No-one knows the future.

Foreigners have been able to buy property in the UK for many, many years. Why would the death of the current head of state alter that?

How on earth is anyone supposed to know what has not even been decided yet? No one has a crystal ball.

And curious why the Queen passing would have anything to do with it?

???

The Queen has nothing to do w/ property laws/regulations

I've not heard of any such proposals. Where on earth is this coming from?

There is frequent comment on the effect of the influx of very wealthy people on the top end of the property market, but apart from anything else, it wouldn't be possible to prevent sales to people from other EEA countries, and no conceivable government is going to stop Russian, Chinese, Indian or Arab millionaires from spending their money here.

The only conceivable policy change might (eventually) be to make property taxation reflect increases in values. The Queen's eventual passing would have nothing do with it. Why on earth would it?

I've a feeling the OP is concerned about possible restrictions on buying holiday homes (in Liverpool or London)

It is highly unlikely that any such restriction would be introduced. Just be aware that owning property here gives you no rights to live here without the appropriate visa.

"I've a feeling the OP is concerned about possible restrictions on buying holiday homes (in Liverpool or London)"

Oh - this is that guy . . .

dhs93: No - the queen passing will have no effect on you being able/or unable to buy.

(in any case she'll probably out live most of us)

PatrickLondon, I'm a USA citizen and I am born and bred in the USA.

Yes, we know, dhs93, because we have read your other posts. Where do you get these ideas from? Foreign investment in UK property is a very healthy business at the moment.

Ah. Second homes. That's a different issue, but only in some parts of the country, usually the picture postcard villages where demand from incomers can price out younger/poorer people. Nationality isn't the issue, nor would it be an issue at all in big cities: and any policy action on it would be focussed on taxation rather than trying to dictate who can and can't buy.

This question is not anywhere on any political parties radar in the UK, unless perhaps the Welsh (due to historical burning of cottages of English people in Wales).

Thanks for all of your responses everybody!!

Question from Patrick L: "I've not heard of any such proposals. Where on earth is this coming from?"

Answer from the poster " I'm a USA citizen and I am born and bred in the USA"

You mean:
- Americans are exempt from explaining why they believe manifest crap, or
- Americans will believe any old tosh, or
- Americans can't understand a simple question , or
- The poster just links questions with the first thing that comes into his head.

Whichever: he seems as unaware of how we govern ourselves in Britain as he is of the basic rule of British life: We really, really don't suffer fools.

True in rural England. Truest of all in Liverpool. If dhs93 can't answer a simple question in Liverpool, he'll be running off in tears to the first US-bound flight out of Manchester faster than you can say "you wha', la?"

Flanner, "We really, really don't suffer fools." I understand our TVs are full of them all the time.

What does the Queen have to do with foreign citizens buying property in the UK? She is the head of state, not the head of the government. In case weren't you aware the UK is a parliamentary democracy?

The only change on the horizon is about taxing property purchase (called stamp duty). Most foreigners buying UK properties escape stamp duty by buying through a foreign (offshore) company. As they are usually heavy investors in top-end private and commercial properties, closing down this loophole will yield a handsome windfall for the UK treaury.

Flanneruk, My statement "I'm a USA citizen and I am born and bred in the USA" was not an answer to the question from Patrick L. The only reason I mentioned that statement is because Patrick L said "Russian, Chinese, Indian, or Arab." I'm sorry that I confused everybody.

As someone who has bought property in an overseas location, I suggest you do a HUGE amount of research on the implications (which aren't probably all that great, but you DO need to know what you're getting into). It's not a picnic.

StCirq: We tried that on his other thread . . . but he is nothing if not persistent.

dhs93: Patrick mentioning Russians, Chinese, Indians, and Arabs wasn't meant as a comprehensive list. Other nationalities - yes, even Americans - were implied . . .

Got it, janisj. It just seems so dumb, and I forget the other thread. If you want to buy property and have the money, there's a way. The Queen has nothing to do with it (which does suggest the OP is utterly clueless, but I know nothing about buying property in England).

Excuse me, but I think this guy IS trying to do research. Maybe in the wrong place, but he is asking questions.

dhs93,

this is somewhat out of date, but it might be interesting to you

http://www.escapefromamerica.com/2009/05/buying-real-estate-in-the-uk/

Bottom line:

Don't worry about your passport preventing you from buying in the first place.

Do worry about how much it's going to cost.

biztravfod: This isn't the OP's first question about buying property in the UK -- several of us have tried to help him before. Since you only registered tonight, you wouldn't have seen those threads,

"Excuse me, but I think . . ."

You're excused . . .

I know this wasn't his first request. I read this thread. People said about six times it wasn't his first request.

Apparently you think a polite "excuse me" should get a snotty response, or maybe just being snotty is your style. Hard to believe you're interested in helping him in the slightest or ever were. Can't say I've been pleased to make your acquaintance.

I just made the effort to look at the OP's past threads, and saw janisj's attitude. Get a life.

Thanks biztravfod!!

I can't see the UK changing the rules re foreigners buying property. As already mentioned it is a good source of revenue in the form of stamp duty etc.

One possible change is that the UK might start charging foreigners capital gains tax if they sell a UK property at a profit. Currently the UK is one of the few countries in Europe that does not tax non-residents on gains from properties (they do however tax any rental profit). So if you are running any numbers I would not assume the CGT exemption will still be there in say 10 years time

Hell will have long frozen over before the UK government stops foreigners buying property – it's just about the only part of our economy that is still healthy!

Hello All,

I too am a US citizen and am interested in buying property in England in the future. My wife may be accepting a job in the near future working at Heathrow. I am considering relocating to the UK upon retirement. We are horse people and would like to have a small plot of land to keep three or four horses and enjoy becoming locals, slowly of course. I have distant roots in the UK from my Welsh ancestry. I understand that all is not peaches and cream living in any country; it certainly isn't here at the moment either. But, I have always loved the idea of returning to the land of my origins. We would want to become a part of the society and not foreigners seeking to impress our own cultural on another culture. Not all Americans are arrogant and rude, and I apologize for my fellow countrymen who think that they are automatically deserving of recognition and respect simply of because of their origins.

Don't misunderstand me, I am extremely proud of my country and being American, but I believe that I am a human being first and a citizen second. Looking forward to discussing the future with you all.

Oh, by the way my nickname was intended to be FiremanTom for obvious reasons, but I didn't check spelling before submitting!

The thing that immediately springs to mind is proximity to Heathrow and property prices (unless the retirement bit is completely out of this area). This is not a cheap part of the UK and the cost of somewhere where you can keep 3-4 horses may be prohibitive in those parts

FiremoanTom: Are you talking millions of $$ (or at least many hundreds of thousands?) That is what it would take to get a horse property most anywhere w/i a reasonable (or unreasonable) commute of LHR.

Firemoan - not sure where you are from - but property prices in the UK are considerably higher than in most of the US (and hugely higher than in very low property cost areas like Texas).

I have looked at some prices in London and they are shockingly high in better areas - even in comparison to prices in NY (which make people in most other parts of the US faint).

And enough ground to keep several horses - yes, probably millions - unless you are at the end of hell and gone. (Think of prices of a property large enough for horses in Greenwich, CT for example.)

I'm struggling to think of a mechanism whereby the UK government [I assume we're talking about the UK, not just England for these purposes] could ban private citizens from selling property to other private citizens of whatever nationality unless there were such fundamental changes in the world order that buying property abroad [or at all] wouldn't look like an attractive option.

There has been a relatively recent change in the taxation of 2nd properties in the UK in that local council tax is now payable in full, whereas about 15 years ago, a discount could be applied for.

and in France, there are moves to impose social taxes on the income earned from 2nd properties, even though the owner may be non-resident and therefore unable to benefit from the benefits they are contributing to.

it would be changes in taxation laws rather than an outright ban which would worry me were I considering buying a property abroad.

Firemoan Tom - properties with land are available in Cornwall [and Wales] at a price, but not the sort of prices you'd need to pay in or around London. if you wanted to work at Heathrow and were serious about your dreams, you'd probably need to look to the area southwest of the airport beyond Slough and Amesbury.

good luck!

oh no not this crazy thread again

sofarsogood: "oh no not this crazy thread again"

It was topped for a less crazy question We are answering FiremoanTom, not the OP . . .

You are correct about property in proximity to London being extremely high. I was looking at advertisements somewhat away from that area and they seemed quite reasonable.

I certainly would not consider living near Heathrow. My wife would be the first to relocate as she works for American Airlines and is being considered for a position at the airport. The position includes a two bedroom flat.

Thanks to all for your comments. My wife has another interview at Heathrow this week, so we will see how that ends up.

Not sure how close you live to an airport now but Heathrow has a huge number of flights - and esp the half of the year when you have windows open the disturbance of being within about 20 to 30 minutes can be truly awful. (I know Windsor is close but imagine those stone walls feet thick probably cut down on the noise.)

tom - good luck to Mrs. Firemoan with her interview.

Hi Tom

If you were willing to do around an hour commute to Heathrow (on a day with reasonable traffic!) then you could find somewhere to meet your needs for around £500,000, but we are talking pretty basic there not a fancy equestrian set up - 3 bed house, couple of stables, couple of acres.

Most horse owners don't have their own land. There are livery stables all over the place (can be v.expensive though) or the best idea if you have more than one is to rent your own grazing (you might be lucky and find some with other facilities). There's more choice out there to find a home for your horse if you don't try to find your own home on the same place. Again, sometimes people have the house with horse facilities that they either never used/or not longer use now kids have grown up, and it's a quite a prize to find a small private yard that someone will rent to you.

It's not cheap to keep horses in the UK unless you are very lucky and live in a cheap area, or find a friendly farmer who has no other use for a bit of land and isn't too serious about actually making money out of it.

A guide to basics only costs with horses in SE of England (I've looked into, still just a dream for me)

Farmer's field with literally no facilities (water on site if you are lucky) around £20 a week.
DIY livery (stable and grazing, nothing else included, but facilities such as an indoor school/toilets) around £350+ a month.
Hay - been poor crops last few years so gone up in price, maybe £5 per small bale from cheap supplier
Shoeing - from around £60 a set
Insurance - around £30 a month