Buying a Property

Who is the service for?

The service has been designed with the following clients in mind:

• British expats seeking to acquire a UK property to use on annual leave and/or, as a future retirement home. View Case Study

  Expat 1: Mr L is a British Expat living and working in Hong Kong with 2 children at boarding school in England. He approached House Nouse to find a 5 bedroom property in Malvern, Worcestershire. It needed to be close to the school so that he had a place to stay for visits to see his children on business trips during term and use it as a base for returns to the UK on annual leave. The property had to be large enough to entertain family and friends saving Mr L a lot of driving time dashing round the country to visit them. A choice of 4 properties were drawn up by House Nouse and Mr L is now the proud owner of a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom detached Victorian house on the slopes of the Malvern Hills. House Nouse now holiday let the property in between Mr L's visits.

  Expat 2: Mr H is a British Expat living in Wellington, New Zealand. He is looking to return to the UK to retire within 5 years. Mr H was keen to buy a property at today’s price rather than spending more money in 5 years time in anticipation that prices in the UK would continue to escalate. He engaged House Nouse to find and furnish a property in the Cotswolds to be near to where his family live. Mr H planned to holiday let his new acquisition for 5 years, the rental income from which would more than cover the costs of ownership. In the meantime it would also be a place for him and his wife to stay when visiting relatives. House Nouse found a 3 bedroom detached cottage for Mr H in Stow on the Wold. We manage the lets with bookings being generated by a rental agency.

• Entrepreneurs who have recently sold a business and want to reinvest the proceeds in a holiday let in order to take advantage of Capital Gains Tax Rollover Relief.View Case Study

  Mr C has recently sold his profitable engineering business in the Midlands . To avoid paying a significant sum of Capital Gains Tax to HMRC he was looking to take advantage of Rollover Relief. As he did not have plans to use the proceeds to acquire another engineering business he decided to buy an alternative qualifying asset , a furnished holiday let. Mr C contacted House Nouse to find a suitable property to buy with a budget of £1m. We managed to buy 2 separate cottages with sea views in the same village in Devon. House Nouse made the arrangements to put in new kitchens and bathrooms to upgrade the accommodation. We have appointed a housekeeper and agency to manage the lets.

• "Empty nester" couples looking to relocate for a lifestyle change and are interested in buying a new home in their favourite area of the country with an existing holiday lettings business attached.View Case Study

  Mr & Mrs W lived in Farnham,Surrey and were looking to escape to the country to enjoy an alternative, less frantic lifestyle. They were looking to give up their 2 well paid jobs but were not ready to retire for another 10 years. They were keen to find a business to run from their new home so that they could live off the income generated. Mr & Mrs W’ s house in Surrey had a market value of £1.5m and no mortage. They contacted House Nouse to find an existing holiday lettings complex to buy with accommodation for them on site. House Nouse tracked down a former farm with a house and 4 barn conversions for sale as a going concern in the Yorkshire Dales which had been holiday let for the past 5 years. We carried out a full review of the lettings business before an offer was made. As the furnishings were tired and an upgrade was required, we secured the purchase for Mr & Mrs W at £300k below the asking price . They are loving their new life in Yorkshire.

• City dwelling professionals keen to purchase a week-end bolt hole in the country for your own use initially but would like to keep your options open to holiday let in the future.View Case Study

  Mr & Mrs B live in North London and both have stressful jobs in the City. They were keen on buying a week-end bolt hole in Suffolk within 2 hours drive of their home. They planned to use the property at least once a month and would consider holiday lets after the first or second year of ownership. With this goal in mind they approached House Nouse to help with selecting a property which would make a popular letting prospect. Mr & Mrs B had drawn up a short list of 3 prospective properties to purchase and they needed our advice to make the best decision. We viewed each property and made our recommendation. They are now the owners of a detached 3 bedroom period cottage in a village with a gastro pub near Woodbridge. Mr & Mrs B will get in touch with us again when they are ready to let.

How can we help?

House Nouse has the necessary skills, knowledge and contacts to guide you through the acquisition process from start to finish.

• Setting an appropriate budget
• Identifying the size, type and location of the property to buy within the budget
• Negotiating with the vendor's estate agent
• Arranging the conveyancing
• Sourcing a mortgage or loan
• Forecasting occupancy and profits to calculate an ROI
• Preparing cash flow forecasts

How does our buying service work?

We adopt a flexible approach which can be adapted to suit your needs. Outlined below is a framework we have used for previous assignments which will give you a flavour of how we operate.

• Option 1Selection only

  You may wish to undertake the search process yourself but require advice on which property you should buy from a short list of possibilities. Our charge for viewing a single property is fixed at £250 (no VAT) plus a mileage allowance at 45p per mile. For 2 or more properties viewed on the same trip there will be an additional charge of £50 per property. For example if you wanted me to view 3 properties on the same day in the same vicinity the charge would be £350 (no VAT) plus travelling expenses.

• Option 2Full Search

  This service is aimed at busy buyers and clients living outside the UK. To commence a 6 month long search a non-refundable deposit of £2,000 (no VAT) is charged. If you complete the purchase of a property we have found, there is an additional success fee to pay of £3,000.

For a list of our fees and charges (View Fees & Charges)