# I am moving abroad, what happens to my mortgage?



## Rach26 (9 Aug 2010)

Hi all,

We are moving abroad soon and we plan on paying the mortgage from abroad etc. As we won't be renting it or anything (this just seems more hassle than its worth) I was wondering what happens with our mortgage relief, do we need to advise revenue that we don't live in it?

Thanks


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## Joe Q Public (10 Aug 2010)

Yes. You can only get TRS if you are living in the house.


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## dewdrop (10 Aug 2010)

You should also advise your Home Insurance Company of your move. There is a website somewhere which highlights all the various actions you should do but i can remember it.


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## mathepac (10 Aug 2010)

As per dewdrop above -  a house left unoccupied after a period (seems to vary from 30 to 90 consecutive days) may be uninsurable, which may effect the mortgage conditions.


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## j26 (10 Aug 2010)

Why not just get an agent to handle all the rental stuff for you? 

At least some contribution to the mortgage could be obtained.


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## clzn (10 Aug 2010)

*moving abroad*

Can i ask you if you have told your mortgage lender you are moving.  We are seriously considering moving abroad too but i dont know if our bank will let us pay the mortgage from another country,


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## Chocks away (10 Aug 2010)

We are moving back to the States next April or thereabouts and we won't be notifying our building society. Our mortgage is smallish and we will continue to pay as before through IBanking.


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## clzn (10 Aug 2010)

*moving abroad*

Thanks Chocs Away but i dont understand how we could move to another far away place without telling the bank.  we have a mortgage of approx 240K and obviously the best scenario would be to sell before we go.  If that doesnt happen then we may lock up house for awhile or rent it.


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## peno (11 Aug 2010)

What difference does it make where you live once the mortgage paymetns are repaid.
all the banks want is their money.

Be careful informing the bank as if on a tracker they could potentially use some smallprint to change you off that into a more penal interest rate.

I think the biggest risk is the insurance of the house if left unoccupied.


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## Lou34 (11 Aug 2010)

Rach 26, I live abroad and pay my mortgage online with no problems.  The bank send me a monthly receipt of payments and all is fine.  I do however recommend that you either get tenants or somebody to live in the property while you are away as you may have problems with insuring it if it is vacant plus a vacant house could deteriorate with no heating on etc. etc and can get broken into if it becomes obvious that nobody is living there.  Income tax returns are done once a year in October and are pretty straightforward.  Chocks Away you say you won't inform building society but where will your mortgage correspondence be sent?  Just a thought.  I generally have found that if you are up front they really don't have any problem.  Rach 26 if you want to PM me I can give you some advice on the ins and outs.


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## HMC (11 Aug 2010)

I moved abroad in June and pay my mortgage online.  I did not inform my lender but have changed my insurance policy.  The house is now considered a holiday home but I will be back to use at least twice a year.  In the meantime some friends keep an eye on it and cut the grass.  The insurance policy (with 123.ie) stipulates that the water must be turned off and tank emptied if the house is unoccupied for at least 14 days and and heating must be on from October to March.


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## Joe Q Public (11 Aug 2010)

It would be difficult to run the heating if the water is turned off.


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## serotoninsid (11 Aug 2010)

Do revenue investigate whether your resident or not when it comes to trs?  (im not suggesting they shouldn't be told - i'm just curious).


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## Joe Q Public (11 Aug 2010)

Only if it came to their attention, for example if someone started claiming TRS on another house.


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## Billo (11 Aug 2010)

HMC;1070083  The insurance policy (with 123.ie) stipulates that the water must be turned off and tank emptied if the house is unoccupied for at least 14 days and and heating must be on from October to March.[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> As Joe Q Public says
> 
> Is that possible ?


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## Complainer (11 Aug 2010)

serotoninsid said:


> Do revenue investigate whether your resident or not when it comes to trs?  (im not suggesting they shouldn't be told - i'm just curious).





Joe Q Public said:


> Only if it came to their attention, for example if someone started claiming TRS on another house.


Even if this is correct now (which I doubt, to be honest), you cannot assume that it will be the case in the future.

It would be fairly trivial for Revenue to cross reference TRS claims with PAYE income tax and social welfare claims, and identify those who appear to have left the country.


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## ncr (17 Aug 2010)

Hi Rach26
I know you think renting your house might be more hassle than its worth but it might be worth your while contacting your local authority and seeing if they are interesting in renting it from you under the Rental Accommodation Scheme.  The general rules are that they will rent it from you for 4 years, rents tend to be about 10% below market rent but you will have guaranteed rent for 4 years.  Rent review after 2 years.


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## stephen1381 (17 Aug 2010)

I'm in the same situation, living abroad but I will be back to hand the house over to an agency and change the insurance police. Hopefully it will be worth it; given  that I will lose TRS and my furniture is quite nice


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