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Belgian mortgage using UK salary

Question

Hi All,

I’m moving to Antwerp from the UK to be with my girlfriend who’s a student and we are looking to buy a fixer-upper together. We had some questions, which are proving difficult to find any answers to - it seems our situation is quite specific!

-Is it possible to get a mortgage based on a UK salary and are there any tax implications of this? We do not own any other property.

-I plan to quit my job and get Belgian citizenship once we own the house. I will then work full-time on the renovation. I assume this is possible so long as we continue to pay our monthly repayments?

-We are aware of the one year rule regarding living in a property before selling. We are considering putting this first house in my name and then selling it after a year. We would then put the next property in her name. Would that help navigate the tax implications?

-Are large gifts to my girlfriend taxable i.e. if I gave her the money to buy the second property (in the UK it is above a certain threshold)?

We’ve done a lot of research and intend speak to banks regarding mortgages in due course. Any initial help would be really appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Ciaran

No I disagree. Kassiestamper secured a mortgage on a UK salary (above) and I have found others who similarly managed the same. The difference now is the UK is no longer part of the EEA. A fact each bank has stated in their responses to me.

Mar 7, 2021 10:51
becasse

You seem very confident of your ability to move to Belgium, In would be considerably more doubtful. As a student your GF can obtain a visa subject to a minimum monthly income which I believe is in the order of € 670. However a student visa only allows a "trailing spouse" if the monthly income is much higher, somewhere in excess of € 1.500 IIRC and even then it is subject to the "trailing spouse" succeeding in a visa application.
You say that you have spoken to a "registration office" but the relevant office is the Office des Étrangers which can only be approached via the Belgian embassy in one's home country, ie the UK. Without a visa you would only be allowed to enter Belgium as a tourist - for a maximum of 90 days in any period of 180 days, so even coming out on a Friday and returning on a Sunday every weekend would run you close to that limit, ~ 78 days in 180, and that counts for the whole Schengen zone too (so holidays in Spain, France, italy or Greece count towards the limit too). Go over the limit and your rights to even tourism visits will be cancelled.
Even before Brexit, Belgium strictly controlled the rights to live in the country but at least you could have tried to get a job, now you need a visa and you won't get that without some very special "in demand" skills.

Mar 8, 2021 23:11
indersingh

Can you please let me know which bank can help us get a mortgage with UK salary. I work for a Belgium employer but my wife is working for an English company in London.

Aug 4, 2022 00:05

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