Property owners often dream about a home in the sun, either as a full-time residence in retirement or a much-needed getaway when the days turn short and cold in Blighty.

However, doing so is never easy – especially without good financial advice and even the work of a legal expert. This is because there can be so many jurisidictional loopholes that a would-be property purchaser could end up with exorbitant bills – or even, as with the case of the Spanish Land Grab, finding your home or garden requisitioned by the government itself.

Moreover, the tightening mortgage controls and tax tape is starting to constrict those who want to do business the other way around and purchase a home or second property in the UK.

In other words, overseas buyers and British expats, who according to observations from some financial advisers, are finding it very hard to buy property in the UK, with many lenders deeming them to be high risk.

This guide looks at ways the appetite for getting a mortgage on an overseas property has changed since the start of the credit crisis, the effect of regulation such as the Mortgage Credit Directive on cross-border lending, various tax and legal complications and whether Brexit will have a negative effect in the market for buying abroad.

Contributors to this guide include: Julian Sampson, head of lending for TWM Solicitors; Mark Posniak, managing director of Octane Capital; Daniel Howarth, head of Enness International; David Bellingham, director and head of UK & Europe for IP Global; Nigel Green, chief executive of the deVere Group, and Darren Mead, head of mortgages for deVere Mortgages; Stuart Marshall, managing director of Liquid Expat; Gareth Hill, spokesman for the Council of Mortgage Lenders; Bob Pain, chairman for the Association of International life Offices; the European Mortgage Federation; the Office for National Statistics.

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com