Builders want us to move out for 6 months... errrr, what do I do?

gemmaj

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but humour me please? Looking at having massive work done to our house and we've been told it would be best if we moved out for 4 to 6 months. We have a baby and a child who is starting school this year.

Where do we go? Surely there are not many rentals who would want someone for just 6 months max? I thought of a holiday let (self catering, even a log cabin!) but they charge by the week and it works out ridiculous ££s for several months. Even a tent site would be 2.5 grand for 4 months!!! That is just the site, not a tent!! And I can't see me staying sane living in a tent for half a year.

Parents/ILs are an option but it would be an awful imposition for that length of time (and may send me insane, or them!) plus would be a lot of driving to get elder child to school in rush hour traffic.

Any suggestions?

wantnomoneyworries

My friend bought a caravan and lived on site while her house was being renovated. Think she found it quite hard as her 2 children were older and they had a great dane!! They did survive and at the end sold the caravan for practically what they paid for it.

phill99

He's probably doing you a favour. It's very rare that a builder would suggest moving out unless it was necessary.

Look at it from is point of vew - he has to take extra care on Health and Safety grounds - building sites are very dangerous places and the last thing he wants is an injury or worse to you or your children. None of ou are likely to be used to site hazards, whereas his contractors and staff are used to looking out for them.

It also means that at the end of each day he doesn't have to ensure the water, electricity and toilet are connected back up for your use. He also doesn't have to worry about where he stacks his materials a they will never be in your way. If you stay in the property, it could easily add to the length of the contract period and to the costs!

A caravan is a good idea, especially a mobile home type if you have the space.

DVardysShadow

gemmaj wrote: »

Surely there are not many rentals who would want someone for just 6 months max?

The normal Assured Shorthold Tenancy is an initial term of 6 months. This is mainstream

Debt_Free_Chick

gemmaj wrote: »

I thought of a holiday let (self catering, even a log cabin!) but they charge by the week and it works out ridiculous ££s for several months.

Many will "do a deal" for several months' let.

maninthestreet

4 to 6 months is a long time - you pull down the house and re-build it in that time period.

BlueC

Moving out may allow the builder to progress the work much faster - so economically it could make sense. I would quiz the builder about his reasons though, and I'd also be on site a lot (daily) to see what is or isn't going on.

Loads of LL's will do a six month let (it is standard term as mentioned above) and many could be tempted by shorter lets especially if you paid up front.

Itismehonest

I agree with BlueC. It really depends on what type of work is being done.

I'd definitely be wondering why they didn't want me around for 6 months.
The hardest rooms to 'live around' while building work is being done are kitchens & bathroom/loos (particularly if they are the only one in the house).
In either case the work involving those 2 rooms shouldn't take 6 months so asking you to move out for that long seems a bit extreme. Are they expecting you to empty the place & put everything in storage, too?

A 6 month let is perfectly normal so can be done. A caravan is also OK but Planning may need to be informed.

matbe

Is he offering a decent discount if you move out ?

work is easier and cheaper in vacant houses.

Elsewhere

We had a large extension built onto our house when my son was very young - the work went on for months. During this period he developed asthma - he's the only person I know of with the condition in either my or my husband's families.

Perhaps it was pure coincidence, but I can't help thinking it was the large amount of dust from the cement, plaster, brick etc that he was exposed to at such a young age. Since you have small children maybe it would be prudent not to expose them?

gemmaj

Good to know I should be able to rent for 6 months. There are laws against living in RVs here, and I have limited land.

Work wise, it would be moving our only bathroom from downstairs to upstairs (so yes, no bathroom available) partly replacing conservatory with proper roof and one wall, building bedroom on top of kitchen (kitchen ceiling and 2 walls to come down, so no kitchen), building en suite ontop of new bedroom and knocking it through to attic room - so out of 3 existing bedrooms, only one would be untouched.

I can totally understand why, and that it would be best, to move out.... its just a question of whether I can find a workable solution or if I should abandon the whole thing and go back to househunting!!!