Hello Friends,
We have for some time now been trying to find a way to move back to England, after 24 years in Norway. But everywhere we ask about a mortgage, we get the same answer, you have to live in England for 3 years first....
So we are still here. We have a large house here to sell, but a large mortgage here too. We will have about 50-60000 deposit, and need to borrow about 160000. You, who have moved back, how did you manage to find a mortgage??? Why do they make it so difficult?
Regards

Hey Jacab,
Will at least one of you be working or have some sort of income e.g. regular pension payments?

If yes, then I don't think you would have a problem at all, especially as you are putting down such a large deposit which is more than most first-time mortgage applicants can put down. The lenders will just want to be satisfied that you have a regular income which will cover the mortgage payments.

All banks and building societies are able to do an International Credit Check (search). I'm assuming that you are not in arrears with your current mortgage and don't have large outstanding credit arrears in Norway?

We have two mortgages; one on our house in England which we rent out, then we moved from England to Singapore, then Singapore to the US. There was no problem at all with taking out a mortgage in the States as the mortgage lender did an International credit check with the UK and Singapore. Likewise it should be similar in the UK. However, what you should do is have say, about one year's worth of bank statements, mortgage statement, credit card statements etc. to show that you are sensible with your money. (You may need to have certain things translated if it's all in Norwegian though!). We also paid for our banks in the UK and Singapore to provide a letter stating that our accounts were in good stead and in a satisfactory manner. (That's basically all they will put down on paper anyway - but it's good to show along with your other financial records).

Come to think of it, Lloyds TSB and HSBC in Singapore actually arranges mortgages on UK properties, so you have an excellent chance to get a UK financial institution to take you on for a mortgage.

Most UK banks and building societies should be beating a path to your door with such a large deposit and hopefully some sort of regular income - welfare benefits won't count of course!
See you soon