Help! Deposit stuck in pension bureaucracy mess! What can I do?!

Tigertailor

So I thought I had all my ducks in a row ready to purchase a house...and now disaster has struck!

I have savings to cover fees.
I had my MIP certificate done through the recommended brokers and it's ready to go(great broker)
I have two ISA's
And I have the bulk of the deposit in a foreign pension/annuity that I had begun to dissolve a few months back in preparation for a spring buy and move.

Sounds organised doesn't it????!!...right up until I have just found out tonight that due to a stupid tax letter that needs to be draughted by the country's tax dept stating I am no longer a resident for tax purposes which I cannot get, at best guess for at least 3 months, and then the annuity will take about another 6 weeks after they receive that letter to dissolve !!!! So in total about 4 months!!!!

And just to make matters worse..we had finally found and agreed on a lovely dream home and just this morning put the offer in!!!

I am literally crying as I write this...can anybody suggest any ideas of what I can to do to bridge the gap for the four months for the missing deposit funds???

dawyldthing

Do you need to put it all down as a deposit? Or could you take a higher mortgage then overpay/ use renovation fund for your deposit and do the renovation when it comes through. While not ideal it would bridge the gap

bouicca21

You don't need the deposit until you exchange, and even if everything goes quickly it will still take at least 3 months. So no need to panic.

Tigertailor

@dawyldthing The pension forms the 5% deposit as I didn't want to bury all of it into the mortgage at this stage(previous bad experiences) and put it into savings to use it as another nest egg back here.

@bouicca21 Does it really take 3 months then? I was under the impression that it was faster than that..not that I'm too bothered at all by that then as I could probably scrape together(beg, bother, steal and work my bottom off) and might manage that..plus that ties in with my lease expiry on my rental too!!(receive my damage deposit back aswell!!)

[Deleted User]

Hard as it is, if you have only just put your offer in, it might be best to withdraw it and wait. If you found one house that you love, you will find another. Better than taking a risk over digging a financial hole you can't afford right now.

It is hard to do, but is it worth taking the risk and dealing with the stress of not knowing if your 5% deposit money will be available when you need it. What if there was another delay you don't know about yet or the money isn't what you were hoping to get back? It sounds like you might need a bit more of a financial cushion anyway.

D_M_E

You also may not get as much as you think when you account for currency transfer fees.

Also, if the pension is in Euros, the pound has gone up after the vote last night and could rise further, which means that if your foreign pension is in Euros, you will get less pounds when you do the transfer.

This could apply to other currencies, too.

xylophone

And have you checked any tax liability there may be in the UK?

PasturesNew

It'll take you longer to do the buying bit than your money will take.... probably. It takes 3 months or so to buy a house even if it's all "quick" and a cash buyer. 3-4 months is quite normal. Then, if there are questions/issues it can drag on a bit.

You are where you are .... the problem will probably just resolve itself as there will be "problems with the house" to enquire about/resolve anyway.