested by the IFA this year when we were looking for a mortgage.

varghesejim

clint_S wrote: »

In my experience, with a non EU wife, all the lenders I approached required a ILR as a minimum requirement for processing the mortgage application if my wife was to be included.

That is why the advise is to go through a broker.

nirajn123

There are no rules and I have brought house 2 years ago when on a Tier-1 Visa. Moreover, I was self employed contractor with less than 3 years of accounts. I went through a good broker who made sure that he spoke to underwriter to explain everything before I spent any money on searches.

pinkpiglit

nirajn123 wrote: »

There are no rules and I have brought house 2 years ago when on a Tier-1 Visa. Moreover, I was self employed contractor with less than 3 years of accounts. I went through a good broker who made sure that he spoke to underwriter to explain everything before I spent any money on searches.

As nirajn says, the key thing here is to use a decent broker. I had ILR when we bought our first home, whereas a good Sth African friend of mine was on a working visa (not sure what classification) when she bought her first UK property.

movilogo

I (was non-EU national that time) bought house before getting ILR. My friends have bought houses while on work permits.

UK is one of few countries in the world which does not prevent foreigners from owning a property (not debating whether that is good or bad).

Some building societies won't lend without ILR but big banks like HSBC, Halifax will do as long as you have good income and healthy deposit.

mrs_z_2

I found the trickiest part about getting a mortgage as a foreign national to be residency requirements and address history.

Some lenders require you to have lived in the UK for two or three years, while others will ask for you to demonstrate you've been in employment for at least twelve months.

Perhaps a good idea to talk to a broker as other people suggested, or dig through the lending criteria of some of the bigger lenders.