Selling property in the UK and moving abroad

Debbiedutch

We moved abroad to the Netherlands in pursue of our dream last May and rented our house in the UK whilst on our adventure of seeing if actually living here is as good as our many visits. After a nightmare tenant experience, who we finally evicted in December we are really not sure if we have it in us to re rent again as tenants seem to have so much freedom to breach contracts. If we were to sell our UK property and look to buy where we are in the Netherlands has anyone any advice in where is best to put money in between buying as it may be 6 months to a year before we can find property maybe and will we be subject to tax etc or are we completely mad?

Cornucopia

You might want to ask for this thread to be moved somewhere more suitable (report your own post to do this).

Debbiedutch

Where would you suggest please?

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved the thread for you

wmb194

Debbiedutch said:

We moved abroad to the Netherlands in pursue of our dream last May and rented our house in the UK whilst on our adventure of seeing if actually living here is as good as our many visits.

After a nightmare tenant experience, who we finally evicted in December we are really not sure if we have it in us to re rent again as tenants seem to have so much freedom to breach contracts.

If we were to sell our UK property and look to buy where we are in the Netherlands has anyone any advice in where is best to put money in between buying as it may be 6 months to a year before we can find property maybe and will we be subject to tax etc or are we completely mad?

If you're not resident in the UK you'll have problems opening accounts here but as long as you keep a UK current account you should be able to open an account with NS&I. You could also look at Channel Islands accounts e.g., Lloyds International, Skipton International, Santander International.

Otherwise convert it to euros and deposit it somewhere in the Netherlands.

If you're tax resident in the Netherlands its taxes will apply but you also need to check if you owe HMRC anything,

https://www.gov.uk/tax-live-abroad-sell-uk-home#:~:text=You%20may%20have%20to%20pay,of%20transferring%20ownership%20(conveyancing).


https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/

This is a good savings rates summary site for NL: https://www.spaarinformatie.nl/

Debbiedutch

We still have two UK bank accounts and some money in an ISA (deposited before resident permit finalised in the Netherlands)
We have our bank account out here in NL and are looking to set a different international account with them that will convert sterling to euro's when the conversion is good.
The decision is on renting or selling:-
Renting -  Our first experience - our tenant got through all the identity checks yet had someone else's identity so didn't pay any rent, didn't set up utilities, was not contactable or responding to emails no bank account as he wasn't who he said he was. A long battle to get him (them out as he was also subletting)  point is it was that easy to get through the checks. As landlords you do not have much protection other than insurance to cover for these eventualities but still a long time to pay out and over run with claims
Selling - We pay off the small amount of mortgage but will have around £525 - 550,000 to safely put somewhere and I think we will have to put it a few places because of the amount (would this saving be subject to UK tax?)
Age - We then buy in the Netherlands so we will be investing in property here and the housing market is thriving here at the moment but it is also dependent on how quick we find something
* We are not getting any younger we are in our mid to late 50's 

Any thoughts or similar experiences welcomed, I also know it comes down to our choice but if there is any guidance it would be warmly appreciated also except just get on with it !