Mortgage advisor Henk van Seijen answers a readers question about whether they qualify for a mortgage on a short-term contract and short residence in the Netherlands.

I am an IT consultant from the UK, working in the Netherlands on a 6-month contract.  I expect it to be renewed indefinitely, six months at a time, and so I would like to buy a house here but I have seen conflicting information about the availability of mortgages to expats.

Some sources state that you must be resident for five years, others that you must be resident for two. Some state that you must have three years’ accounts, others that you must have full time employment.

If I have to wait for three or more years, then I will lose most of the financial advantage of buying, and if I have to switch to a full-time appointment I will suffer a huge drop in income making property less affordable.

What is the truth?

Incidentally, I will have substantial deposit so I would not be looking for a huge mortgage (In the region of 100,000 to 250,000 Euros) and my basic pre-tax income is approximately 130,000 Euros per annum. I have a 30 percent-ruling that reduces my tax bill.

Mortgage advisor Henk van Seijen replies:

The truth is that a mortgage is possible.

We assume that you have British nationality and are employed by a payroll company, working in The Netherlands.

Although you are employed, banks will consider you as self-employed. A standard rule at banks is that you have to show your financial history over the last three years. This financial history can include the years you have been working in the UK. As you are an EU-resident most banks do not demand that you have been resident in the Netherlands for at least five years.

Further, we assume that, due to a down payment, the mortgage will not exceed the foreclosure value of the bank. With this down payment, banks will consider their risk limited.

Our approach to a bank would be a presentation of your (financial) background with a resume and your income tax returns from the last three years and a forecast for 2008.

 April 2008

Henk van Seijen is a mortgage advisor and financial planner at Finsens in Amsterdam.



If you have a question for Henk or any of our other experts, visit our Ask-the-expert section.

April 2008 

[Copyright Expatica 2008]