Bristolgirl Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Hi, I was born in the UK and I am moving back home after 15 years on the east coast of Australia. I have a British passport. I am extremely excited to be returning as I no longer enjoy living in Australia as I once did. Unfortunately it’s just way too hot for me and I miss the people, culture, food, countryside and history in the UK. If anyone would be so kind I have a few financial questions below. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thankyou. Nia Has anyone moved back to England, got a mortgage and bought a house straight away? I don’t want to waste too much of my savings renting and know exactly where I want to buy. I will bea first home buyer. I also have a pet. In my case I have a 120K deposit to buy a house of estimated 280K-400K. I have a part time job to go to in Bristol and I also earn self-employed income/selling products online from an Australian business that I will keep going. How long would it take for the banks to approve/how long do you need to be working in UK for/how much proof of income do they require? Also I might possibly have a UK family member who can go guarantor. Can you open a bank account from Australia so I can start moving money across and having my self-employed income paid in? Has anyone made the move back and bought a car with cash? Is this considered an asset for mortgage purposes? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) This website is a great resource on all kinds of money matters, including how to get a credit card (which is extremely difficult when you first arrive in the UK, so don't cancel your Australian credit card, you'll need it for your first year or two) https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ Opening a bank account in the UK is a pain in the neck. You can't open a British account from Australia. In fact you can't even open one in the UK, until you have proof of a residential address in the UK (i.e. a lease agreement or a utility bill like electricity or gas). One tip to speed up the process: a month or so before you move, change your address with your Australian bank to your family's address. Don't use "c/o" them, just write the address as if it's your home. Then change your options with your Australian credit card, so that they send you paper statements in the mail, not digital ones. That way, by the time you arrive in the UK, there'll be a credit card statement waiting for you. You can take that to a British bank and use it as proof of your residential address. You will have to tell a white lie, because they will ask you whether it's your permanent address and you'll have to say yes. Even then, you may not be able to actually transact on your British bank account for a couple of weeks, until your card arrives. Edited February 7 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluequay Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 It might be worth trying to open a UK account with HSBC they are pretty good at cross border accounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 UK mortgages are harder to secure in large multiples of salary than an AUS one. You will struggle at the moment to get more than a 3.5 times income mortgage offer. So on your range of house you would need a mortgage of 160-280k This would require a UK salary of 47k-80k GBP. I'm not sure a part time job will get you anywhere near that Australia thinks it's interest rates on mortgages are high, the UK is higher. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 In answer to your specific points 1) a UK bank won't entertain self employed income until you've filled in a full year UK tax return and declared the income, so realistically you are looking at 2 years from arrival before it is helpful for a mortgage. Guarantor won't be of any use until your income is probable by tax returns 2) you can open a wise transfer account in a GBP currency, which you can transfer money into but I wouldn't transfer lots into this until you have a UK account to move it to 3) buying a car with cash is perfectly fine (but quite rare). The mortgage company won't consider it an asset though, it's just another thing you own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheery Thistle Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 It’s not easy to get a UK mortgage any more. I have a UK govt job reasonably well paid (higher rate tax payer). Good credit scores, no debt and several rental properties. Hubby is self employed and has 7 years books. We moved 2 years ago and had a bit of a time getting a relatively small mortgage. We did get one but it was probably 40% loan to value. Best bet is to try and get a good broker and sound them out just now about your situation, they’ll be able to give you a true answer about what your chances are and how to get yourself into the best position to get a mortgage. I’m not sure how lenders will view income from an overseas business. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisAC Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Apologies for the potentially slightly negative reply. Personally I would come to Bristol and accept renting for 6-12 months before making any decisions. I live in Bristol and rent is fairly expensive but so are mortgages at the moment. Mortgage rates are likely to drop over the next 12-24 months and hopefully house prices will stay fairly flat. There's also a chance that you will not like it here! My Mum made the trip back to Bristol after being in Aus for 12 years and left Bristol after 6 months. She was shocked how dirty it has become, the levels of homelessness and how there's so many empty shops. I live in an area that is considered to be fairly desirable and it's a bit of a dump! It has definitely got worse over the last few years. Saying that the people are great and there is a good food and drink scene. It also has good access to the countryside and has a lot of history. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Monzo, a UK app-only bank, doesn't require proof of address to open an account. But I wouldn't recommend it to receive money sent from Australia - it is better to use something like Wise and send to a different UK bank. HSBC will let you open a UK account from Australia even if you don't have an HSBC Australia account. But HSBC UK is very picky and they may debank you if you get a lot of money in and don't keep most of it with HSBC. You should not change your address on an Australian bank, from Australian to overseas, until you are sure you won't receive any more interest from that bank while still resident in Australia. This is because non-residents are taxed 10% on bank interest and this is withheld when your account has an overseas address. But if you are still resident the 10% will be wrongly withheld and you will have to sort it out on your tax return. You won't be a first home buyer in the UK if you have ever owned residential property in any country. It is possible to get a UK mortgage in those circumstances with the part-time job, depending on how much the job pays, but they are very unlikely to take into account the income from Australia unless you can somehow satisfy them that the amount in GBP will be regular and that it will be brought to the UK. You would need a specialist lender, probably with the help of a broker as high street banks generally can't be bothered with any complex circumstances. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 The problem with transferring income from AUS to UK is that unless you can get the person paying you to pay direct to your wise account you break the link between earnings and receipt of money and no UK bank would then accept that as an earning income stream (look up the complex third party MLA laws that exist in the UK) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 7 hours ago, Philip said: You should not change your address on an Australian bank, from Australian to overseas, until you are sure you won't receive any more interest from that bank while still resident in Australia. This is because non-residents are taxed 10% on bank interest and this is withheld when your account has an overseas address. But if you are still resident the 10% will be wrongly withheld and you will have to sort it out on your tax return. 10% of one month's interest won't be much, unless you have an awful lot of money in your account. Worth doing for the convenience of having a ready-made proof of address when you arrive, IMO. Besides, the bank won't usually start withholding the 10% until you tell them it's a permanent change and not just a holiday 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluequay Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) 9 hours ago, ChrisAC said: Apologies for the potentially slightly negative reply. Personally I would come to Bristol and accept renting for 6-12 months before making any decisions. I live in Bristol and rent is fairly expensive but so are mortgages at the moment. Mortgage rates are likely to drop over the next 12-24 months and hopefully house prices will stay fairly flat. There's also a chance that you will not like it here! My Mum made the trip back to Bristol after being in Aus for 12 years and left Bristol after 6 months. She was shocked how dirty it has become, the levels of homelessness and how there's so many empty shops. I live in an area that is considered to be fairly desirable and it's a bit of a dump! It has definitely got worse over the last few years. Saying that the people are great and there is a good food and drink scene. It also has good access to the countryside and has a lot of history. This is all sadly very true, most high streets around bristol have deteriorated and even the ones that don't have empty shops have lost their essential services like banks, post offices to be replaced with charity shops and coffee chains! In addition renting is as hard in the UK as it is in Australia at the moment, a friend recently had to move rentals due to his landlord selling up and it was very hard to find somewhere, lots of places subject to bidding wars without even being viewed. The Llandoger Trow is still open though Edited February 8 by bluequay Addition 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.