Your overseas property questions answered

Since the beginning of Overseas Property BuyAssociation our online experts have answered hundreds of your questions, and we have found that the same queries come up quite regularly. Below is a selection of the most common questions about buying a property overseas. Should your particular query not be answered below, or if you would prefer a personal answer, please CLICK HERE and put your question to our experts. Questions and answers from our experts will be posted in our Community section, where other users will be able to add their own advice and experience to that of our experts. We will not publicly publish specific details or sensitive questions, if you prefer for your question not to be published, please let us know when you submit your query.

We are looking to buy a property on Costa del Sol. Can you recommend an agent to use?

As an independent website, BuyAssociation cannot endorse or otherwise individual properties, projects, agents, developers or service providers. We will only advise on the processes to follow to make sure you are well-prepared for the process of buying a property overseas and completing your sale. The first thing to do is to ask for details of memberships of professional industry associations, such as AIPP, FOPDAC, or the NAEA. From there you should ask for testimonials from past clients, how long they have been in business, and ask to see details of previous building work or developments. Then get hold of an independent lawyer to check carefully through any sales contract you are presented with, as well as asking for copies of the building licenses and planning documents, NEVER use the in-house legal company that your agent or developer recommends – you need to have a legal team who work solely with your interests at heart. Above all, if it doesn't feel right, or if you are being unduly pressured to sign a contract, walk away. There will always be another opportunity, even if it is on your favoured development. In particular, on off-plan developments make sure the project has full planning permission and that you and your lawyer have seen copies of this documentation – if you pay over your deposit and there is no permission granted, you could risk losing your money.

We are thinking of buying a property in Bulgaria to turn into a bed and breakfast or small hotel, more inland for rural tourism. Can you give me some advice?

Research, research, research. This is the only way to approach this successfully. You need to make sure you have a market of people coming to the area who wish to stay in your hotel, not too far from an airport, and enough local attractions to make people want to stick around for at least a few days. If there is no other tourist accommodation in the area, consider why that might be – it is a reasonably safe assumption that it will have been considered before by the local entrepreneurs, and for some reason didn't happen. Unfortunately, if you are buying a property overseas to run as a business, it has to be a decision you make with your head, rather than your heart. Go around to anywhere that you might consider to be your competition. By visiting other hotels and seeing what rates they are charging, you can make sure you are pitching your rates at the right level. Think about how you are going to market, how you will run it in a practical sense, and how you can attract visitors throughout the year. Try to budget for the 'worst case' scenario, and then you could be pleasantly surprised by the returns you generate. Above all, try to budget for someone to run the hotel one day a week in your place – it's a 7-day occupation and can be exhausting!!

Can you advise me the best way to move money from England to Spain to get the best exchange rate? It would be about £400,000.

The one piece of advice I would give you is not to do this through your High Street bank. There are a host of specialist currency exchange companies that deal specifically with the transfer of funds for the purchase of overseas property. These companies should give you a far superior rate to the banks, potentially saving you thousands of pounds. The other advantage is that you are able to fix the exchange rate for a specified point in the future – this means that if there is a favourable exchange rate at the moment you can protect yourself against the possible currency fluctuations for up to 18 months. The downside is that in the same period of time, you do not benefit from any rises in the exchange rate.

I am in the process of buying property in Portugal for which I need additional finance of £50,000. I am still not sure what the best route to take is. Do I take a UK mortgage and remortgage, or do I go for a euro mortgage?

This is a question which often depends on what you are going to be using the property for – often people who are renting out their property overseas and receiving payment in euros have a euro mortgage in order to keep the simplicity of having just one currency to deal with and avoid currency exchange charges. Similarly, if you are going to be in the UK for most of the time, and you already own your UK property outright, it may well be that you feel more comfortable with a Sterling mortgage to raise the cash. In terms of interest rates, there is little choice, particularly as UK rates are predicted to rise again in the near future. In short, personal circumstances will influence your choice of mortgage – a good independent financial adviser with international experience will be able to tell you the best course of action for your circumstances.

I paid a deposit of £1,500 for a reservation on an apartment, but no contract has ever been sent to me and I have not heard from the company since. My circumstances have changed and I am unable to purchase the property. Am I able to get my deposit back?

The difficulty here is in proof – do you have anything to prove that you have paid this deposit with this specific company specifically as a reservation fee for the apartment you wanted? If yes, there may be something you can do through an independent, specialist lawyer. NEVER automatically use the legal representation that is suggested to you by the agent or developer – always go out and do your own research and find the best person for your situation. If there is no paperwork at all, I think you will find it hard to get anything back as you are asking for the money back, the burden of proof is likely to fall on you to prove that you have paid the money. It is worth checking to see if the company is a member of one of the professional bodies which voluntarily try to regulate their members – try AIPP, FOPDAC, FIABCI, NAEA, and IPADA. There is a possibility that something has gone awry in their systems, and your booking has been overlooked somehow.

Further information

This is a selection of the most common questions about buying a property overseas that we have received from you. Should your particular query not be answered below, or if you would prefer a personal answer, please CLICK HERE and put your question to our experts.