Buying a house then moving overseas

emily5879

Hello,

My boyfriend and I are currently renting in London. We have a decent deposit saved and are looking to buy a 2 bedroom property in London (probably somewhere currently rough-round-the-edges with potential).

The only problem is that we are moving back to Australia permanently in October 2017, so while we'd occupy it until then, we'd need tenants to move in from October.

Does anyone have experience in managing properties while living overseas? I am not convinced it's a good idea but my boyfriend thinks it's a great investment to make (the GBP is very weak against AUD post-Brexit vote, so we wouldn't get a great exchange on our deposit if we bought in Aus).

Would love your thoughts!

Emily

Rain_Shadow

How much do you have saved?
How much of it would you use for this purchase?
Do you have a lender prepared to lend on such a transaction?
How will you buy in Australia?


I wouldn't do it. Especially if you have no plans to ever return to the UK.

emily5879

Thank you, I think we have about £90K all up, we'd hope to put a deposit of about £60-70K down but we haven't looked at many properties yet.

We wouldn't buy in Australia, we'd live with my family or rent until we were in a position to sell the UK place and make a profit from it, or had enough AUD saved for a deposit there.

Really appreciate your feedback.

agrinnall

It's unlikely that you'd find any mainstream lender that would lend on the basis that you'll live in the property for a short time and then let it. If you must purchase far better to do it as a buy to let from the start and never occupy it yourself, although I think it's a mad thing to do anyway.

Rain_Shadow

I'm afraid I think it will be a constant source of frustration and worry at the very least and could well be a serious financial drain if there are repairs and voids.


If your relationship breaks down it will be an even bigger pain to realise the asset and divide it up.


I suspect that it won't be long at all before you are wishing you had all the cash in an account in Australia even if you have taken a hit on the exchange rate.

knightstyle

Make sure you understand the tax implications concerning the rent money and the profit made when you sell. If you have to borrow more than 20% of the purchase price it probably won't work.

G_M

* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

Pixie5740

You can get a residential mortgage since you are going to live in the property. The issue then comes when you need to let the property. Will your lender grant consent to let? How long will they grant their consent? Would you have enough equity to switch to a BTL mortgage? Could you get a mortgage/remortgage in the future given that you will no longer be resident in the UK?

Would you be taxed twice on the rental income and any capital gains when you do eventually sell?

https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-live-abroad/rent