We were approached by a client who was looking for finance to purchase a 3-bed semi in the West Midlands. A High Net Worth individual currently living and working in Oman, the client is considering making up to 12 buy to let purchases through his well-established SPV limited company within the next 18 months. This will greatly expand his already large UK rental property portfolio which is managed by an agent.

The number of lenders offering buy to let mortgages to ex-pats is quite restricted. Those that do prefer borrowers to live in certain countries, work for a multi-national corporation, and to have lived in the UK within the last five years in order to demonstrate a strong credit footprint. Unfortunately for our client Oman is not always on the acceptable states list, he has lived abroad since 2010 and he works for an Omani company. Added to this, we needed to find a lender that caters to landlords with larger (and growing) portfolios owned in an SPV.

We contacted a specialist bank with which we have a strong relationship and which was prepared to take a common-sense approach when considering the case. Having carried out a credit check and identity, address and employment authentication, the underwriters then requested that the client’s portfolio income and Omani salary be verified by an accountant. This was obtained and the lender offered the following terms: