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I am French, but have been living in the UK for the past 20+ years, where I pay all my taxes. Recently, I have inherited a small amount of money in France from my late grandparents, which I would like to use as a deposit to buy a flat in France with my wife (who's British), as an investiment property (for letting).

However, the bank is imposing some draconian restrictions which in practice means they won't lend money to us because we can't meet their requirements of minimum income or personal wealth. Apparently, this is because we are "non residents", i.e. don't pay our taxes in France, and they claim those restrictions are imposed on them by the UK government, not of their own choosing. It's not clear whether it's their interpretation of whatever regulations/restrictions are in place or whether their hands are really tied. I have done some searching on the Internet but came up blank. I have also contacted the UK embassy/consulate in France, who were unable (unwilling?) to answer my questions.

Does anybody know what restrictions are imposed by the UK on French financial institutions for lending to non-residents? I have only approached one bank so far, the one I've been with all my life.

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    Not an answer to your question, but have you approached a UK bank? If you own a property in the UK and you meet the eligibility criteria you could consider re-mortgaging that to raise the funds you need? Eg telegraph.co.uk/money/transferwise/french-mortgage Having said that, perhaps this question would be better on money.stackexchange.com
    – Traveller
    Jul 16, 2019 at 16:56
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    I don't know the answer to your question. Still, I'm not even sure it's the question you should be asking. It seems to me that the French bank's response is much less likely to be caused by a can't-be-cited regulation coming from another country, as opposed to something arising from France or French domestic banking practice. Perhaps inquiring of real estate business which market French property to overseas buyers would generate useful information.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Jul 16, 2019 at 17:24
  • @am304 Have you learned anything more about this issue?
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Jul 18, 2019 at 23:25

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