My wife and I are American and have lived in London for 6 years. We want to buy here now. We have a tier 2 visa with my wife as the primary visa holder and I am her dependent. We will get indefinite leave to remain in 1 year.
The flat we want to buy is listed at £825,000. We can put £200,000 down payment. My wife owns a property in Midtown Manhattan worth approximately $1.4m. She currently receives $3650 monthly rent from her tenant. The annual building fees and taxes totals $15,000 per year, so the pre-tax annual income is about $28,000 per year.
My wife would not be on the property title / mortgage because we want to save on Stamp Duty and I am the only eligible first time buyer. Please correct me if I am wrong about that.
I am a Partner in a LLC with total annual income of £200,000. I have been a Partner at this firm for 15 months. The firm manages Emerging Markets debt and credit portfolios for US mutual funds and other clients with total assets under management of approximately $1 billion. I am a Portfolio Manager for these investments. My annual income is salary/draw and bonus.
My wife works for a PR agency and earns £36,000 per year plus £2,000 bonus.
Is is possible for us to borrow the necessary £625,000 to buy the flat we want?
Thanks!
Ask the Specialist response:
Thanks John for the enquiry.
We have certainly helped US citizens previously on Tier 1 and Tier 2 visas. A few of the lenders we use have no minimum periods remaining on visas to consider a mortgage for you.
The numbers look as though they work from first glance for a mortgage of £625,000 - subject of course to status and affordability checks.
We would, of course, have to approach a lender that offered a flexible underwriting approach both to your current residency status and also your income being derived as a partner in a LLC.
On the face of it, it does look as though this is one we could assist with. I would recommend calling into the office on 020 77 100 400 and speaking to one of our Advisers. They should be able to let you know whether we are able to help within 10 to 15 minutes.
Regarding the query on stamp duty, the information we have is that you and your wife will be treat as a single entity and therefore will be treat as homeowners. You should seek professional tax advice on this however just to clairfy.
Capital Fortune
