UK Resident Mortgage for Expats Returning to UK

Expats returning to the UK often face unique challenges in securing mortgages between international and domestic lending criteria – however, we are occasionally able to secure UK residential mortgages for the day our clients touch down in the UK, providing much better rates than expat products.

The Scenario

Our clients, a UK expat and a foreign national currently living in Dubai, approached us with a complex mortgage scenario:

• Property purchase price: £1,350,000
• Desired loan amount: £1,000,000 (74% LTV)
• Combined income: Approximately £375,000
• Current location: Dubai, planning to return to UK
• Employment: Staying with the same employer, transitioning to UK contract paid in Sterling

The Solution

We devised a two-pronged approach to ensure our clients could secure their desired property:

International Product Application:

• Applied for an expat mortgage product while clients were still in Dubai
• This secured an offer and took the property off the market

Simultaneous UK Resident Application:

• Submitted a UK resident mortgage application on the day the clients returned to the UK
• Used a family address where, crucially, the UK expat still had a registered bank account
• Leveraged the new UK employment contract showing Sterling income

Foreign National Co-Applicant: We also made sure to choose a lender who could accommodate a foreign national applicant without the typical 1-2 year UK residency requirement. This lender could, provided they had a minimum income of £75,000 on the application which our clients did.

By understanding the nuances of both international and domestic lending criteria, we were able to devise a strategy that not only secured the property for our clients but also positioned them to benefit from more favourable domestic mortgage rates.