What to Do With Your House and Assets When You Migrate

The visa gets all the attention. The house you are leaving behind gets almost none, right up until the moment you are sitting in a new country trying to remember whether your home insurance covers an empty property, why your bank froze the account you use to pay the mortgage, and who is going to sign for the tenant's deposit when you are eight time zones away.

The assets you own before you move — a house, a car, savings, a pension pot, a small share portfolio, maybe a business stake — do not migrate with you automatically. Each one needs a decision, and most of those decisions are easier and cheaper to make before you leave than after. This guide walks through the main ones: whether to sell or rent your property, how to keep your money working while you live abroad, the tax that follows both, and the paperwork — chiefly a power of attorney — that lets someone act for you when you are no longer in the room.

It sits alongside our guide to taxes when you migrate abroad, which covers residency, double-taxation treaties and exit tax in detail. Here the focus is narrower and more practical: what you physically do with the stuff you own. Tax law is national and changes every year, so treat the figures below as illustrations of how systems work rather than advice on your exact case.

Start With an Inventory, Not a Decision

Before you decide anything, list what you own and who else has a claim on it. People skip this step and then discover, months into the move, an ISA they forgot about or a joint account that needs both signatures.

A workable inventory has five columns for each asset: what it is, roughly what it is worth, whether there is debt against it (a mortgage, a car loan), who else is named on it, and what happens to it if you do nothing. That last column is the important one. An empty house does not stay in the same state on its own — insurance lapses, the boiler fails, the garden becomes a signal that nobody is home. A dormant bank account can be flagged. A pension left with an old employer keeps ticking but stops being visible to you. "Do nothing" is a decision with consequences, so make it consciously or not at all.

Once you can see everything in one place, the choices below become concrete rather than abstract.

Your House: Sell or Rent?

This is the biggest single decision for most people, and there is no universally right answer. It turns on how permanent your move feels, how the numbers stack up, and how much remote hassle you are willing to carry.

The case for selling

Selling gives you a clean break and a lump of capital. That capital can fund the move itself, satisfy a proof-of-funds requirement for your visa, or become a deposit in your new country. It also ends every obligation attached to the property: no mortgage from abroad, no tenants, no maintenance calls at three in the morning your time, no currency risk on rental income.

The cost is that you give up the asset and any future growth in that market, and you pay transaction costs — agent fees, legal fees, and possibly capital gains tax — to convert it to cash. If prices in your home market are rising and your new country is expensive, selling can feel like stepping off a ladder you cannot easily climb back onto.

Selling tends to suit people who are moving permanently, who need the capital, who dread being a long-distance landlord, or who own in a market they are not sad to leave.

The case for renting it out

Renting keeps the asset, keeps you exposed to that market's growth, and produces monthly income. If you are unsure whether the move will stick, a let property is a line of retreat: somewhere to come back to, or an income stream if the new country does not work out. It can also cover its own mortgage, so the asset services itself while you are away.

The costs are real and easy to underestimate. You become a landlord, with the legal duties that carries in your home country. From abroad you will almost certainly need a letting agent, which typically costs a meaningful slice of the monthly rent — commonly in the region of a tenth to a fifth depending on the country and the level of service. You carry void periods, repairs, and the risk of a bad tenant. And, as covered below, rental income is usually taxable in the country where the property sits and often reportable in your new country too.

Renting tends to suit people who are testing the move, who own in a strong or rising market, whose mortgage is comfortably covered by achievable rent, and who can stomach the admin.

A quick way to compare

There is a middle path some people take: keep the property but leave it empty and secured for a defined period — say the first year — while you decide. This avoids a rushed sale and avoids tenant risk, but you carry all the cost and none of the income, and empty-property insurance is more expensive and more restrictive. It only makes sense as a short, deliberate holding pattern, not a default.

If you rent it out: the practical setup

Being a landlord from abroad works, but only if you set it up before you go:

• Appoint a letting or management agent who handles tenant find, rent collection, inspections and repairs. Full management costs more but is what most overseas landlords need. Get the fee, the scope, and the out-of-hours arrangement in writing.
• Tell your mortgage lender. A residential mortgage usually does not permit letting; you may need consent to let or a switch to a buy-to-let product. Letting without permission can breach the mortgage.
• Tell your insurer. A standard home policy does not cover a tenanted property. You need landlord insurance, and cover changes again if the place will sit empty between tenants.
• Check the local landlord rules. Many countries require safety certificates (gas, electrical), deposit protection, minimum energy-efficiency standards, and sometimes registration or a licence. These are the property's rules, not yours, and they still apply when you live overseas.
• Sort out how rent reaches you. Keep a home-country account open to receive it, and decide how and when you convert to your new currency.

If you sell: timing and the tax clock

Selling from abroad is harder than selling before you leave, mainly because you cannot be there for viewings, surveys and signings, and because your residency status on the day of sale can change the tax. Two points matter most.

First, in many countries the capital gains treatment of your main home is generous while you live in it and tightens once you have moved out and let it, or once you become non-resident. There is often a window after you leave during which the property still counts as your main residence for relief purposes, but that window is finite and varies by country. Selling inside it can be materially cheaper than selling two years later. This is worth checking specifically before you decide to "sell later".

Second, some countries apply a withholding tax when a non-resident sells property: the buyer or a notary holds back a percentage of the price and remits it to the tax authority, and you reclaim any overpayment by filing. It is not an extra tax, but it is a cash-flow surprise if you have not planned for it.

If a sale is likely, getting it done before you go — or at least before your residency status flips — removes a whole category of complication.

Bank Accounts and Everyday Money

Your accounts back home are the plumbing for everything else: the mortgage, the rent, the utilities you still pay, the standing orders you forgot about. Do not close them reflexively.

Keep a home-country account open if you can

You will almost certainly still need one to receive rental income, pay any remaining home-country bills, service a mortgage, and hold currency you do not want to convert yet. Before you leave:

• Tell the bank you are moving and update your address and contact details, including a mobile number that will still work abroad for security codes. A surprising number of accounts get frozen simply because the bank could not verify a login from a new country or reach you on a dead number.
• Ask about the non-resident position. Some banks are relaxed; others restrict or close accounts once you are no longer resident, or move you to a non-resident product with different fees. Better to know before you go.
• Set up reliable digital access and check it works from overseas, ideally before you fly, including any app that needs a home SIM.

Opening an account in your new country

You usually cannot do this until you arrive and have a local address and often a tax number, which creates a chicken-and-egg gap in the first weeks. Cover it by keeping enough accessible funds and by lining up a way to move money internationally before you land. Our arrival guides walk through the first-weeks banking and registration steps country by country.

Moving money across borders

Do not use a high-street bank's default international transfer for large sums; the exchange rate margin is often worse than the visible fee. Specialist transfer services usually give a better rate and clearer costs. For a house-sale-sized transfer, the difference between a good and a bad rate can be significant, so compare before you move the money, and be aware that large transfers may trigger source-of-funds checks on both ends — have the paperwork ready.

Investments, Pensions and Other Assets

Investment accounts

Tax-advantaged accounts are usually tied to your residency. Many countries' tax-free investment wrappers stop accepting new contributions, or lose their tax advantage, once you are no longer tax resident — though you can often keep what is already inside. Some brokers will not maintain an account for a non-resident at all, or restrict what you can trade. Before you move, check with each provider what happens to the account when you leave, and avoid making a hasty sale purely to "tidy up" without checking the tax cost of selling.

Be aware, too, that a general investment account you keep at home may generate income and gains that your new country wants to tax once you live there, even though the account sits back home. That is a reporting job, not necessarily an extra bill, but it is easy to miss.

Pensions

Leave your pension where it is unless you have a specific reason and specific advice to move it. Pensions are heavily rule-bound, and transferring a pot across borders can trigger tax charges or strip away protections. What you should do is make sure you can still see and access it: update contact details, keep the login working, and record the provider and reference somewhere you will not lose. Whether your state or social-security pension follows you is a separate question, covered in our guide to pension and social security portability.

Cars and physical possessions

A car is usually not worth shipping unless it is unusually valuable or the destination makes importing easy; between the freight, the import duty and adapting it to local standards, selling at home and buying locally is often cheaper. The same logic applies to bulky furniture. Sell what is heavy and replaceable, ship what is light and meaningful, and get a couple of removal quotes early because the good firms book up.

A small business or company stake

If you own part of a business, this is the asset most likely to create complications, both because it may be caught by an exit tax when you leave and because running or owning it from abroad can change where it is taxed. This is firmly in get-advice territory; do not improvise it. The exit-tax mechanics are explained in the taxes-when-you-migrate guide.

The Tax That Follows Your Assets

You do not need to master tax law, but you should recognise the three ways your assets create a tax event when you migrate, so you can spot which apply to you and get help in time.

Three principles cover most situations:

1. Rental income is normally taxed where the property is, and often must also be reported (even if not taxed again) in your new country of residence. A double-taxation treaty usually stops you paying twice, but you may still have to file in both places.
2. Selling your former main home is often relieved from capital gains tax for a limited period after you leave, after which the relief shrinks. The clock is real; check it before deciding to sell "later".
3. Leaving may itself be a taxable moment for shares and business interests, through an exit tax that treats your departure as a sale. It rarely touches an ordinary salaried person's house and savings, but it is the reason business owners must plan the timing of their move.

Keep dated evidence of what everything was worth on the day you left, what you paid, and any tax you paid abroad. Reliefs and credits both depend on documents people forget to keep. For the full picture — residency tie-breakers, treaties, exit tax — read the taxes when you migrate abroad guide.

Power of Attorney: The Piece Everyone Forgets

Here is a scenario that plays out constantly. You have moved. Your house is on the market or let. Then a document needs a wet signature — a sale contract, a mortgage discharge, a tax form, a tenant dispute — and you are on the other side of the world with a five-hour time difference and no way to be in that office. A power of attorney solves this. It is a legal document authorising someone you trust to act for you, within limits you set, while you are away.

What it is and what it covers

A power of attorney (PoA) lets your chosen person — a family member, a friend, or a professional such as a solicitor — do specific things in your name. You decide the scope. It can be narrow (sign the sale of one named property) or broad (handle your financial affairs generally). Most migrants want something in between: enough authority to keep the house, the accounts and the tax filings moving, without handing over the keys to their entire life.

Common things a PoA is used for after a move:

• Signing property sale or purchase documents
• Dealing with a mortgage lender or discharging a mortgage on completion
• Managing a let property and signing tenancy paperwork
• Operating or closing a bank account
• Filing tax returns and dealing with the revenue authority
• Handling utilities, insurance and other administrative loose ends

Getting it right

A few things separate a PoA that works from one that gets rejected at the counter:

• Set the scope deliberately. Grant what is needed and no more. A general PoA is powerful and correspondingly risky; a specific one is safer and often all you need.
• Choose someone genuinely trustworthy and reachable. This person can act with your money. Pick for reliability, not just closeness.
• Get the formalities right for the country where it will be used. A PoA usually has to satisfy the rules of the place where it is exercised, which often means notarisation, and for cross-border use an apostille or consular legalisation so foreign officials accept it. A document that is valid at home but not legalised for abroad can be turned away.
• Do it before you leave. Executing a PoA in your home country while you are still there is far simpler than arranging one later from abroad, which may mean a trip to an embassy or a notary in your new country and extra legalisation.
• Know how it ends. Understand how to revoke it and when it lapses, and keep the original safe — some institutions insist on seeing it.

If your affairs are anything beyond simple, have a solicitor draft or review the PoA. It is a small cost against the aggravation of a stalled house sale you cannot sign for.

A Sequence That Works

Do these in roughly this order, starting a few months before you leave:

1. Inventory everything you own, with debts, co-owners, and "what happens if I do nothing".
2. Decide sell vs rent on the house, and check the capital-gains clock either way.
3. If selling, try to complete before you go or before your residency flips; budget for fees and any non-resident withholding.
4. If renting, appoint an agent, get lender and insurer consent, and confirm local landlord rules.
5. Sort your banking: keep a home account open, update contacts, confirm the non-resident position, and set up international transfers.
6. Review investments and pensions with each provider — what survives non-residency, what does not — and get advice on any business stake or exit-tax exposure.
7. Execute a power of attorney, scoped to what you'll need, and get it notarised and legalised for cross-border use.
8. Store the evidence: valuations on the leaving date, purchase records, and copies of every key document somewhere you can reach from abroad.

Before you get into the asset detail, our free assessment can help you work out which destinations and routes fit your situation, and the compare tool lets you weigh countries side by side — useful context for decisions like whether a house sale needs to fund a deposit somewhere expensive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I sell my house or rent it out when I move abroad? It depends on how permanent the move is, whether you need the capital, and how the numbers work. Sell for a clean break, a lump sum, and no landlord admin — especially if the move is permanent or you need the money for a deposit or proof of funds. Rent to keep the asset, keep exposure to a rising market, and have a line of retreat, if achievable rent covers the mortgage and you can handle remote management. There is no universally right answer.

Can I keep my home-country bank account after I move abroad? Usually yes, and you will probably want to for the mortgage, rental income and remaining bills. Tell the bank you are moving, update your address and a working phone number for security codes, and check whether they restrict accounts for non-residents. Some banks are relaxed; others move you to a non-resident product or close the account, so confirm before you leave.

Do I pay tax on rent from my property back home while living abroad? Rental income is normally taxed in the country where the property sits, and often has to be reported in your new country of residence too. A double-taxation treaty usually prevents you being taxed twice, but you may still need to file in both. Keep records of income and expenses from day one.

Will I be taxed if I sell my old home after I've emigrated? Possibly. Many countries relieve capital gains on your former main home for a limited period after you move out, then reduce that relief. Selling within the window can be much cheaper. Some countries also withhold a percentage of the sale price from non-resident sellers, refundable when you file. Check both points before deciding to sell later.

What is a power of attorney and do I need one to migrate? A power of attorney authorises someone you trust to act for you — signing documents, managing property, dealing with banks or tax — while you are abroad. You are not legally required to have one, but if you are leaving a house, accounts or tax filings behind, it saves you from being unable to sign for things from another country. Set it up before you leave and get it notarised and legalised for cross-border use.

Should I move my pension or investments before I go? Usually not without specific advice. Transferring a pension across borders can trigger tax and remove protections; leaving it in place and keeping access is normally safer. Tax-free investment wrappers often stop accepting contributions once you are non-resident but let you keep what is inside. Check with each provider what happens when you leave, and don't sell in a hurry just to tidy up.

What paperwork should I keep about my assets when I leave? Keep dated valuations of your property and investments as at your departure date, original purchase records, and evidence of any tax paid at home. Capital-gains reliefs and double-tax credits both depend on documents people forget to keep. Store copies somewhere you can reach from abroad.

The Short Version

Your house and your money do not sort themselves out when you migrate. Decide sell versus rent deliberately, and mind the capital-gains clock either way. Keep a home-country bank account open, tell the bank you are leaving, and line up cheap international transfers. Leave pensions and investments in place unless advice says otherwise, and check what survives non-residency. Recognise the three tax events — gains on sale, ongoing income tax on rent, and exit tax on business stakes — and get help where they bite. Above all, sign a power of attorney before you go, so that when a document needs your signature and you are on the far side of the world, someone you trust can pick up the pen. Handle these before you leave and the assets you left behind stay a quiet asset rather than a long-distance headache.