Buying house in England from Oz

[lizzydrippin]

Not sure which category to put this in. My brother in Australia would like to buy my son's house here in England. They've already agreed a fair price. How do they now go about the sale. My brother lives in Australia but has retained his British Citizenship. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[lady_p_gold]

Well as with normal house sales they both need to get a solicitor I suppose and if your brother in Oz found a reputable English solicitor that would probably be the way forward. When it came to transferring the money over here he would probably have to pay a percentage to get the money over.

[lizzydrippin]

thanks very much for your answer. My son did go to see a solicitor and was gobsmacked to be accused of money laundrying and the solicitor threatened to report him to the authority's. Anyway, after finding out more about it it didnt seem like a good idea anymore, it was going to be very costly with regards to exchange rates etc. I basically wanted my brother to buy it until I was in a position to buy it back from him in 5 yrs time. My son just wanted him to pay off the mortgage and I would have paid him the amount that it had cost him when I was financially able to. My son couldn't be a house owner anymore as he's starting uni in Sept as a mature student and he's also a single parent and it would have affected any financial help he could apply for. My age prevents me from applying for a mortgage myself. Phew! doesn't life get complicated sometimes.