The Client:
The client had a large portfolio of 17 properties. The properties were of mixed ownership comprising of personal name, Limited Company with his wife and Limited Company with his sister. Clients’ sister lives in Australia and although a Shareholder of the Limited Company, not an active Director.
The Scenario:
Two of the properties under the Limited Company entity with client’s sister as 50/50 Shareholder were coming to the end of their fixed rate, therefore required remortgaging. We previously completed these applications for the client on an an Expat mortgage basis, which required both applicants to be on the application. The task here was to find the best possible deal, in a difficult marketplace where Expat rates have increased a lot.
The Solution:
Being a whole-of-market and specialist expat mortgage Broker, we have the knowledge and experience to know that some lenders have no overall portfolio limits and do not restrict ownership, loan to value or overall rental stress. We also are aware that there are lenders that will consider Limited Company (SPV) applications without taking shareholders into consideration, if they are not a Director. We therefore sourced the deal based on the UK applicant to see if we could bypass the expatriate mortgage deals and secure a normal Limited Company buy-to-let mortgage exclusively for UK based clients.
The lender we found did exactly as we thought. They would only need the Director of the company to apply, disregarding any Shareholders in the background. This in turn gave us access to a far better deal than we would have been able to achieve if both shareholders were required on the application.
Summary:
It is possible to achieve something with lots of challenges and moving parts. It’s just about knowing the lenders and having experience with their criteria.
Key things to consider for portfolio landlord remortgage of properties with a UK Director/shareholder, and an Expat shareholder.
- Some mortgage lenders have no restrictive limits on your existing portfolio.
- Some lenders are happy to lend to the director of the company only, and discount the shareholder.
- It is possible to get standard limited company buy to let rates for a complicated structure that involves an expat.
If you have any questions relating to a Expat Buy to Let Mortgage, contact us today to speak directly with one of our CeMAP certified Mortgage Advisors.
Call us today on +44 1494 622 555. Alternatively, please complete this short online form and an Expat Mortgage Advisor will call you right back.