emmajane0429 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 Hi, We need to swap out our current UK residential mortgage to a Expat buy to let mortgage. Our current advisor has suddenly announced that he cannot arrange this after saying he could! Can anyone recommend a Specialist Mortgage advisor here in the UK who we could discuss and arrange this with? I know HSBC do these mortgages but im not keen on going direct to a bank to arrange myself. Many Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 (edited) Expats are people who are working temporarily overseas, frequently in executive positions. Expat advisors tailor investments, loans etc to maximise their tax position while they are temporarily residing outside their home country. Often, the companies they work with will only deal with clients with very high salaries. If you've got a PR visa, you are not the normal definition of an expat. You're now an Australian permanent resident and your former UK home is now an investment property in a foreign country. That may make a difference. Or perhaps your income isn't enough to qualify for any of the loans he's an agent for. Have you asked him why he has changed his mind? It could save you a lot of time and effort to know. I can't see why you would not approach the bank to arrange the mortgage yourself. Advisors do not get a better rate for you from a specific bank, so you'll be no worse off by approaching HSBC direct. Edited March 9, 2022 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajane0429 Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 3 minutes ago, Marisawright said: Expats are people who are working temporarily overseas, frequently in executive positions. Expat advisors tailor investments, loans etc to maximise their tax position while they are temporarily residing outside their home country. If you've got a PR visa, you are not an expat. You're now an Australian permanent resident and your former UK home is now an investment property in a foreign country. That may make a difference. Perhaps your advisor wasn't fully aware of your residency status initially. Have you asked him why he has changed his mind? It could save you a lot of time and effort to know. I can't see why you would not approach the bank to arrange the mortgage yourself. Advisors do not get a better rate for you from a specific bank, so you'll be no worse off by approaching HSBC direct. He said he could arrange us a normal UK buy to let mortgage but then they will ask questions about where we live and we would be rejected if living overseas or planning on going overseas. He said expat mortgage would be the other only option and its just not something he deals with. To be honest I get the impression he just cant be bothered! And if thats the case then i would rather not deal with him. I guess ive just always dealt with mortgage advisors, i did once try and deal with a bank direct and found they just were not willing to offer any actual advice on our best options and if i gave an answer that they didnt like to a question it was just a cross against our names where as a mortgage advisor will advise us what to actually reveal and not reveal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 8 hours ago, emmajane0429 said: He said he could arrange us a normal UK buy to let mortgage but then they will ask questions about where we live and we would be rejected if living overseas or planning on going overseas. He said expat mortgage would be the other only option and its just not something he deals with. To be honest I get the impression he just cant be bothered! No, he's right. You cannot get a normal UK buy to let mortgage if you're not legally resident in the UK. You'd have to lie about where you're living now, and that's fraud. It would very likely be discovered, and then you could lose the house. Expat mortgages are rare and he knows nothing about them, so he can't advise you effectively. 8 hours ago, emmajane0429 said: I guess ive just always dealt with mortgage advisors, i did once try and deal with a bank direct and found they just were not willing to offer any actual advice on our best options and if i gave an answer that they didnt like to a question it was just a cross against our names where as a mortgage advisor will advise us what to actually reveal and not reveal! Mortgage advisors should never be telling you "not to reveal" information. I'm sure there are some who do it, because they want to sell you a loan and get their commission -- but I bet they don't put it in writing, because it's illegal. If you hide something from the bank which would make them refuse the loan, that's fraud, and you're the one that will go to court, not them. They can just claim you hid it from them, too. The problem with expat mortgages is that they're expensive. You'll normally be paying a much higher rate of interest than a normal mortgage. Rather than a mortgage advisor, perhaps you should talk to a tax adviser like @Alan Collett to make sure keeping the house is the best thing financially (remember you'll have to declare the income on your Australian tax return), or a financial adviser like @Andrew from Vista Financial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDougster Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 Has anyone ever made the repayments on their mortgage and actually 'lost the house' because the type of mortgage wasn't correct or they were living overseas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can1983 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 1 hour ago, DrDougster said: Has anyone ever made the repayments on their mortgage and actually 'lost the house' because the type of mortgage wasn't correct or they were living overseas? Can't imagine it, there are 10's maybe 100's of thousands of brits living overseas on permanent visas who have mortgages in the UK for their former home - my sister is one of them. Permanent residency isn't, well, permanent! it has an expiry doesn't guarantee citizenship if you are naughty. I did it 10 years ago I paid a one off GBP250 fee to Santander for letting consent and all sorted. I would imagine the best thing is to is let the current mortgage roll onto the SVR and be done with it why remortgage the rate isn;t going to be better than the SVR if you have to get a special 'living overseas never returning' kinda mortgage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 1 hour ago, DrDougster said: Has anyone ever made the repayments on their mortgage and actually 'lost the house' because the type of mortgage wasn't correct or they were living overseas? How would we know? A mortgage obtained fraudulently is a mortgage obtained fraudulently. If your fraud has caused the bank to act illegally (i.e. by giving a loan to a foreigner against banking regulations) then you can bet they will take action to rectify. Of course, the bank may never find out, but is it worth the risk? As @can1983 says, lots of migrants still have a mortgage on their UK property, but it's the mortgage they held when they left the country, and they either had a suitable mortgage before they left, or they got letting consent on their existing mortgage. All perfectly legal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 36 minutes ago, can1983 said: Permanent residency isn't, well, permanent! it has an expiry doesn't guarantee citizenship if you are naughty. No, it isn't, but it's not the visa that determines your residency for things like tax or banking. It's where you are legally resident. Though your sister will never cease to be a citizen of the UK, she is no longer a legal resident. That's what matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 7 hours ago, can1983 said: Permanent residency isn't, well, permanent! it has an expiry doesn't guarantee citizenship if you are naughty. Permanent residency doesn't have an expiry - that why it's called permanent - but it can be cancelled if you are naughty or spend too long outside the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajane0429 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share Posted March 10, 2022 Well ive contacted another company who deal with expat mortgages and they cant help me either! Seems i cant apply for a buy to let in the UK if im planning on going overseas and I cant apply for an expat mortgage until overseas with a fixed address and employment urggh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 (edited) 19 minutes ago, emmajane0429 said: Well ive contacted another company who deal with expat mortgages and they cant help me either! Seems i cant apply for a buy to let in the UK if im planning on going overseas and I cant apply for an expat mortgage until overseas with a fixed address and employment urggh I assume you've asked your current mortgage provider if they will give you a letting consent? You'll have to pay a fee but it will be cheaper than an expat mortgage. You can understand why no one wants to lend to you when they know you're about to be unemployed. Edited March 10, 2022 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDougster Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 12 hours ago, Marisawright said: How would we know? A mortgage obtained fraudulently is a mortgage obtained fraudulently. If your fraud has caused the bank to act illegally (i.e. by giving a loan to a foreigner against banking regulations) then you can bet they will take action to rectify. Of course, the bank may never find out, but is it worth the risk? As @can1983 says, lots of migrants still have a mortgage on their UK property, but it's the mortgage they held when they left the country, and they either had a suitable mortgage before they left, or they got letting consent on their existing mortgage. All perfectly legal. You'd know through the normal channels of communication. That is to say, as soon as this topic was brought up on here (which it regularly is) someone would say "Lordy, NO! I lost my house doing that!" Grey is grey. I wouldn't bet much at all. Yes, probably! I tend to agree with can1983 that the "best" action is to let it slip onto SVR and make all the payments. I really doubt there would ever be any problem created by this unless it's a multi-million pound scam. It is a bit of a scam though and you'd have to be ok with that. Losing the ability to make the payments may be uncomfortable. Not sure I'll feel comfortable enough with the strategy to be ok with it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 On 09/03/2022 at 21:29, emmajane0429 said: Hi, We need to swap out our current UK residential mortgage to a Expat buy to let mortgage. Our current advisor has suddenly announced that he cannot arrange this after saying he could! Can anyone recommend a Specialist Mortgage advisor here in the UK who we could discuss and arrange this with? I know HSBC do these mortgages but im not keen on going direct to a bank to arrange myself. Many Thanks in advance Have you left the UK yet? Are you still employed in UK jobs? If the answer to those are No and Yes then you still qualify for a UK buy to let. You only have to declare your residence at the time you take out the mortgage, and right now if you haven't left you are still a UK resident. You would need to update them when you did leave, and that is where it might get "fun", but equally they might be happy with the money being repaid and let it continue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajane0429 Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share Posted March 10, 2022 4 hours ago, Ausvisitor said: Have you left the UK yet? Are you still employed in UK jobs? If the answer to those are No and Yes then you still qualify for a UK buy to let. You only have to declare your residence at the time you take out the mortgage, and right now if you haven't left you are still a UK resident. You would need to update them when you did leave, and that is where it might get "fun", but equally they might be happy with the money being repaid and let it continue Yes we are still in the UK and in paid employment. This is a option but the first thing they will ask if we applied for a buy to let is where are we moving to, we would need to show we were buying a property in the UK so i dont think we would be approved. Maybe its easier just to sell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 8 hours ago, emmajane0429 said: Yes we are still in the UK and in paid employment. This is a option but the first thing they will ask if we applied for a buy to let is where are we moving to, we would need to show we were buying a property in the UK so i dont think we would be approved. Maybe its easier just to sell! I've never once been asked where I'm moving to when taking out a mortgage. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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