Some television programmes are “stoking a craze” that leads British people into often disastrous overseas property deals when planning their retirement.

Because they disguise the fact that buying abroad can be a “hideously unregulated business” - according to the Residential Landlords Association - whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

Whereas there is a strong argument in favour of hanging onto your UK home and renting abroad instead.

“At the very least investors should rent for six months, or so, in an area where they are interested in living,” says Rosalind Renshaw, editor of the RLA’s bi-monthly members’ magazine Residential Property Investor. “That’s the only way of finding out what it’s really like – a two-week holiday is just not enough.

“But many people, interested in seeing the world, are preferring to take a series of short-term lets of three to six months around Europe, the Far East, America and Canada. That can be very cost-effective, does not permanently tie-up your money and you can keep a foothold back home in case you need to return.”

Last year, Britons spent nearly £20 billion on overseas property. And another 20 per cent of people are planning to follow them – encouraged by local exhibitions, property supplements, estate agents, brokers and TV programmes.

But there are “worrying signs” in the overseas market, says Rosalind.

Beware …

• UK investors can be astonishingly naive and often don't take sufficient advice.

• There are fears of over-supply in places such as Spain and Bulgaria … with many developments facing demolition because they have been built without permission.

• Buyers are often not told about the full buying or selling costs – so local taxes, service charges and legal costs come as a surprise.

• Countries touted as the next big hotspot - particularly long-distance fly-to-let markets – can be absurd prospects.

• Some television programmes “stoke the craze by featuring gorgeous sun-drenched places where the cost of living is apparently 10 pence a day and you can snap up properties for next to nothing”.

• Many buyers believe they have a contract with the UK-based agent - when the agreement is actually with developers.

• And some UK financial advisers claim to be 'fully regulated' by the Financial Services Authority in the sale of mortgages … but this does not apply to international property.

“The overseas market is often complex, unregulated and hideously problematic,” says Rosalind Renshaw. “Many people leave their brains at the airport and entertain deals abroad that they wouldn’t even consider in the UK – including buying unseen.”