Many overseas investors are attracted to invest in the UK property market. However, investing as an overseas investor can be challenging and frustrating at times. Some of the key areas that overseas investors often face difficulty include:
- Due Diligence Process: Unlike many other countries, UK property investors are responsible for conducting all their due diligence before entering a property deal. This can include an entire range of things from obtaining a survey to ensure structural soundness of the property, carrying out local authority and other searches (title search, flood risk, environmental search, location search) as well as obtaining information from the buyer and agreeing the terms of the contract. While this is usually done by a solicitor, finding the right solicitor can be critical in ensuring the legal processes are neatly taken care of and do not create any obstacles in the future.
- Deal Structuring and Business Set-Up: As an investor, structuring the deal correctly (especially if it involves multiple stakeholders) and getting the business set-up right for tax efficiency is critical. Not all accountants are tax experts, and hence may not be able to provide the most appropriate advice, especially for overseas investors where there could be additional rules and considerations.
- Financing: One of the key advantages of property investing is the ability to leverage your investment. The UK offers an attractive and vibrant financing landscape, which includes buy-to-let mortgages, development finance, bringing loans and many others. Finding the right financing product to meet your investment goals and objectives is thus important, and this will requires working with the right advisers.
- Development or Refurbishment: For most investors, after making the purpose, they would often carry out some development or refurbishment work to enhance the value of the property and ensure that it meets the right planning and regulatory requirements (e.g., when repurposing use of property or setting it up as a house of multiple occupancy). This would require working with planning consultants, local authorities, architects, builders and other trade specialists, which altogether can be a challenging task for someone based overseas.
Given the various stages described above, one of the most important considerations for overseas investors looking to invest in UK property is to find a good and reliable partner in-market, who can serve as their eyes and hands to source and oversee their investment project.
At Focus Property Investments (FPI), we have been working with overseas investors for over a decade and understand the difficulties many face in starting and building a property portfolio in the UK. Our goal is to minimise the headache on the investor side and provide a reliable and smooth process for property investment into the UK.
Over time, we have established strong and extensive network with industry professionals including solicitors, surveyors, financial institutions, tax advisors, architects, builders, planning consultants, and agents who are able to advice on issues relating specifically to foreign investors. These relationships enable us to act swiftly and decisively, so that we can capitalize on the opportunities when they arise.
If you are a foreign investor looking to invest in the UK, please get in touch with us to arrange a free discussion to talk about how we can support you in building your property portfolio.