Selling a property in England or Wales while you live abroad

Instructing a solicitor from abroad

The whole sale can be run by phone, email and video call. Once you have accepted an offer, the estate agent sends us the memorandum of sale, we send you our client care letter, and the work starts when you sign and return it.

Your identity is checked online, with your passport or ID card, so you do not need to visit an office or post originals. If there is more than one owner, each of you is checked, wherever you each live.

Proving you own the property

We download the title register from HM Land Registry, which shows who owns the property and any registered mortgage on it. Your name on the register is not enough on its own: because empty and rented-out homes whose owners live abroad are a target for fraudsters posing as the owner, we also check that you really are the person registered.

• Expect to be asked for documents that link you to the property, such as your purchase papers, a mortgage statement, or tenancy and council tax records.
• If your name has changed since you bought, for example on marriage, send the certificate that shows the change.
• If the property has never been registered, the original deeds are needed instead, and the sale can take longer.
• HM Land Registry’s free Property Alert service emails you if someone applies to change the register of your property. It warns you but does not block the change.
• If you do not live at the property, you can also ask HM Land Registry to add a restriction, so that a sale or mortgage is not registered unless a conveyancer confirms that the application really comes from you.

• Property Alert and property fraud on GOV.UK

The property information forms

As the seller, you answer the standard forms the buyer’s solicitor relies on. Answer them fully and truthfully, even about things you think a buyer will not like: a wrong answer can give the buyer a claim against you after the sale.

• The Property Information Form (TA6): boundaries, disputes, alterations, guarantees, services and more.
• The Fittings and Contents Form (TA10): what stays and what goes.
• For a leasehold property, such as most flats, the Leasehold Information Form (TA7), and a management pack from the landlord or managing agent, which often takes time to arrive, so we order it early.
• Planning permissions, building regulations certificates and guarantees for any work done while you owned it.

Signing the contract and transfer deed from abroad

We send you the contract and the transfer deed (TR1) with instructions on exactly where and how to sign. The contract is signed and returned before exchange. The transfer deed is a deed, so you sign it in the physical presence of a witness, who then signs and writes their name and address. A video call does not count.

The witness must not be a party to the sale, so a co-owner cannot witness your signature, and it is best to use an independent adult rather than a relative or your partner. The witness can be in Bulgaria or wherever you sign: English law governs the transfer deed, and it does not require a notary. Return the originals by courier in good time, as we cannot complete without them.

If signing and returning documents on time will be hard, you can give someone you trust a power of attorney to sign for you. It must itself be signed as a deed, in front of a witness. A power of attorney made in Bulgaria is accepted by HM Land Registry only with extra documents, including a translation and a legal opinion, so one prepared under English law is usually simpler. If you own the property with someone else, the power has to be in a particular form, and your co-owner cannot usually sign alone for both of you. Tell us early, so it can be prepared or checked before you sign it.

Paying off the mortgage at completion

If there is a mortgage, we ask your lender for a redemption statement and pay the mortgage off from the sale money on completion day. The lender’s charge is then removed from the register. Check your mortgage terms for an early repayment charge: if one applies, it is included in the redemption figure.

Receiving the sale money safely

On completion, after the mortgage and any costs you have agreed to pay from the sale money (usually the estate agent’s commission and our fees) are paid, the balance is sent to you. Every sum is shown on your completion statement. The balance is normally paid only to an account in your own name; we confirm at the start how and where it can be paid, including whether it can go to an account abroad.

• Give us your bank details at the start and confirm them by phone.
• Never send or change bank details by email alone. Do not trust any email, text or call that says our bank details, or the details you gave us, have changed.
• To check, call Taylor Rose on its main switchboard, using a number you have checked yourself, never one given in an email.

Capital Gains Tax: reporting the sale to HMRC

If you are not a UK resident, you must usually report the sale of a UK home to HMRC within 60 days of completion, even if there is no tax to pay, you sold at a loss, or you already file a Self Assessment return. If you report or pay late, you may have to pay interest and a penalty. You may also have to declare the sale where you live.

Whether you count as UK resident for tax depends on HMRC’s residence rules, not simply on where you live. We do not give tax advice. Speak to a tax adviser before exchange, so you know your position and have the figures ready to report on time.

• Capital Gains Tax for non-residents on GOV.UK