I attend in person
Every viewing, on the ground, in the street. Layout, visible condition, the street, the neighbours, the things an agent does not photograph. You get the video and our notes the same day.
Buying from outside the UK
You can buy a UK house without ever coming to see it.
I've done it. One purchase, start to finish, for an investor who never set foot in England. I viewed it, filmed it, negotiated it, talked to the solicitors and handed it over with a tenant in place. This page is the honest version of how that works and what's different when you're abroad.
Secondary note, said plainly: most of my clients are in the UK. If you're abroad you're not my biggest audience, you're the one I built this page for.
What I buy
Freehold houses. Not leasehold flats.
Freehold means you own the building and the ground under it, with no end date. Leasehold means you own the right to live there for a fixed number of years, and somebody else owns the building. That somebody can charge you a service charge and a ground rent, and the lease gets shorter every year you hold it.
A lot of what gets sold to overseas buyers is leasehold, because new build apartment blocks are easy to sell from a brochure at a distance. I don't work that way. I buy ordinary freehold houses in Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham, Worksop and the towns around them, the kind local people rent and local people buy.
It's less glamorous. It's also the thing you can sell again to somebody standing in the street outside, rather than to another overseas buyer who has only seen a render.
- Freehold houses, not leasehold flats
- One patch: 10 miles or so around Worksop
- Tenants who live and work locally
- Bought below asking, not off a brochure
- Full walkthrough video before you commit
- Local management arranged before you complete
You never need to travel
I go and stand in the house instead.
We attend in person and record a full walkthrough, so you see the property as it is rather than how the listing photographs it.
You get the video and the notes
Not a curated highlight. A walkthrough, room by room, with the problems pointed at rather than framed out. If I wouldn't buy it myself I tell you why in the notes.
You decide from wherever you are
The Hunt Lane client made the call on £61,500 without a flight, a hotel or a week off work. The offer was accepted on 16 July 2024 and the sale completed on 28 October 2024.
How you hold it
In your own name, or through a UK company.
Both are open to you as a non resident. My Hunt Lane client bought through a UK limited company. Others buy personally. Which one suits you depends on your tax position in your own country as well as in the UK, how many properties you intend to hold, and what you want to happen to the asset later.
I'm not a tax adviser and I won't pretend to be. I don't give you a number, a threshold or a rate, because getting that wrong from a website is expensive and the rules change. Take advice from a UK tax adviser who knows your home country, before you commit to a structure.
What I'll do is work with whatever you choose, get the paperwork right at the solicitor’s end, and make sure the structure is settled before an offer goes in rather than halfway through a purchase.
- Decide before you offer. Changing the buyer from a person to a company mid purchase can mean starting the legal work again.
- Mortgage or cash changes it. Lending to a non resident, and lending to a company, are different conversations. Have that one early.
- Get UK advice, not general advice. Your adviser at home may not know how the UK treats what you're about to do.
Moving the money
Currency exchange through Sciopay, not through your bank.
Competitive transfer rates through Sciopay, so the bank does not quietly take a slice of your purchase.
Banks take a wide margin and move slowly. On a six-figure transfer that difference is real money.
I introduce you and you deal with them directly. The transfer is your money and your account, not mine passing through.
Compliance and anti-money laundering
The checks aren't optional, and they take longest from abroad.
We are supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering, registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, a member of The Property Ombudsman, and covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance. Bullseye Properties Ltd is registered in England, company number 14869608.
In practice that means I have to verify who you are and where the money came from before I can act for you. So does your solicitor, separately. From overseas this is the part that most often adds weeks, usually because a document needs certifying or a bank statement is in the wrong language.
Start it early. I'll tell you exactly what's needed at the point we agree the brief, not the week before completion.
- Photo ID and proof of address
- Evidence of where the funds came from
- Company documents if you buy through one
- Certified translations where they are needed
- Your own solicitor repeats the checks
- The full document list
From abroad, step by step
What it actually looks like from 3,000 miles away.
- 01
A call at your hour
What you want the money to do, what you can deploy and where you're based. If we're not the right fit I'll say so on that call.
- 02
Brief, terms and ID
Written criteria and signed terms, and the anti-money laundering checks start here rather than at the end. Structure decided now, not later.
- 03
I search and I filter
Estate agents, direct to vendor, auction and off market. Most of it fails the checks and you never see it, which is the part you're paying for.
- 04
I view it and film it
Full walkthrough video and honest notes the same day, plus the street, the neighbours and the things the listing photographs avoided.
- 05
Due diligence, then I negotiate
Crime, flood, EPC, legal title, comparable sales and a realistic rent. Then I negotiate, working only for you, with no seller side commission.
- 06
Money moves, solicitors work
Currency transferred through Sciopay in your own time. I handle the chasing with the solicitors, as I did on Hunt Lane, and report back.
- 07
Refurb and utilities
If it needs work, trades I've used myself, managed by me. Energy and broadband set up in one go after completion.
- 08
Management, then rent
A local management company introduced before you complete, so the property is earning rather than sitting empty while you work out who has the keys.
Read before you talk to anybody
The overseas buyer’s reading list.
Twelve articles from my library, grouped in the order the questions usually come up. None of it is a sales pitch and none of it is tax advice.
What you're actually buying
Freehold, leasehold, and whether a foreign national can own it at all.
Buying without being here
The legal steps, the paperwork, and whether you have to get on a plane.
Structure, tax and moving the money
Background reading only. Take your own advice from a UK tax adviser before you decide anything here.
After you have the keys
Who runs it, what it costs you in attention, and the mistakes I see most.
Straight answers
What overseas buyers ask first.
Do I have to come to the UK to buy?
No. I attend every viewing in person and send you a full walkthrough video with my notes the same day. 55 Hunt Lane in Doncaster was bought by an investor who never set foot in England, from first offer through to a tenant paying rent.
Can I buy through a UK company?
Yes. My Hunt Lane client bought through a UK limited company. Whether that's right for you depends on your own tax position in your country and in the UK, so take advice from a UK tax adviser before you decide. I'll work with whichever structure you choose.
Do you buy leasehold?
No. I buy freehold houses in South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire. Freehold means you own the building and the land it stands on, with no lease running down and no ground rent or service charge arriving from a landlord you never met.
How do I get the money to the UK?
Through Sciopay, a specialist provider I work with, rather than through your bank. Banks take a wide margin and move slowly. On a six-figure transfer that difference is real money.
Are you regulated?
We are supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering, registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and a member of The Property Ombudsman, and we carry professional indemnity and public liability cover. The registrations and policy details are all published on our compliance page.
Tell me where you are and what you're trying to do.
Five questions, two minutes. Say which country you're buying from and I'll tell you what's different for you before you spend any money finding out.
Connor Blades, Founder and Director. Email info@bullseyeproperties.co.uk if a form isn't
your thing.