ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

Our passion
YOUR FUTURE

88 WOOD STREET, BARBICAN, EC2V 7RS, LONDON UK

ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

ABOUT US
Abeking, Paget & Williamson are three partners who thoroughly believe in bricks and mortar. Coming
from vastly different backgrounds, but united by a belief in property, we share a common ethos in our
approach to property.

Coming together in 2012 to form APW, we operate out of London with a focus on worldwide locations.

APW is a truly international business for international people.

Stuart Williamson Harry Paget Jan Abeking Callum Williamson

CO FOUNDER CO FOUNDER CO FOUNDER HEAD OF FAR EAST

THE APW DIFFERENCE

- We provide our investors with a rapid route to investment income through buy-to-let property
ownership

- We source properties, find mortgages, and take care of all the details, providing you with a
hands-off approach throughout the buying process and, later, as a landlord

- We specifically focus on the needs of expatriates, with a monthly disposable income, who need to
build up retirement income

- While large property markets are often inaccessible to many people due to the high entry costs, we
have helped many professionals become landlords—with everyone from oil and gas engineers to
international school teachers in our client base

- We enable clients to build up a ‘property as pension’ portfolio, using UK buy-to-let properties to fund
future retirement needs

- We offer staged payment plans (over two years up to completion), allowing investors to avoid the
shock of paying a large deposit in one go

- We provide investors with financial safeguards before completion and insurance in the event
non-tenanted occupation after completion, making investments solid and risk-free

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

WHY INVEST IN UK PROPERTY?

While it is customary to look at the UK as a whole and to consider the national average property price,
different regions have different values, and hotspots arise around the country. This makes certain areas
rather better than others from an investment perspective.

Location is well known to be important in the property world, and this holds true for proximity to
infrastructure or conveniences such as retail outlets.

However, we understand that certain towns and cities benefit from economic fundamentals which
significantly influence value over the longer term.

What’s more, while the property market in London is robust and world famous, it is also very expensive
to enter as an investor and the high prices do not always result in the highest rental yields—which is the
amount of money that the property brings in as profit on a yearly basis.

By contrast, the UK’s best property hotspots are increasingly located in the north of England
(Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester) and this is an area worthy of consideration by investors for not
only its high rental yield but also long-term economic prospects for growth.

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ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

WE KNOW YOU’RE SELECTIVE. SO ARE WE.

Our Selection Process? In a word: rigorous.

Our team researches every potential market before we move forward with a new development. We take market
assessment very seriously. All properties and products we provide pass our checklist and vetting process.

We do the due diligence, so you don’t have to. This is the APW promise.

Before suggesting new opportunities to our business network, we ensure we research them extensively with
existing clients, using frequent feedback and focus group sessions to ensure these products will work for our
wider audience.

Identify
We identify urban areas of economic growth using independent research on financial, industry and
macroeconomic indicators such as employment and population growth.

Market Assessment
Attributes such as physical infrastructure, tenant demographics, current and future maintenance requirements,
and rental income history are assessed in detail to identify value opportunities.

Financial Considerations
APW works with many expatriate clients all around the world. We have helped professionals as diverse as
teachers, managers, engineers and many others acquire buy-to-let properties in the UK and, with manageable
monthly investments, our clients have been able to build up a passive income portfolio for future needs, including
retirement.

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

RISK FACTORS
What safeguards do investors have when buying UK property?

The UK property market is one of the oldest and most robust in the world. It is backed by quality regulations
which govern all aspects of it, meaning that investment in it is secure and guaranteed by the rule of law.
Regulations and governance play their part in driving the long term value of properties.

All newly built properties benefit from a ten year warranty from the National House Builders Commission (NHBC),
which gives buyers confidence.

Investors contemplating a property purchase need to be mindful of how their money is safeguarded. They should
look for insurance solutions (known as ‘step-over’ insurance) and money which is held in escrow. Step-over
insurance enables a new builder to be found to continue a development, at no cost to the buyer, in the event of
insolvency. Holding money in escrow means that payment cannot be taken by a builder and is held safely until
completion.

What risks are there with property investment?

While the future value of property cannot be predicted, over the long term it rises. However, it’s necessary to
understand that property can lose value in the short term.

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ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

OUR UNIQUE PAYMENT PLANS

The ‘Mortgage’ payment plan

For buy-to-let properties, it is possible to repay a
mortgage over 15 years, provided that all money from
rental is ploughed back into the repayments. This means
that income thereafter goes directly to the hands of the
investor.

The ‘No Mortgage’ payment plan

Unique to APW, the ‘no mortgage’ plan allows for rental
income to fully pay off the property over 9 years without
the need for a mortgage. This saves on mortgage
arrangement fees and is a no-fuss solution for investors
around the world who don’t want to be involved with
banks and lenders.

Purchasing through a company

For investors who wish to acquire a portfolio of different
properties, one solution is to create a holding company
under whose title the properties are owned. The company
route allows for lower taxation on multiple properties and
has implications for inheritance.

Tax payable by non-resident landlords

Investors need to be aware of the tax implications of
property ownership. Anyone buying property in the UK,
regardless of nationality or place of residence, has a
tax-free allowance which is currently £11,850 per annum.

For first time buyers there is no Stamp Duty (SDLT) on

properties up to GBP300,000.

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ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

POST PURCHASE: PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Guaranteed Tenancy (No Void insurance)
There are some guarantees that can be used so you don’t have to worry about a lack of tenancy. These are referred to
as No Void insurance guarantees.

If property is left untenanted, a period of a few days without a tenant, this guarantee will pay the rental income. This
is valid for between five years to the second option which is a rolling yearly contract.

When you make your purchase, it’s wise to investigate what forms of No Void insurance you can put in place to
protect yourself against periods of no occupancy.

The function of the Letting Agency

Once you take ownership of your property, you will need to appoint a letting agency to handle the many aspects of
property ownership that will become your responsibility. While it’s possible to appoint a friend or relative in the UK to
do this, it’s not advisable: there are many elements of contracts, maintenance, and insurance to deal with.

Reputable property letting agencies will be able to handle all of these for a 8 – 12% fee, based on the rental income of
the unit.

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ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

WHO ARE OUR CLIENTS?

We have a very wide range of investors, in different situations and at different stages of the investment life-cycle.

Investor Profile 1: The Married Couple in Hong Kong

The couple in this case study were aged 34 and 36 at the time of purchase. As a married expatriate couple living and
working in Hong Kong, they wanted to ‘get their foot on the ladder’ of property investment and use it as a tool to
build up wealth.

They had owned property in the past, but due to the Global Financial Crisis were unable to keep up repayments, so in
2007 they handed the property back to the bank. Naturally, they were worried that this would negatively affect their
credit rating and would prevent them from being able to buy again. With a child on the way, this concern was felt
with particular acuteness.

The couple had been living in Hong Kong for ten years, with one of them working as an international school teacher
and the other as a construction professional. Despite the high cost of living in Hong Kong, they had managed to
accrue £25,000 over this period, and jointly have a monthly savings potential of £2900.

They had been meaning to buy a property for the past 3 years but had a number of anxieties, particularly about their
ability to get a mortgage. They were concerned about being rejected and at the same time were very busy with work
and unable to search the market extensively to find suitable properties.

The clients were referred to us by an existing client, and we had an open initial discussion with them to assess their
financial situation, and to see if property would be a viable option for them.

We offered to research the market for them and in the end suggested they look at funding a property purchase
without the need for a mortgage. Although we couldn’t determine their creditworthiness, it would be irrelevant for
this kind of property purchase: their credit score would not be assessed during this approach, and once they owned
the property it would make further property purchases easier as it restores some of their creditworthiness.

The property we found for them is in one of the fastest growing locations in the UK, the West Midlands. A one-bed
property in the Birmingham area costs GBP99,995.

Two important criteria: rental yield needs to be attractive, and the property needs to be near an ‘economic centre of
gravity’. With these criteria fulfilled, the property is a viable long-term investment.

The mortgage solution that we proposed is a 50/50 ‘builders loan’. This is an interest free option, offered uniquely by
Prosperity. It’s a very elegantly structured product: the client pays 50% over the ‘build period’ of 24 months, and the
remainder of the loan is paid through rental income.

What this looked like in the above example:

One bedroom apartment £99,995

50% downpayment £49,997.50
Over 24 months (per month) £2,083

We suggested that GBP2,830 may be a little too

close to their monthly saveable income, so to
leave a little breathing room, we suggested they
use GBP10,000 of their savings as an initial
deposit. This would take the monthly savings to
GBP1666 and leave them with a safety net in the
bank of £15,000.

The net result here: in 9 years the clients had a

fully paid-off property, and after 2 years they
continued the savings cycle and bought a second
property as a home in the UK.

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

WHO ARE OUR CLIENTS?

Investor Profile 2: Expats in the Middle East
This investor couple are both from the south of England, aged 57, and
would like to retire by the age of 67. They are looking to supplement
their pension, but are unsure of the current unstable market
conditions. They were working in Muscat, Oman, at the time of
investment.

From their calculations, they believed they had a need for an

additional GBP10,000 per annum during retirement. Their money was
spread across the stock market and they stayed up-to-date with
economic news and market developments.

The classic problem that happens with the money markets is based
around periodic corrections, which tend to
happen every 7 – 10 years. This wipes out a proportion of the value of
the portfolio: it is similar to a minor recession. The last one was the
Global Financial Crisis of 2007, and in their judgement, a similar event
was going to occur in the next few years – with the potential to wipe
out a tranche of their portfolio as the market corrects itself.

They came to the conclusion that, in this case, money would be more
secure in ‘bricks and mortar’, which is a less volatile asset.

We researched the market and found a development in Derby that

hasd two bed apartments for sale at GBP139,000. These units provide
a rental yield of 6% ­– or GBP8400 per annum.

They had sufficient capital to cover a 50% deposit on this property, and
were able to take advantage of a ‘builder’s loan’. This meant that there
was no need for a mortgage.

A builder’s loan is a financial agreement with the developer who is able

to offer a 50% loan on the property purchase price. This requires no
credit check, no qualification, and no interest payable. The value of the
loan is paid off by rental income over eight years, leaving the annual
rental income in the hands of the investor in a relatively short
period of time.

The next area of concern for the investors was of course the question
of management of the property itself. Naturally, this would be very
difficult to do from Oman. However, we were able to arrange an
agency at the outset to handle all of this.

The letting agency is responsible for finding the tenants, doing a credit
check and reference check on them, collecting the rent, and ensuring
that the loan is paid off within eight years.

This kind of ‘hands off’ approach is very convenient for expatriates

investors who are outside of the UK.

The end result of these efforts was that, by age 65, they had an
apartment which was fully owned and paid for with a rental yield of
GBP 10000 per annum.

What’s more, by combining this with their UK National Insurance

contributions at age 67, they reached a total annual income of
GBP21,520 – certainly a case of success for the retirement investor.

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ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What safeguards do I have as an investor?
As an investor, all the money you invest in one of our properties will be held in escrow with the bank until completion
of the property by the developer. Once the property is completed, and the solicitors have exchanged deeds, you will
be the owner of a buy-to-let property that has a range of further safeguards, including:

· a ten year builder’s warranty (on all new houses built in the UK)
· ‘step-over’ and ‘no void’ insurance which covers you in the event of problems (see below for more information)

Where do you source the properties from?

We work closely with Prosperity Wealth, our partner company in the UK, and they are developers of property around
the country. This means they oversee the planning and construction of residential property in areas that have strong
rental yield.

Headed by Joe Billingham, the founder, there is significant developer expertise at Prosperity and they have brought a
large number of developments successfully to market.

We know that London is (contrary to public opinion) not the best area for investment in the UK: prices are too high in
comparison to the rental yield which they provide.

We also know that the north of England, in particular Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester, are the real
powerhouses of economic growth in the future and that’s where we concentrate our developments.

Why is property a good idea for my retirement?

Property–bricks and mortar–is an excellent investment for retirement. There is strong demand and limited supply,
and everyone needs to live somewhere. It is ‘safe as houses’ and, unlike the stock market, is not subject to dramatic
market corrections.

By investing 15-20 years before retirement, you are passing the burden of repayment to your tenants and they pay
your mortgage for you. When it is paid off, you own an asset that produces a fixed amount each month or which can
be sold for a lump sum.

If you’re an expat who’s worked abroad, chances are you have paid off quite a few mortgages belonging to other
people, who will have bought property to invest in for exactly the same reason: income.

Why is the UK market a good one to invest in?

We may be biased, but we think the UK market is one of the best in the world. There is a chronic national shortage of
housing, an increasing population, a sensible government approach to the liberal market and the rule of law ensures
that money invested is extremely safe further down the line.

What will cause my investment to go up (or down) in value?

Generally, when a new development is launched (two years before it is actually built), it will be sold at the lowest
price.

As completion occurs, prices tend to increase. If the area benefits from additional investment in transport links, for
example, this pushes the price up further.

After you own the house, houses prices rise and fall. There is no way we, or any other investment specialist in the
world, dare predict the future value of an investment. However, over time, property always heads upwards in value.

What is ‘step-over’ insurance?

When the development is under construction, and clients are making payments into the fund, this money is
protected under escrow.

If the builder should become bankrupt during the construction process, Step Over insurance provides 100%
protection for investors as the insurance policy pays for a new builder to step in and continue the construction until it
is done.

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What if I can’t find a tenant?
Our properties are in areas of high demand, and consequently, high rental yield. This should not make tenancy a
problem.

However, we provide an insurance policy (‘no-void’ insurance) that will pay your mortgage for the first two years after
construction in the event that a tenant cannot be found. This gives you total piece of mind and security.

How can I find a mortgage?

For overseas investors, this is no small problem. Generally, it is a daunting area. Fortunately, we have a Mortgage
Desk and we will do this for you.

Our team on the Mortgage Desk will look very widely at all available options and – as they like to say – if we can’t find
you a mortgage, no-one can.

Do I need to get a mortgage?

This is a good question, because actually – no you don’t.

Some of our clients prefer to fund the development without a mortgage and we have a series of options which allow
you to do this.

What warranty comes with newly built properties?

All new houses in the UK come with a ten year guarantee from the National Council of House Builders. This covers
defects for a decade.

Unlike some parts of the world, shoddy construction will not be a problem here.

Why should I invest with APW?

We know that expats around the world are enjoying relatively affluent lives in interesting locations around the world.
However, being overseas they most probably do not have full participation in pension schemes and social safety nets
that their colleagues at home do.

We know that property investment is an unbeatable way to create a passive income during retirement, but that it is
difficult and tricky if you are overseas and you haven’t done this sort of investing before.

We also take the time to help each client plan their finances and to explore the best of options which are available to
them.

After sale, we will assist you in securing a management agency to help with your new tenant: collecting the rent,
drawing up a lease, etc.

In other words, we think of ourselves as transparent, straightforward and honest.

Don’t I need a large amount of money to pay the deposit?

We understand that it’s not easy to come up with a high 5 figure sum as a deposit, and that other investment houses
will want a lump sum payment first.

That’s why we have developed unique payment plans that allow you to spread the cost of the deposit over 24
months. This means you are looking at the typical deposit (with legal costs) of around 35,000GBP spread into 24
manageable monthly deposits (around 1450GBP per month), allowing you to use your normal monthly income to
build up your deposit as painlessly as possible.

Having secured the property off-plan, the deposit builds up and at completion, the balance is paid with a mortgage
and the conveyancing process with the solicitors transfers the property to your name.

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

WHERE DOES APW MAKE A PROFIT IN ALL THIS?

We are, effectively, a British company that sells new property developments, and that reaches specifically into
the expat world.

Since we work closely with property developers, we have a great deal of expertise and background knowledge
of construction, planning and development. It’s what we do best. By sourcing developments in hotspots, we can
quickly and efficiently build large groups of developments and price these competitively.

Full disclosure: as you might expect, our revenue comes from a proportion of the total sale value of a group of
residential properties, built with scale and using our expertise as developers.

We do not, however, charge any fees beyond the purchase price. For us, it’s a straightforward sale.

As you will imagine, we believe in what we offer and we want to spread the word to as many potential clients as
possible.

We know that our clients are satisfied, as many go on to make repeat purchases or to refer their colleagues and
friends. We have testimonials of satisfied clients, and will be more than happy to share these with you.

For More Information or to have a no-obligation

conversation with us, contact [email protected] or
call +44 20 3897 4284

For more information, visit us at www.a-p-w.uk

www.a-p-w.uk [email protected]
ABEKING PAGET & WILLIAMSON

HEAD OFFICE

88 Wood Street, Barbican, EC2V 7RS, London UK

T: +44 2038 974284
E: [email protected]
W: www.a-p-w.uk