Are you a British ex-pat looking to purchase a UK property to rent to holidaymakers? Perhaps you’re an existing residential property investor who is looking to expand into holiday lets? In addition, as an overseas buyer, you want to purchase using a foreign currency rather than GBP but you’re not sure if you can?
We are experts at arranging foreign currency and short-term let mortgages with private and specialist banks.
To discuss your lending needs, please contact us.
Case Profile
Our client, a UK ex-pat living and working in Switzerland, was looking to buy a property with the intention of renting it out as a holiday let. It was located next door to a hotel, which potentially could prove an issue due to the leasehold. In addition, the situation was further complicated as the client wanted to repay her mortgage in Swiss Francs rather than GBP, and she was struggling to find a lender who was happy to provide her with a short-term let foreign currency mortgage.
Her borrowing history was good, as she had a sizeable residential Swiss mortgage for her home in Switzerland, and a portfolio of residential buy-to-let (BTL) properties in the UK, one of which she was selling to help fund her new purchase. However, this also created problems for some lenders who considered her to be a BTL portfolio landlord and so did not wish to lend to her.
As experts in securing this type of funding, our Associate Director Paul Fredericks was happy to help.
Solution
We were confident that we could secure the right solution. As this was an incredibly niche case, we knew that the best option would be to approach a specialist lender. We have excellent relationships with such lenders, who have expertise in organising short-term let mortgages and are also happy to accept payment in foreign currencies.
We negotiated a £673,000 interest only mortgage with a 64.1% LTV over 20 years. This lender was happy to accept payment in Swiss Francs and was not put off by our client’s status as a BTL landlord. Given that the property had no previous history of rental income, the lender was satisfied with the projected high, medium and low-income levels provided by a local property agent.
We also spoke at length with the lender’s legal and credit team to ensure that they were comfortable with the neighbouring hotel as freeholder of the property’s lease. In return, holiday residents at the property would have access to the hotel’s leisure facilities.
Our client was over the moon that we sourced an accommodating lender who was happy to provide such a complex mortgage with competitive terms.
