United Kingdom
London — west London, Edgware Road · Manchester
A barbell community of ~90,000: established Lebanese wealth in prime central London on one side, students and young professionals renting on the other.
Can foreigners buy? No restrictions on foreign buyers. Non-residents pay a 2% stamp-duty surcharge on top of standard SDLT (which itself adds 5% on second homes). Leasehold vs freehold matters enormously — most London flats are leasehold.
Where United Kingdom searches
The platforms locals actually use. Every link opens the source itself — NAKIL shows you the map; the listings live with them.
Rightmove
Good for buying a homeThe UK's dominant portal by a wide margin — the default destination for buying and renting with the fullest agent coverage in the country.
Agent-fed only, so everything on it is professionally marketed; every agency branch has its own microsite you can browse.
Zoopla
Good for buying a homeThe clear #2, with the best free price-research tools: house-price estimates and sold-price data alongside the search.
Use it to sanity-check what anything is actually worth.
OnTheMarket
Good for buying a homeThe agent-backed third portal, now CoStar-owned and growing fast.
Some listings appear here before the big two ('Only With Us') — worth watching for new-to-market stock.
PrimeLocation
Good for buying a homeZoopla's prime-property stablemate, skewed to upmarket London stock and international buyers.
Same underlying listings at the top end, curated presentation.
SpareRoom
The UK's biggest flatshare site and the institution for rooms — students and young professionals start and usually end here.
Listings come mostly from live-in landlords and current flatmates.
Agencies worth knowing
The established names a newcomer to United Kingdom would be pointed at.
London's highest-profile mass-market agency — lettings-heavy, ~60 branches.
The largest independent London agency (~150 offices) — sales and lettings across every postcode.
Global prime and super-prime — the name Lebanese HNW buyers already know.
Prime central London with a strong Middle East desk and international network.
Prime London with a big lettings book — and offices in Dubai and the MENA region.
Premium sales and lettings, London and the commuter belt.
Franchised network of ~100 offices with deep local coverage.
Buying a home in United Kingdom — how it works
- 1Offers are not binding until exchange of contracts — either side can walk until then (unlike Lebanon).
- 2A purchase runs 8–12 weeks: offer → conveyancing solicitor → searches → exchange (10% deposit) → completion.
- 3Non-resident mortgages exist at 60–75% LTV via international and private banks; expect heavier KYC on Lebanese-source funds — have the paper trail ready.
Looking at it differently? Studying abroad · Investment