Expat new build investment purchase

The Client: An expat looking to expand his UK property portfolio. The client currently resides in Hong Kong where he has been employed with an international construction company for the last 8 years. We have previously worked with the client on other properties of his and hold a good relationship with him.

The Property: A 1-bed leasehold flat in Preston in a new build 3-storey block of flats. The flat is in a popular residential area due to its commuter connections and local high street.

The Finance: To support his savings, the client required a borrowing of 59% LTV against the property for a term of five years.

The client’s personal circumstances presented a few challenges to the case:

• He is an expat, not all lenders will accept clients not living in the UK
• He is in his 70s, only a few lenders will accept interest only cases for clients of this age
• The client had a recent missed mortgage payment due to a delay when he switched UK bank
• A short loan term of five years

When sourcing a lender for the client our initial application was declined due to the flats being considered as ‘investor led’ which means they are mostly owned by landlords letting out the apartments, this is not something that all lenders are comfortable with.

The Application Process: We approached a lender who the client holds an existing mortgage with on two of his other properties and carefully explained the client’s requirements. Rather than just submitting the application, we spoke with the lender to make them aware of the circumstances of the recent missed mortgage payment and confirmed that they would accept a property in an ‘investor led’ block of flats.

When we were happy that the lender would proceed with the case we collected three months most recent bank statements, proof of address and ID from the client to support the application.

A mortgage offer was made within one month of submitting the application and we are working closely with the lender acting as the point of contact for the client while he is in Hong Kong.

This case we expect to complete very soon.

Here are the details: