Shouldn’t you have to reside in the UK to buy a house here ?

[KangarooKenny]

Just wondering what others think, and considering we’ve got a housing crisis. I was watching Homes Under the Hammer the other day and there was a guy on there who has a business buying multiple houses for non UK residents to own, and presumably rent out, and it got me thinking that surely it should be a rule the owner lives here. This particular one was a guy buying multiple houses for people in China.

My DH resides in another country because his kids are there (for now). We have bought a house together in the U.K. Should we be allowed? We both paid elevated stamp duty to do so even though it is my first and only home. It is his second (he owns one in his home country).

Perhaps all the neoliberalist guff about the need-above-all to “attract precious foreign investment” should be reconsidered too.

To be honest, cases like this will be the unfortunate side effect of stopping people buying homes in a country they don’t reside in.

But, on the upside, a home in the uk won’t be so frighteningly expensive that you feel the need to buy it before you can even live there - which I’m guessing you did, as property prices keep rising?

If it became the norm, people wouldn’t find ways to feel hard done by about it.

In my DH’s home country, for example, non residents cannot buy a home there. It’s normal. It doesn’t matter. There’s no anxiety about not owning property there.

I can’t see it ever being outlawed, but such buyers should IMO at the very least pay higher stamp duty. Though maybe they already do - after all, U.K. residents pay more stamp duty on any property other than their main residence. Double would be a good start. Impossible to prove that e.g. Chinese nationals don’t own any other property, but it should be taken as read that they do, if they buy a U.K. property they’re not going to live in.

In many countries the rules are very strict and non nationals are allowed to buy one property for their own use.
Where I live there has been a massive building programme of flats and houses. Ridiculously priced and a large number of them bought up by overseas investors and left empty. It is unacceptable IMO.
This has been a problem for decades and it should be addressed urgently.

This is the case in New Zealand- citizens and resident visa holders only.

This is the case in New Zealand- citizens and resident visa holders only.

but rich people can just buy citizenship can't they?

Couldn't agree more OP. We live in an area that pre-covid was affordable but since covid, everyone wants a house here as they can now WFH and they want to live in a nice rural area. A bit annoying, but as long as they're actually living here and contributing to the local economy then fair enough. BUT... Last year when prices kept rising and rising, we were desperate to get on the housing ladder before the prices got too high for us. In one week we were outbid on several houses by the SAME MAN! This guy worked for some Dutch investors, buying up lucrative housing stock to put on the rental market. The people buying the houses had never even been to this country, let alone seen the houses. We are still renting as the house prices are too high but I'm sure we'll have the pleasure of one day living in a house rented out by a Dutch investor 🙄

I got a mortgage when I had only been in the UK for 3 years. Only had a 15% deposit too. DH's employer paid for a mortgage broker so he helped us get a mortgage.

What kind of visa did you have? Because many in my DHs immigrant community have been told by mortgage companies they have to have ILR to get a mortgage.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER they already do, but not high enough to deter them.

So say the government has done its figures and passes this as law. What about those currently owned by non residents? If they get to keep them, watch a massive flood of foreign investors to beat the deadline.
I agree that something has to change, but many of the properties invested are not suitable for families or ftb.
Maybe new builds (like the Battersea Power station complex) should have a local resident requirement along with affordability allowance.

Yes OP, they definitely should. We are one of the very few countries which doesn't have a citizenship/residency qualification to buy property, which combined with the strength of our property laws and courts (in many countries the government have rights to confiscate property for various reasons) means our housing stock is a very appealing target for investors.

There is some attempt to limit this, eg where a developer will build a tower block, usually in London, and the whole lot will be sold off-plan to Chinese investors so it never actually goes on the market here, but these flats are often mothballed and never let, so there is an impact on available housing stock. The high end of the market also has Russians/Chinese/Saudis buying big estates, but that has little impact on the local market for the average Brit.

The government isn't interested in limiting it though as it collects all the lovely stamp duty....

Where I am you used to have to wait 25 years to be able to buy here. I think now it’s 11 years.

there are lots of properties owned by people from abroad who can’t live in them.

It just annoys me that we are digging up our lovely green fields, and then preventing that land from being used to feed us, to provide houses when so many could be sold to people actually going to live in them.
I wonder how many homes are owned by people living abroad who have no intention of living in them 🤔

I am married to a British man who was doing his master's degree in Germany when we married and also worked (as part of his degree requirements). This was 'exercising free movement' and we lived there as husband & wife for a year before moving back to the UK. Under EU case law 'surinder singh' (which was relevant at that time in 2016), this granted me the right to move back to the UK and apply for a EU residence card (same as the one that the spouses of European citizens get). When I got my mortgage, this was in 2019 and settled status scheme wasn't fully up and running yet so I only had a residence card that was due to expire in 2022. I did have to convert my residence card to pre settled status and then settled status later but that was in 2020/2021. On my surinder Singh support Facebook group, plenty of the members have mortgages (though it must be admitted that many of them probably have British spouse as main earner). There was even a poster there whose husband got their joint mortgage before getting her 5 year residence card! As you can only apply for this residence card after arriving in the UK, there is often at least 1 year before you actually get it but you can work in the meantime while waiting!

That explains it, the Surinder Singh fast track to residency/settled status only applies when you come to the U.K. by way of living in the EU first. It doesn’t apply to 3rd country immigrants who came direct to the U.K. For us, it’s 5 to 10yrs to residency/settled status (also called ILR).

I think all second home ownership should be massively taxed. We've all been encouraged to "invest" in property, and so inflate prices. But that massive chunk out of people's salaries could be "invested" (spent) elsewhere and generate growth within the economy.

I think second homes should be taxed so heavily that people just decide to use hotels when they're away.

That's shit, though. There's no way I want to stay in a hotel for 2 weeks on holiday.

You can tax second homes and still have them rented out - either as jones or holiday cottages. The rent would in theory be higher to cover the tax, but that would be offset to some level because property prices would be lower so demand for rent would be lower too.

What about houses empty whilst probate & family arguments are settled? They’re unlikely to be rentable in current state.

The fundamental issue is that people see property as an investment and not just as a home.

So just adapt it. Must live in the UK for at least 6 months per year for 3 years. I do sort of agree that this ship has sailed, but I hope something is don't anyway

I'd probably make it a bit stronger than that tbh though.

That's because it's a tiny island, so strict rules are necessary. Think Isle Of Man has a similar rule.

My DS rents an apartment in a new build block of 16 in the centre of Birmingham. Only 4 apartments are occupied. According to the concierge, the others are all owned by investors from the UEA who buy properties in university cities in the uk in case they have family members/friends/employees who choose to study there in the future.
Seems wrong.

My view on steps to tackle the housing crisis is to start with ending second homes, and especially in some areas short-term lets (Air BnB and similar). Ending homes having low occupancy could go a long way in some places to increasing the number available.

I currently own a house in Britain as I am resident here for now. I have dual citizenship and next year I will be moving to my other property, which I can currently only use part-time because I work in Britain. I pay the required taxes in both countries. There is a difference between a second home and buying masses of property for profit. And not everyone who has a second home is wealthy - many are not, and I do so wish I was!

That said, it will be impossible to implement your suggestion. You are assuming that the government - any government - genuinely cares about unaffordable housing, or the rights of people to own a home. As long as there is money to be made nobody will stand in their way - didn't P&O teach us anything about where the UK government stands on fighting wealthy interests over those of ordinary people?