Some information about why so many people from Hong Kong looking for properties

Landlord Discussion
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Hi! I saw a few threads here about landlords receiving enquires by people from Hong Kong, and don’t understand what all these BNO/LOTR is about.
So I would like to explain a bit for landlords here to get an idea.

First of all, I am from Hong Kong as well.
Before 1997, HK was own by UK Govn, and just before HK hand back to China, the UK Govn issue a type of passport call BNO(British National Overseas) to HK citizens, at that time HK people has choice to get it or not, so not everyone in HK has the BNO passport.

Ok, lets cut the history lesson. Time flys to 2019, the Yellow Umbrella incident in HK making the UK Govn thinks they should do something to save HK people from getting kill or jailed unfairly by thr brutal China/HK Govn, so the UK Govn has open a new immigration route called BNO visa, for HK people who have BNO passport moving to UK.

The rules are:

  1. One person in a family must have a BNO passport.

  2. They must have enough funds for at least 6 month’s living, the border control will check this before they grant a LOTR to that person/family.

  3. Now, LOTR is a temporary visa of 6 month to let those HK people process their immigration visa in UK, LOTR is allow to work or study.

  4. Once the actual BNO Visa approved, they can stay for 5 years.

  5. They have to pay a 5 years NHS fee about £2700 per person.

  6. No public funding allowed in this 5 years.

  7. And no criminal record before

Now, below are the important part which I want landlords here to understand:

Just the NHS fee for a family of 4 is costing more than £10000, which they have to pay in once, and 90% of people from HK these days mostly comes to UK in a family unit, as a parent, no one will risk giving up their steady job in HK and move to UK if they don’t have enough money because they understand there won’t be any funding support from the UK Govn.
And most people just sold their property in HK and bring the cash here for living, and just a brief idea for you, the property price in HK is even more expensive than London (In terms of $/sq ft), you can imagine how much cash they have after selling their property.

Again, lets just put it in short~
People who dare to give up everything in HK and move to UK, MOST of them does not lack of money!!

And they won’t play tricks about not paying rent and wait for your evict, because once they got into illegal issues, it may effect their citizens application after 5 years.

One thing I don’t really understand, the reference check here rely on the tenants have a job or not, but what if a local guy resign his job just because he’s too lazy maybe after 2 months of rent and won’t move out, playing dirty tricks because he know the landlord will take very long time before throwing them out of the house?

What I am trying to say is, please don’t filter out enquires from Hong Kong people just because they don’t have a job yet in UK, and most of them know they won’t pass the credit check and willing to pay 6 month’s rent in advance, and you’ll found most of them are nice and friendly (Although some of them don’t speak English too good)

We are all just look for a house to start our new life here, so please don’t give us a hard time, and if anyone wants to know more, you’re welcome to reply below, I’ll try my best to answer.

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Thank you for your excellent explanation.
This does not affect me, but helps me understand the current situation regarding their situation.
This description, I hope, will help others from Hong Kong who move to the UK, and I sincerely hope they do not regret the move, and hope that landlords will accept them and treat them well.

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Thank you John!
It’s nice to know people in UK are welcoming us, and I hope we all settle in well and contribute to the local community to show our thankful towards the kindness of UK Govn and people here.

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Hi, I really don’t mind renting my property to Hongkong people. I have a few friends who are from Hongkong. They are very nice and love them.

Unfortunately, Hongkong people don’t come to Newcastle.

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Hi, thanks for supporting!
Actually, most of them doesn’t have a clue about which city is better for them to stay, so which city is best for living in UK is probably the asked question most for those who plan to come.

lots of them go to Manchester, maybe many Chinese living there already? Or maybe the football club? LoL

Some other will choose Southern part of UK due to the warmer weather, but I also saw some will choose city like Glasgow or Edinburgh, so I think probably some will choose Newcastle too.

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Brilliant explanation Michael. With that knowledge I am quite sure that if any landlords had reservations renting to people from HK then this will really help, Thank you. Do you know if there are any places/websites that HK use specifically to look for places to rent for HK nationals.

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7

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I didn’t realise people here discriminated against BNO holder. I know very well how hardworking BNO holders are. In my experience, they are very industrious and model tenants. Some of them have a really high paying job in HK. Yet they leave that to come to the UK for safety and security for their children. They are not a drain on the system as they work and fund their stay in UK and do not leech from the public purse. I would highly recommend BNO holders to anyone who is looking for ideal tenants.

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Hi Christine
They find properties on Zoopla, Rightmove, and some of them know Openrent as well.

Because some estate agency is asking them for 12 mth’s rent payment in once, or either refusing them to even just a house view (My own experience and also my friend’s), so some of them tents to direct contact with landlords.

But one case I saw on Facebook, the tenant paid 12 mth’s rent in once, after move in one month, the roof start leaking when raining heavily (it was a sunny day when she were house viewing), water even run into power socket causing the electric fuse jumped. But the landlord is ignoring her for repair, the lady didn’t update her case, I don’t know what’s it up to now.

I don’t know it’s just a case she had a bad landlord, or the landlord thinks money is on his hand and he don’t need to respond.

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Hi Michael
If its through an agent they should contact them immediately and complain. They must keep a photo record of damage and dates, if not they should threaten the landlord that they will contact the local council housing department. Unfortunately there are a few unscrupulous landlords but the vast majority are good decent people.

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Excellent explanation. If people in the U.K. loose their landlords have the security from the government, they can claim housing benefit.

What areas are people looking. Are they only around the large cities?

I have properly in Scotland and haven’t had one enquiry ?

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Where in Scotland is your property?

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Michael85 - Such an informative, helpful posting. We have recently rented a 4 bed house to a lovely family from HongKong. Your article would have saved us so much stress.

Thank you.

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Thank you Francess
I am sure they’ll keep the house nice and clean, no worries :slightly_smiling_face:

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I don’t think there’s been any mention of discrimination up till now. In the UK there have always been people complaining about being turned away from viewing, about bad landlords and about bad tenants.

Tenants unfamiliar with the UK need to understand that many UK landlords have a mortgage secured on their letting flat, and it’s the mortgage companies that oblige all the terms about tenant references, steady employer etc. There are also contractural/legal risks for landlords taking say, 1 year rent in advance.

When it comes to viewing, landlords can be overwhelmed with the number of applications. That’s why they only call a small minority in for a viewing.

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Hi, we currently have a 3 bedroom semi Detached house to rent in Canon Wilson Close Haydock St. Helens WA11. Is located in quiet cul de sac.

Is avaliable to any Hong Kong tenants immediately.

We are landlord of Chinese, Singapore and English.

Or if anyone wants to recommend we can pay a referal fee.