Country of Residence

By Justin Whitelock

Founder of Mortgage London (a trading style of City Finance Brokers Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA No. 766295)

The borrower’s current living location, often a core eligibility factor for expat and foreign national lending determinations.

Related glossary terms

Affordability Assessment

The lender’s evaluation process examining whether borrowers can realistically maintain payments, considering income, committed expenditure, credit profile, and stress-tested affordability at a higher assumed interest rate.

Shared Ownership Mortgage

A mortgage used to buy a share of a property through a shared ownership scheme, with rent obligations on the provider-owned portion.

Non-Resident SDLT Surcharge

An additional 2% SDLT charge in England and Northern Ireland when a buyer is treated as non-UK resident, based on 183-day UK presence test.

Expat Mortgage

An expat mortgage is a UK mortgage for a borrower living outside the UK at the time of the application, most commonly a British national working or living abroad. The label is residence-led rather than nationality-led: living overseas is the trigger that moves the case into the specialist lending market, regardless of nationality. Lenders typically