Going from a 3 bed to 4 bed

Jelly*baby

Hi i'm a new user so please be gentle with me!

I currently rent a 3 bed house with my partner and daughter and i childmind from home. We have only been in this property for 4 months as at the time it was the only one available to us. Where we live it is very rare 3 beds especially 4 beds come up. It is a lovely new build in a lovely area but a 4 bed more practical house has come up and i wondered if it makes a huge difference moving for that bit of extra room versus increase in money?

This current house is lovely and liveable in the future but the dowstairs is small and i struggle with the minded children especially when it comes to eating as the kitchen is tiny. The carpets are cream so i have to get them to eat in the kitchen due to the carpets being ruined. We are having issues with parking now as the development has filled up and we only have 1 space and 2 cars.

This new house is of course bigger and a fairly new build but traditional looking house, it would allow a playroom for the children, an office in one of the rooms as my partner is self employed, the downstairs is perfect and i can feed them all in the open plan kitchen. There is a big drive for about 3 cars and its in a nice quiet area. Its also detatched so no neighbour probs hopefully unlike now where we have a new rather noisy one.

The difference is £200 a month and the bills will be higher and the council tax and im unsure what to do..we have a viewing next week but know i will fall in love with it, it's just a lot of money to initially shell out but then im sure would be a good move..

So help those of you who have moved to bigger houses is it worth it ir should we just cope?!

Thanks

pararct

Only a question you can answer.... I have bought and moved several times in my lifetime always to larger properties and have never regretted it although of course the fact I was buying I had to be that much more sure on what I was letting myself in for.
If you are renting and it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world is it?

Can you afford the move? Will you be able to expand your child minding business with the extra space, will it be closer to your partners place of work? These are all factors you should be considering and weighing up against the additional costs.

G_M

We'd need to know much more about your lifestyle and personality before giving meaningful advice. Whether the extra cost is worth it for an extra bedroom depends on many things:
how often do you have guests to stay?
how often do you/partner work from home?
how often do you argue, and when you do does it take minutes, hours, or days to get over the subsequent sulking?
how often do you sleep together/separately?
do you snore?
what medical conditions do you have? Are they contagious?
etc

theartfullodger

If you childmind from home & partner is self-employed with office at home (ie you are both carrying on business from home) then almost certainly you will be breaking terms of a "normal" AST (Tenancy agreement) and, regardless of what the paperwork (tenancy agreement) says you've actually got a commercial tenancy not an AST. This, IIRC, gives you much less protection against eviction etc...

Does your landlord know what is going on and is his lender/insurance company happy with it?? This is a very serious point as you wouldn't want (say...) to find that after some accident with minded-children that the insurer didn't pay out....

Sorry to be gloomy, just wanted to make sure you'd, as I'm sure you have, sorted out the legals & paperwork & permissions fully...

Jelly*baby

Thanks for the replies

pararct yes i can expand the business and it is not really a distance from my partners work as he is self employed so works all over. I know it is a personal decision but a big one!

G_M

how often do you have guests to stay?
not too often but one would be daughters room, one an office and one for the minded children to sleep/spare room

how often do you/partner work from home?
Me every day but not always in of course, partner out all day

how often do you argue, and when you do does it take minutes, hours, or days to get over the subsequent sulking?
No arguing and if we do it is a short lived niggle!

how often do you sleep together/separately?
Always sleep together!

do you snore?
No!
what medical conditions do you have? Are they contagious?
None so no..think this is a joke but ill humour you!

theartfullodger thanks for the pointer but the landlord and agency are currently aware of my job and the house is sufficiently insured this has always been the case with all rented properties and has to be in my line of work.

Thanks again still not sure guess seeing it may help a bit more

maryotuam

Go for it if you can afford it. Quality of life matters.

Jelly*baby

Thanks yes quality of life is important i'm still weighing up the pros and cons.

This house is permenant, the neighbour one side never lives there and the other side seems ok if not noisy at times. The house is in a lovely area, sea views, quiet etc.. infact its gorgeous its literally just the space.

The new house i keep looking at and am liking it more and more and seeing us living there already! The thing that im hesitating over is the fact that it is a big chunk of money to shell out initially, we would have to move a few days before we go on holiday which would be hard work as we both work long hours but not the end of the world with help. It's not much more money wise than this one month to month, need to find out the council tax as that could be a stumbling block..if i lost my job would they take housing benefit then the house would be too big for our needs so we may not get help..sorry just thinking out aloud of questions to ask when there!
hmm will update when seen i think!
Thanks again.

Joyful

If you have only been in your house for 4 months what agreement did you make? Usually the lowest is 6 months so will you not have to pay this too till then end? I would also say the detached sounds much better for your business.

Pupnik

On the extra money side of things, as you work from home are you already claiming the money back for what you are entitled to? As I understand it you can claim VAT back for the percentage of your house that is used for work as well as heating, electricity etc. If you aren't doing it already it would be a good way to make that extra £200 bearable.

mad_bad_spender

Jelly*baby wrote: »

if i lost my job would they take housing benefit then the house would be too big for our needs so we may not get help..sorry just thinking out aloud of questions to ask when there!
hmm will update when seen i think!
Thanks again.

if you lost your job you would only be entitled to the two bed rate for assistance with the rent, so you may find yourself very short, also i was previously a childminder so know how easily the work can come and go, this is something to take into account when stretching yourselves.

if you are already concerned about making the rent should things take a turn i would be very reluctant to make that move but then thats me!

you say your partners self employed too, so how secure is his employment and income??

would you be able to sustain the house should you lose one childminding child for example. or should you be sick and unable to work for a few weeks?

i would take everything into account before you view the house, cos can you view the house and fall in love with it and still look at things constructively? i know i wouldnt be able to.

Jelly*baby

Hi,

joyful yes we are liable here till mid august (6 months) which is where the money issues come in really as need to find money for the new house as we wont get out deposit back before then understandably.

Pupnik yes i do claim here and yes i could there unfortunately like any tax it doesnt really show until i do my tax returns but yes all helps!

mad bad spender I see what you are saying and am torn! We have a secure house here which is lovely but not very practical but we cope..the new house is an extra £200 a month so £100 each, extra council tax and slightly higher bills it's not a huge amount more for a bigger property but..?! Need to def find out that it is permenant and that the landlady knows i work from home, neighbours have children so hoping that wouldnt be an issue but no point looking at it if it is so will ring the agency and remind them to check.

I know what you mean about this line of work and i always worry wherever i live! i moved from a 2 bed to this 3 bed and panicked but its all fine, i realsie even here we would only get the 2 bed help from H/B. I earn a good wage at the mo but know it can turn overnight i have sickness cover if i should fall ill and cant care for the children. My partner has pretty steady work but who knows being self employed? he has an employed job too like me but minimal compared to the employed work in tems of bringing money in.
Hmm..is it wed yet?!

Thanks for the replies.