Moving Abroad but Keeping Your UK Home: Why Timing Matters for an Expat Buy to Let

The sticking point: lenders want you settled first

Once you are living overseas, the product you need is an Expat Mortgage and specifically one for buy to let.

The complication in getting one is timing.

Having spoken with a number of expat lenders about scenarios like this, the general consensus is that most want to see you actually living and working in your destination country before they will consider an application.

The reason is straightforward from an underwriting point of view.

A borrower who has not yet moved has no overseas address, no local employment or income record, and in many cases no confirmed arrangements at all. Lenders assessing an expat case want evidence of where you are, what you earn, and how stable your position is.

Applying before any of that exists gives them very little to underwrite, which is why a standard Expat Buy to Let is difficult to arrange from the UK before departure.

The interim step: Consent to Let

This is where Consent to Let comes in, and it is worth sorting out before you leave.

Consent to Let is permission from your current residential mortgage lender to rent the property out on a temporary basis while your existing mortgage stays in place.

It lets you put a tenant in and begin earning rental income as soon as you have gone, without breaching the terms of your residential mortgage. It buys you time to settle into your new country while a longer term solution is arranged properly.

We would always suggest speaking to your current lender about this well ahead of your move, rather than after. Terms and any fees vary from lender to lender, so it is best to know where you stand early.

The longer-term route: Expat Buy to Let once you are established

Once you are living and working abroad and can evidence it, a full Expat Buy to Let becomes realistic.

At that stage the assessment moves on to a different set of factors, built around your new life overseas alongside the property back home.

The main ones are:

• Your employment status in your new country. Lenders look at whether you are employed or self employed, how long you have held the role, and how settled and stable your position appears.
• The currency you are paid in. Expat lenders will lend against overseas income, but each keeps its own list of acceptable currencies and will usually apply a margin to allow for exchange rate movement. The currency you earn in can therefore affect which lenders will consider you and how much they will lend.
• The rental cover calculation on your UK property. This is the key affordability test for a buy to let. The expected rental income has to cover the mortgage payment by a set margin, assessed at a stress rate the lender applies, rather than being based on your personal income as a residential mortgage would be.

Because these factors are weighed differently from one lender to the next, having access to the whole of the market makes a real difference to the outcome.

How we approach it

The practical sequence we tend to follow is:

1. Arrange Consent to Let with your existing lender before you leave the UK, so the property can be let and earning from the outset.
2. Let you settle into your new country and build the address and income history that expat lenders look for.
3. Once you are established, research the whole of the market, speak with suitable lenders, and provide you with a formal recommendation based on your circumstances and the products available at that time.