Expatriate

Expatriate Mortgage Background
Expatriate mortgages come under a special area of the mortgage lending market. These products are specifically for UK citizens who are working or living abroad and who want to purchase a property in the UK or re-mortgage their current home in the UK.

Mortgage Implications For Borrowers And Lenders
The reason that expatriates can’t apply for the standard types of mortgage that are available on the high street to everyone else comes down to security. Lenders become nervous of supplying mortgages to borrowers who are outside the UK purely because it makes it much harder for them to chase up on problems such as defaulted payments.

The mortgage lending business is essentially a very conservative business where lenders like to know every possible risk and threat to their investment. By simply being outside UK waters and therefore subject to other laws and constraints being an expatriate adds a level of risk to the mortgage that the lenders need to take into consideration. There will also be further rules regulations and paperwork to contend with.

There may be many reasons why an expatriate may want to purchase a home in the UK, perhaps with plans to return or as a buy-to-let investment. If the UK citizen living abroad already has a home in the UK they may want to raise cash by re-mortgaging – but it is the fact that they are living or working outside the UK that will make the difference to the lender.

Specialist Lenders
There are a number of lenders who do specialise in expatriate mortgages and the special requirements that they produce. They will have experience of the needs of UK citizens living or working abroad and they will structure the mortgage to cater for features such as exchange rates.

For expatriates who wish to buy a property that is itself outside the UK then expatriate mortgages are not applicable and the borrower will need to investigate an international mortgage, although these may be provided by the same lenders who provide expatriate mortgages.