Stay where i am or rent?

madison's_mum

Hi

I currently have a joint mortgage with my husband, we have been separated for 2 years and will be divorcing next year. I'm currently paying £200 per month interest only mortgage, i have tried to get a mortgage in my own name but due to my poor credit score (i've just finished paying back £17k of debt) i can't get one. Following a conversation with a friend and checking on my local authority website i could get a lot of help with renting a property as i only work part time and am a single parent. I'm now debating the pro's and con's, so far i've got pros: it would be a clean break from my ex, i could move to a nicer house in a nicer area nearer to my daughters school cons i would probably be off the property ladder permanently.

does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

The property ladder is more of a snake these days and I fail to understand how one could be said to be standing firmly on this hypothetical ladder with an interest-only mortgage any way.

Renting can be fine IF you can find yourself a decent, professional landlord who would be happy for you to remain in the property long-term but please be aware that there are far too many amateur, accidental landlords out there who either don't know or don't care about providing a decent home for a decent tenant. Plus, you've got the potential of having to move at intervals at one month or maybe two months notice so it might be down to luck finding the next property in the catchment area for your child's school.

Nixer

Your not being able to get a mortgage might not be the case in a few years time and so you might not be off the property ladder for ever. I would think the property ladder not the best place to be at the moment if you are finding it a struggle. I don't much care about owning property especially if you can rent something nicer for the same money but as Bitter has pointed out renting can be a pain especially if you used to own.

A third solution might be one of those schemes where you own part of the house and rent the other share of it as you'd probably have more security regarding not having to move and I think you usually have a housing association as landlord instead of some private amateur landlord idiot (don't know if HAs are any better). I don't know much about those schemes though, they might be a rip off so do your sums carefully.

LittleMissAspie

You're not on the property ladder on interest only, you're effectively renting from the bank.

£200 per month is very low, rent will be a lot more. With the help you would get towards rent though, would renting work out cheaper or not?

If you can pay off 17k debt then you can save a 17k mortgage deposit, so I would pick the cheapest option to enable me to save quicker.

zet_2

madison's_mum wrote: »

Hi

I currently have a joint mortgage with my husband, we have been separated for 2 years and will be divorcing next year. I'm currently paying £200 per month interest only mortgage,

Your credit score will improve within a year or two if you follow all credit score building tips that are elsewhere on this site.

In the longer run, building up a nice big deposit will help you get decent mortgage in your own name.

I suppose it all depends on how much you like the house and how much more rental will cost after whatever housing benefit you could get.

As someone who has lived in rentals for the last 12 years, they are all irredeemably horrible in one way or another.

Is your husband still on the property? If not then I think just waiting out for a while more while you get your finances sorted out might be the best option.

If your husband is living with you, and he is the father of the child, then I would ask him to help keep a decent house over his child's head by letting you keep the joint mortgage for now (i.e. nudge him gently out of the house). Later when you can get the mortgage you can let him cash up.

In the meantime, he can rent a small city centre bachelors pad and live the single life (you may have to sell it to him a bit).