Talk to the British consulate nearest your US residence. Tell them exactly what you propse and they will tell you how to proceed.

Practically any country will be happy to take your money in exchange for real estate. How would a border agent even know you're a property owner, and why would he/she be suspicious even if he/she did know? I've owned a house in France for 20 years and have gone in and out of the country at least 100 times in that period and no one has ever questioned my motives. I can't even fathom what you're worried about.

Can't comment on the UK borders officials, although wouldn't have thought you would have a problem.

Do know the Liverpool area quite well, have family in the area and my father was born there, he lived in the Woolton (Aigburth)area.

However, the area I would suggest you look at is none of the areas you mention but Blundellsands which is a little up the coast from Liverpool but on the commuter train route into the city centre - Hall Lane or Hall Road? British Rail also Crosby station. Other areas would also be Hightown or even up to Formby (has a national trust nature reserve with red squirrels) both also on the commuter train line. Have a look on rightmove.co.uk for property. There are a lot of very nice apartment developments on the coast at Blundellsands. There are also lots of golf courses in the area if this is an interest (besides the Beatles).
You really need to have a good look at the surrounding areas to see what would suit you.

1. Woolton and Allerton combine decent public transport, some terrific houses (Woolton's almost like a London village), access to some of urban Britain's finest parks and an absurd amount of Beatles history. You can't get to Woolton by bus without its stopping at the Penny Lane shelter in the middle of a roundabout, for example. If I ever moved back, Woolton's where I'd buy.

2. I don't buy the renaissance story. Provincial England grew under the Blair/Brown government on the back of a colossal boom in public expenditure: Liverpool depended on public sector employment more than some Eastern European countries under communism, and that spending's being hammered. Don't take the local boosterism too seriously. Whether that matters is up to you - but I wouldn't build the case for having a retirement holiday house on expectations of economic growth or potential property gains. Liverpool is, though, indestructible. Anywhere that survived the loonie Left politics of te 1980s can't ever collapse.

3. I'd be very, very, very leery of your scheme, though. Nowhere in urban Britain is gated, and you're going to be just a few minutes (like everywhere in urban Britain) from some of Europe's greatest pockets of underprivilege. I absolutely wouldn't leave a house unattended for months at a time anywhere in Liverpool.

4. If you can discuss your residence status with a real consular official, do so - though these days, consulates aren't supposed to do that and you may well just get a premium rate phone line to a moron at an outsourcing company who goes through the checklist on his computer. See if you can network your way to a consul unofficially.

Without a retirement visa (and you're not looking to retire here), each immigration official, each time you enter, needs to be satisfied you're not going to be a charge on the public purse, or try working here (at our age, in a country with a full health system, the "charge on the public purse" risk is likely to be a bigger problem. There's no medical insurance available that could really cover the costs to us of your possible emergency treatment if something serious happened)

You need real expertise on this. Google "immigration legal help uk" and see if you can find a UK solicitor who can give you proper advice. The immigration specialists who advertise in places like the Economist are likely to cost a fortune and not really understand anyone other than Russian kleptocrats or Citibank honchi.

Good luck. I hope you get an answer from someone less gloomy.

My main question is what district of Liverpool would be the best for buying a holiday house? Would it be Allerton, Woolton, West Derby, Wavertree, Toxteth, Speke, etc.?

Sorry, I didn't see your responses before I type the last post. My apologies!!

Thank you Mary24. I'll take a look on rightmove.co.uk to see what house may suit me. Thanks for all the responses as well. I like as many responses as I can receive!!

I honestly don't like singling out individual posters for attack, but St Cirq is talking complete nonsense.

She's got an Irish passport, and therefore has an absolute legal right to live in France. Her experience is utterly irrelevant to dhs93's position.

Owning a house here gives a foreigner, unless they've finagled a passport from an EU country, absolutely no right of entry to the UK. Repeated entry within a short period of time, especially from someone of an age to be unlikely to be on a business trip, will instantly trigger interrogation. Telling one untruth makes deportation very likely.

Your chances of getting through UK immigration more than three times without being heavily questioned are more or less zero. When you tell your story, you will certainly be expected to show documentation, and then go through the "no work or charge on the public purse" stuff.

Incidentally: I'd test-drive your idea first, whatever the immigration lawyers say.

Liverpool has a very mild climate, especially (by American or Continental standards) in the winter. But it's very wet - and for much of the year, that wetness can be horizontal. It's also the city that gave the world jerry-building: combined with a lot of 19th century houses that look beautiful at first glance but have had a century of owners unable to maintain the place, that all adds up to housing that's almost guaranteed to give most elderly people serious respiratory problems.

Lots of intensive management 40 years ago means it's no longer got the developed world's highest TB rate: but mid-40s winter temps in Liverpool feel a lot colder than near-freezing ones inland. Do not assume staying in a late 20th century hotel gives you any sense at all of what it's like on a wet day in a single-glazed 1890 cottage or 1930 semi.

Sorry if this sounds like raining on your parade, but I'm wondering if (and I'm no expert), in dealing with the finances of this, you might get some investigation under the anti-money-laundering regulations, in which nationality and immigration status might possibly be an issue. One more thing on which to consult an expert, I'm afraid!

I agree with flanneruk especially about leaving a property unattended for any length of time. That was why I singled out Blundellsands - there are a lot of apartments there and I thought they were a better option than a house in one of the areas you suggested. There are also a fair number of retired people and I was thinking you might be able to find people to keep an eye on it for you. But, it would worry me.

Hi dhs93,

I am a US citizen who owns a home in England, but I have the right to stay, and live here year-round. Frankly I think it would be much wiser for you to lease a house or apartment for the 2-3 weeks each year you wish to stay in England. Having a place of your own when you come to England sounds idyllic, but you will have to pay council tax, utility bills, homeowners insurance, and maintenance & repair bills throughout the year. Your 2-3 week visits will likely be taken up cleaning, painting, and all the other tasks necessary after a long period of unoccupancy.

It is not unknown for empty houses to be taken over by squatters, which is not a criminal offense in England. You would then have to take legal proceedings to get the squatters out. This is the headache you would face if that became necessary:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/homeandcommunity/whereyoulive/derelictbuildingsandsquatters/dg_10022452

<<I honestly don't like singling out individual posters for attack, but St Cirq is talking complete nonsense.

She's got an Irish passport, and therefore has an absolute legal right to live in France. Her experience is utterly irrelevant to dhs93's position.>>

And not a single immigration officer has ever known that I have an Irish passport or that I am doing anything other than traveling to France as a tourist. Why should they? If they even inquire as to why I am entering the country - and 99% of the time they don't - I say I'm vacationing, which I AM. Why would I even bother to tell some immigration officer "Well, you see, I have property here and the water heater's broken and I've come to fix it."?

If the OP does what I've been doing for 20 years - travels as a tourist to a place where he happens to own property now, I don't see that his situation is any different from mine. Nobody even knew I had an Irish passport when I bought my French house, and nobody knows now. It's irrelevant.

A holiday house in Liverpool is without a shadow of a doubt the strangest post that I have read on this forum to date.

It has to be possibly in the top 5 cities of Europe with the least redeeming features. It would make far more sense to buy in an area such as The Lake District to avoid the levels of depravity and poverty on show in Liverpool. You could then make trips to level. How much time have you actually spent there?

"Nobody even knew I had an Irish passport when I bought my French house, and nobody knows now. It's irrelevant."

I don't think passport/visa issues are irrelevant in the UK.

But that isn't really the problem w/ your plan. You 100% definitely should not buy any property that won't be inhabited most of the year.

Just google squatting in the UK. Once someone moves in you cannot get them out without a court order. Even if they totally trash the place.

Unless you plan on moving to the UK at least semi-permanently, you would do better to rent/lease just for the periods you will be in country.

Also find out about and consider estate (death) tax implications when owning property in other than your own country

I forgot to mention, but also consider any implications for your property insurance if the property will be unoccupied for any length of time.

Most people I know who own holiday properties in France rent them out for at least part of the time, and make several trips a year to stay there themselves. Of course to be attractive as a holiday let it needs to be somewhere that people actually want to visit, e.g. the Dordogne.

I can't imagine many others choosing Liverpool for their vacations, so a holiday let would not work. Renting it out to long-term tenants would mean it wouldn't be available when you want to stay. Therefore you would have long periods when the house would be empty (except for the squatters).

Liverpool has early Beatles connections, but once famous they moved to London. I still remember the Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row, and who can forget Abbey Road?

Assume for a moment that the OP has the wherewithal to buy the property outright and to maintain it without renting it.

Assume that the convenience of having one's own place outweighs the cost issues, which certainly favor renting.

Assume that as long as the OP does not bring more than $10,000 in cash at any one time out of the US, there are no legal issues involved in buying property abroad.

How much time, then, could the OP spend in the UK legally every year?

There are other issues, like having an unoccupied house, but it is not insoluble. Filing US taxes on UK bank accounts is a bother but not really hard.

The real question is how much time he can spend there legally. I can say that when my spouse was traveling to the UK frequently for business, she (and I when with her) got far more attention than the average visitor at immigration and that she was once pulled out of the green line in customs for a little look-see -- just because she was such a frequent visitor.

I thought that Liverpool was the European capital of culture for 2008.

I though that the 2008 European Capital of Culture status changed Liverpool in a positive way.

Completely disagree with belted galloway. Liverpool is an excellent city with a huge amount to recommend it to any visitor.

Do agree with others who have advised renting for the short periods you are here. It does seem wrong on many levels to buy.

I don't think anyone here is knocking Liverpool, and yes there were benefits to be named as European Capital of Culture for 2008, an honour they shared with Stavanger, Norway. This year the European Capitals of Culture are Guimarães, Portugal and Maribor, Slovenia.

Dhs93 have you been to Liverpool? I would highly recommend you spend a few weeks at various points in the year in Liverpool to see how you like it. It doesn't sound like you are familiar with it personally. It may be great for a weekend, but in the harsh light of day as a local it may not be what you imagine it to be...or maybe it is...but that way you know what you are getting into. Rent a house is the areas you are interested in and see what it's really like??

And belted_galloway was just speaking the truth. According to it's local newspaper, Liverpool is the most deprived city in England:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/08/05/liverpool-is-england-s-most-deprived-city-says-new-report-100252-29182869/

I have been to Liverpool a few times before and plan on going many, many more times. It was an awesome city. Scousers are EXTREMELY nice and friendly!! I love the Liverpool Accent as well!! Sorry to sound like I have not been to Liverpool before.

Sorry that I said it was an awesome city. It IS an awesome city .

I have not read, in full, the above interchanges and so naively offer the following.

Crosby near Liverpool is one of the places I am considering retiring to, because it has great beaches and (most importantly) restaurants representing the globe.

I recently discovered the Wirral Peninsula (near Liverpool) - my walking friends took me there and I was blown away by the beaches, the walks, the villages.

I am also considering retiring to Silloth or maybe Whitehaven - its near the Lakes (bot really near Liverpool). I would retire to France - if it weren't for my cats, and they come first.

Apologies for the sidetracks - I've had a hard day at the Office.

Steve

Look at Dumfries and Galloway, just come up for the weekend to get a feel for it. We split our time between Rockcliffe and Lytham. D&G has a wonderful coastline, plenty of wildlife inland and good food.

This, combined with the fact that it has very good value for money property compared with The Lake, makes it a good choice.

I would buy this

http://www.dgspc.co.uk/details.asp?id=24040

this afternoon if I wanted any more property.

My brother-in-law and his wife are U.S. citizens. They live in Los Angeles, but also have a flat here in Britain, which they use 2-3 times a year for 3 weeks or so at a time. I am not aware that they have any difficulties coming through immigration.

A flat is easier to leave unoccupied than a house, and the risk of squatters is low. We live about a mile from their flat, so can check the post, pay any bills, see that all is OK from time to time, and also arrange to turn on the heating and hot water, arrange cleaning, etc.

Building insurance for a flat is included in the service charge. Contents insurance for an unoccupied property can be difficult, but you can always take the risk of not having it. A holiday property does not usually contain anything of value, either real or sentimental.

There are other considerations like currency exchange rates affecting the value of the property, inheritance laws, money laundering requirements, and a legal system with which you are not familiar. I agree with the other posters that you need to think carefully about what you are doing, especially the location and type of property, and having a local contact in case of problems.

You know the old joke about Liverpool?

"Give us a quid and we'll look after your car, mister".

"It's OK, my dog is inside to scare any thieves"

"Can he put out fires?"

The immigration problem can't be sorted through anecdote.

There's no clear UK law about dhs93's position: no-one's going to prevent a US citizen who demonstrably has a house and job back home from coming in if they don't think he's going to work or be a charge on public funds. Americans are given 6 months at a time - and I know from friends that there's no real difficulty coming back and forth endlessly during the year if you strike the immigration person as kosher.

But it's one thing to have a house in the Cotswolds: having a house in Liverpool and being retired is going to sound the "medical tourist" alarm instantly if the poster hits a cynical passport official on a difficult day.

Given how often the details of UK immigration law change, and given the perennial unsaleability of many Liverpool properties, dhs93 needs to get better advice than a few stories here before committing real money. Our consulates are no longer supposed to give free advice on this kind of thing, but refer enquiries to an automaton in Bangalore.

If someone knows how to contact a very helpful poster called Alec, who often shows signs of being an expatriate Scouser (or at least a woollyback) himself, we might get hold of someone who really knows about these things.

"European capital of culture for 2008"

And they say Americans don't get Irony...

Worked with a German bloke in England about 13 years ago, he was only going to be in the country for 6 months, so every weekend he used to go off to different places. One weekend he went to Liverpool, I don't think he ever got over it, when I asked him how his visit had gone, his actual reply was "has there been a war there"?

chartley, where in England does your brother in law own a flat?

If I told you that, I would have to kill you. Let's just say it is in the west of England.

The point of my posting was that I think there are various aspects to consider, that a flat is different from a house in terms of maintenance and security, and that I am not aware that my brother-in-law or his wife and family experience any real difficulty (beyond the usual questioning) in multiple entries in a short space of time. They have frequently arrived in Britain, travelled to other parts of Europe, and then re-entered Britain in the space of a few days or weeks.