Buying a house in Ireland from abroad

You can buy a home in Ireland without setting foot in it. People do it every week: emigrants moving home, people buying for a parent, people investing. What makes it work is a solicitor in Ireland, a surveyor who goes where you cannot, and a plan for the three slow parts: proving who you are, signing, and moving money. This guide covers each.

Can you buy without being here?

Yes. Nothing in Irish law requires a buyer to be present or resident. The seller's solicitor sends contracts to your solicitor, you sign them wherever you are, and your solicitor closes the sale in Ireland. Read can foreigners buy property in Ireland if you are not an Irish citizen; the answer is the same.

What is harder from abroad is the mortgage. Read non-resident mortgages for the lenders, the currency question and the deposit. This guide is about the buying process itself.

The people you need

A solicitor (check the Law Society's register) is the centre of it. Choose one early, before you make an offer, because an agent asks for your solicitor's name when you go sale agreed. Read about the conveyancing solicitor.

Viewing from abroad

Agents (with a PSRA licence) do video viewings, and a friend or relative in Ireland can view for you. Neither replaces a survey. Read about the estate agent and what to look for when viewing.

Check the Property Price Register for what nearby homes sold for. It is free and public. Read the price register guide.

Identity checks from a distance

Your solicitor, the agent and any lender must identify you and check where your money comes from. This is the anti-money-laundering law, and it is the first slow part. From abroad it means certified copies.

• Your passport, certified as a true copy by a notary, a solicitor or lawyer in your country, or the Irish embassy or consulate.
• A proof of address where you live now, dated in the last three to six months, certified the same way.
• Bank statements showing the deposit and the savings behind it.
• For a gift from family, a gift letter and the giver's statement.

Some solicitors and lenders accept a video identity check instead. Ask what each will take before you pay a notary. Do this in the first week, because nothing else moves until it is done.

Signing from abroad

There are three ways to sign.

1. Sign and post. Your solicitor emails the contract, you sign it, and you courier the original back. Most contracts are signed this way. The deed at closing is signed the same way, often witnessed.
2. Sign before a notary. Some documents, and some lenders, need your signature witnessed by a notary public in your country. The notary's seal may need an apostille, which is a certificate that makes it valid in Ireland.
3. A power of attorney. A legal document in which you appoint someone in Ireland, often a family member or your solicitor, to sign for you. Your solicitor drafts it, you sign it before a notary abroad, and the person named signs the contract and the deed in Ireland.

A power of attorney helps when closing dates are tight or courier times are long. It should be limited to this purchase and end when the sale closes. Your solicitor sets that out.

The survey when you cannot visit

A survey is a written report on the home's condition from an engineer or building surveyor (Engineers Ireland or the SCSI). From abroad it is the only pair of eyes you have. A standard report costs €300 to €600 plus VAT; a full structural survey of an older home €1,500 to €3,000 plus VAT. Ask for photographs of every issue and a video call to go through it. Read about the house survey.

If you are buying with a mortgage, the lender's valuer also visits, but a valuation is not a survey. Read the mortgage valuation guide.

Moving the money

This is the third slow part. The money goes in euro to your solicitor's client account, in stages: the booking deposit to the agent, the 10% at contracts, and the balance before closing.

• Timing. An international transfer of a large sum can take several days and can be held by either bank for checks. Send the 10% a week before contracts and the balance a week before closing.
• The exchange rate. The rate on the day decides how much euro arrives. Your bank or a regulated currency provider can fix a rate in advance for a fee. This site makes no prediction about rates.
• The paper trail. Your solicitor needs to match each payment to its source: the account it left, and the statements behind that. Send the statements with the transfer, not after.
• Limits. Some banks cap a single transfer. Ask yours before the day you need it.

Read the cost of buying a house for everything the balance has to cover, including stamp duty at 1% and the solicitor's fee. The cost of buying calculator lays it out by date.

A worked example

Fionnuala lives in Dubai and is buying a €350,000 house in Limerick to move into next year. She has a loan offer for €280,000 (80%, the most her lender gives non-residents) and €95,000 saved.

• Week 1: she sends certified copies of her passport and address, and her bank statements, to her solicitor. The agent takes a €5,000 booking deposit.
• Week 2: the survey is done and emailed to her, with a call to go through it.
• Week 4: contracts arrive. She signs before a notary in Dubai and couriers them back with €30,000, the balance of the 10%.
• Week 8: her solicitor closes. The lender's €280,000 and her last €42,000 (the €35,000 balance, stamp duty of €3,500, and the solicitor's fee and outlays) are in the client account a week ahead.

Her total cash is about €77,000: the €70,000 deposit plus the stamp duty and the fees. The mortgage calculator shows the monthly repayment on the €280,000.

Mortgage or cash

With a mortgage, the lender's conditions add weeks: the valuation, the loan offer, mortgage protection and insurance, and the drawdown. With cash, the sale moves at the pace of the legal work. Read buying with cash. Either way, the identity checks and the money transfers take the same time.

Moving back

If you are coming home, a few points matter.

• First-time buyer status. If you have never owned a home anywhere, you are a first-time buyer: 4 times income and 90%. A home owned abroad removes that. Read who counts as a first-time buyer.
• Help to Buy refunds Irish income tax paid over the last four years. Years abroad mean little Irish tax to refund. Read the Help to Buy guide.
• The schemes. The First Home Scheme and the council loan are for a home you will live in, and the council loan needs a right to live and work in the State.
• Timing the loan. Some lenders approve on a job offer in Ireland and release the money when you are back. Others want you home first.
• Tax residence. Moving mid-year changes where you pay income tax and from when. Revenue's pages cover it, and a tax advisor can help with a split year.

Where this leaves you

Choose your solicitor first and send the identity documents in week one; everything else waits on them. Put your income and deposit into the mortgage calculator to see what you can borrow in euro. The buying from abroad journey lists every step in order, and get quotes puts you in touch with a solicitor and a surveyor who work with buyers overseas.