buying advice needed...

[Deleted User]

Hello, we are selling our house in Lincolnshire and want to do two things:  we want to move to Eire (emigrate) and buy a cottage outright to live in.  We want to also buy a house in the uk, so we have a bolthole if it all goes pear shaped in Eire.  We will not have a mortgage on either property, they will be bought with money from the sale of the current house.  We will buy the uk house first locally and live in it for a while, continuing to work as we are, then when we eventually find a house in Eire, we will then rent it.  As Eire is not uk, does it still count as a second home?  All we want is a bit of guaranteed money coming in so we don't starve in Ireland, but some people have been a bit negative about it.  Who can advise, a financial advisor or someone else?   If we buy a house and live in it, then stamp duty will not be the added bit for buy to lets, but we might only live there a short time, will we get pounced on by the taxman if we then let it after say, six months?  Thank you.

oldbikebloke

you are very confused 
SDLT is not a tax on buy to let, it is a tax on the purchase of an additional property when you already own (and are not selling) an existing one. Therefore you will start with 1 and end with 2
that said, the sequence of events you set out: sell , buy UK, buy Eire, means you will NOT pay the higher rate SDLT on the purchase of the Uk since at point you have sold ("replaced") your current main home with a new main home. So 1 to 1. if the sale comes after the UK buy you can claim a refund of the higher rate you will have to pay in the circumstance since UK is intended from the outset to be your main home. The fatc you them emigrate will not alter that.

the purchase in Eire is outside the scope of UK taxation, and therefore when you go from 1 to 2 it cannot be taxed by the UK 

note, as you will have a UK property income whilst living in Eire you will be subject to UK income tax on the rental income. There is a tax treaty between UK and Eire which you should read yourself so you understand your tax exposure in both countries. 

notrouble

You would need to look at the tax rules in Eire. If the 2nd property were in the UK, yes, you'd pay additional SDLT unless selling main home and buying a replacement main home (or reclaim the extra if selling in 3 years).

But Eire may have totally different rules regarding their equivellant of SDLT.

If you buy a property in the UK to let out, after selling your current home and before buying in Eire, there would be no additional SDLT  to pay as it would be your only property. Obviously there would be income tax to declare/pay on the rent. See

* New landlords (1):advice & information :see links in next post

* New landlords (2): Essential links for further information

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

[Deleted User]

Thank you, a house viewer put the wind up us a bit today, telling us we would never make any money renting a house out, which is depressing.  We ought to talk to someone who knows all this stuff.  Would that be a financial advisor?  Sounds very grown up to have one of those, but I can't think of anyone else...

babyblade41

Being a LL in these times is not easy, I have done it professionally for many years and now retired apart from just one long term renter 

There are so many things that you need to do and would be worth looking through the stickies on these pages.

You obviously won't manage the property yourselves as you won't be in the UK , so factor in management fees, voids, non payment of rent if that happens  plus all the necessary certificates that are legally needed.

Certainly not for the faint hearted especially if you haven't done it before 

AdrianC

samchops said:

Thank you, a house viewer put the wind up us a bit today, telling us we would never make any money renting a house out, which is depressing.  We ought to talk to someone who knows all this stuff.

You've come to the right place...

Show us your numbers...
What's the house going to cost to buy? What's the rent?
I presume you'll be paying an agent to manage - because obvs you won't fly back from the RoI every time the tenant has an issue... How much?
What are you allowing for voids, damages, maintenance etc?
Are you aware of how non-UK resident landlords have to manage the tax on the property?

In short, is this actually a good investment?

Also, what if you decide you want to migrate back to this country, but you can't move back into the property you own, because... it's rented out? Perhaps you've just signed a new 12mo tenancy. Do you understand that means you're going to have to rent for a year?

As far as FAs go - they won't tell you anything about BtL. They can't, legally. Tied FAs are salesmen for one company, and can only sell you that company's products. IFAs can only advise on regulated investment products.

babyblade41

^^^^ this 

worded far better than me 

Crashy_Time

samchops said:

Thank you, a house viewer put the wind up us a bit today, telling us we would never make any money renting a house out, which is depressing.  We ought to talk to someone who knows all this stuff.  Would that be a financial advisor?  Sounds very grown up to have one of those, but I can't think of anyone else...

 Times have certainly changed......

[Deleted User]

We live near Spalding, the plan is to buy a house near to our work and live in it for a bit.  The property will be around 90k, we will renovate and get up to standard during our time there.   have checked Boston rents, a two bed goes for £5-600 a month, a three bed up to £750.   In our spare time we will house hunt in Eire.  When we find a house, we will buy in and move there.  I have read a letting agent takes about 10% and we need specialist insurance, this is all fine with us.  All we want is enough money to prevent us from starving, we don't plan to ever move back into that house after we've moved.  We are smallholders and would be very happy in a little place where we grow and raise our own food.  We might even have a private water supply, and of course no mortgage.  We would like to work of course but we aren't counting on it, at least to start with.  

Crashy_Time

A second house as "Guaranteed Money" is probably something you should think more about IMO, what happens if the rent isn`t as high as you hoped in future and there are void periods, or big repairs to shell out for? It could become Guaranteed Money that you will be guaranteed to be paying out......best bet is probably to find work that pays enough to live on IMO.

babyblade41

samchops said:

We live near Spalding, the plan is to buy a house near to our work and live in it for a bit.  The property will be around 90k, we will renovate and get up to standard during our time there.   have checked Boston rents, a two bed goes for £5-600 a month, a three bed up to £750.   In our spare time we will house hunt in Eire.  When we find a house, we will buy in and move there.  I have read a letting agent takes about 10% and we need specialist insurance, this is all fine with us.  All we want is enough money to prevent us from starving, we don't plan to ever move back into that house after we've moved.  We are smallholders and would be very happy in a little place where we grow and raise our own food.  We might even have a private water supply, and of course no mortgage.  We would like to work of course but we aren't counting on it, at least to start with.  

Owning a small holding isn't for everyone.. the costs involved can out strip any profit made 

It is more a labour of love than a financially viable life style