Do you sell or do you rent your UK property when you emigrate

I was thinking about a very contentious issue last night, and it’s this: given that prices on house sales have dropped considerably in the UK, is your best bet to sell your property if you decide to move abroad, or would it be better to rent it out? The latter does mean that if, for what ever reason, your move does not go according to plan you haven’t burnt your boats completely…not a bad idea in my book.

Let’s say you decide to rent it out: two more decisions are paramount.

Firstly, furnished or unfurnished?

If you are me, then you want to take all your precious things with you. If you are most people, you will be delighted to leave them behind and completely refurnish abroad. First prize would of course be that you leave all your furniture in your home. You rent it out furnished and then, with the proceeds from the rental, you have enough to rent and buy new furniture abroad, and save yourself a bundle in shipping costs…but it doesn’t quite work like that.

Furnished properties need to be furnished to a very high standard, and all soft furnishings need to be certified as fire resistant. On top of that you may not get much extra rent on a fully furnished property. I know when I rented here in London the rent was the same furnished or unfurnished…

You do need by law to leave a few things behind for your tenants however; things like a stove, fridge, washing machine and garden tools/lawn mower if they will be looking after a garden. This adds to the list of things you have to pay to repair and maintain, but frankly I think that new electrical appliances are best bought in the country you are moving to.

And then…Letting Agents?

A letting agent will find tenants for you, arrange necessary maintenance, repairs and inspections, and generally look after your property. You’ll pay for the privilege of course – 10-15% plus VAT of the rent your tenant pay will go straight to the letting agent.

You do need to keep on top of things with your letting agent, for a number of reasons, which I am going to detail next week.

Just let me end by popping one further thought into your head: if you are emigrating abroad and wish to establish non-residence status in the UK, just moving overseas won't be enough to establish that you've got a new domicile.

Essentially you need to show that you've severed your UK ties totally and that you are living overseas on a permanent basis. There's a burden of proof and it is not something that is easy to convince the tax man of. If you are retaining your property you need to be aware of this: a long-let is advisable and perhaps you would be wise to consult with HM Tax and Revenue Services and/or a lawyer to make sure that you conform to requirements so that you don’t find yourself with a vast tax bill!

Kim Brown
The Overseas Guides Company
Visit my website at: http://www.emigrationguide.com/