Case study
How we helped a Jersey resident secure a £1.125m mortgage without taking ownership of the property.
Case summary:
Client type: Partner in a US law firm
Tax residency: Jersey
Income currency: US dollars (USD)
Property: £1.5m London pied-à-terre for the clients’ son to occupy
Ownership structure: Joint borrower, sole proprietor; wife as sole owner
Mortgage arranged: £1.125m at 75% loan-to-value
Repayment structure: 12-year interest-only term with a private bank
Repayment strategy: Offshore investment assets
The client
Our client was a partner in a US law firm, resident for tax purposes in Jersey and receiving his income in US dollars.
He and his wife wanted to purchase a London pied-à-terre for their son to live in. The property cost £1.5m, and they required a mortgage of £1.125m.
The situation
The client’s tax planning required him to remain outside the ownership of the UK property, with his wife holding the title in her sole name.
His income nevertheless needed to support the mortgage. This called for a joint borrower, sole proprietor arrangement, allowing both spouses to be borrowers while only his wife owned the property.
They also wanted interest-only borrowing, using offshore investment assets to repay the capital at the end of the term.
The lender therefore needed to accommodate the ownership arrangement, Jersey tax residency, US-dollar partnership income and family occupancy, alongside a substantial interest-only loan.
The ownership challenge
The mortgage needed to reflect a deliberate separation between borrowing and property ownership.
The client would take responsibility for the mortgage alongside his wife, but would not join the property title. Finding a lender comfortable with that arrangement was central to the case, particularly given the loan size and international circumstances.
The lending structure also needed to work alongside the clients’ separate tax and legal advice.
The income challenge
The income supporting the application came from a partnership in a US law firm and was paid in US dollars.
The lender needed to understand the client’s remuneration as a partner, its sustainability and how it could support mortgage payments in sterling.
His Jersey tax residency added another consideration. The application required a lender comfortable assessing the combination of offshore residency, overseas partnership income and a UK residential purchase.
The occupancy challenge
The London property was intended for the clients’ son to live in, rather than as the borrowing couple’s main residence.
That use needed to be clear from the outset. The lender had to accept a residential mortgage supported by the parents’ finances, with the property occupied by their son and owned solely by the wife.
This further narrowed the options already restricted by the borrowing and ownership structure.
The interest only challenge
The clients wanted to borrow 75% of the property’s value on an interest-only basis.
Alongside assessing the income available to meet monthly interest payments, the lender needed to accept the offshore investment assets as a credible means of repaying the £1.125m capital balance.
The mortgage term also needed to reflect the client’s anticipated retirement age. The resulting proposal was a 12-year term, bringing the timing of capital repayment into focus from the beginning.
Our solution
The case required a lender able to consider both income sources together: overseas self-employment from Germany and employment within a family-owned business in Spain.
Our approach centred on presenting each applicant’s circumstances separately, while explaining how their combined working arrangements would continue from the UK.
For Mr, the focus was on the underlying business and the sustainability of his income. For Mrs, it was on the employment relationship, the longevity of her role and the evidence supporting her earnings.
Bringing these elements together gave the lender a clear account of how the couple earned their income and why their return to the UK was compatible with continuing that work.
Our clients’ outcome
We were able to secure a mortgage that recognised both applicants’ overseas earnings and supported their purchase of a UK home.
This case illustrates why complex income requires more than a foreign-currency policy. The lender also needs to understand the business behind the earnings, the employment relationships involved and how the income will continue after a change of residence.