Rent or buy?

mummyroysof3

I was going to put it there but I thought I may get more opinions on here that would relate to the options with having kids tbh

CharlieRabbit01

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

I was going to put it there but I thought I may get more opinions on here that would relate to the options with having kids tbh

They'll be able to help you there too also give you some advice on costs is it worth renting etc. In some cases it can be a good option.

I presume your main issue is do you sell up and rent for a bit or extend for the benefit of your children.

LEJC

how many suitable rental properties are there in your area...and do they come up for rent often?

Personally with small children I think its better to have the security of your own house,basically you are calling the shots then rather than a LL...I'm thinking more along the lines of what if you find a good house to rent only to find that after a year or 2 of renting it the LL wants to sell the property and issues you notice to leave....at that point your children are in local school and you are forced to move however much you like the house and it matters not a bit that you've been good tenants etc etc...

if you sell your current home and come out of it once any mortgage is repaid,what will you do with that money...interest rates are low at the moment and probably will remain so for a while,so its likely that your rent would increase at a higher rate than your lumpsum....making it more difficult to return to the property market for buying in the future.


Have you thought about renting out your current house...what demand is there for that type of property in your area?

princessdon

The other thing to consider is long term and universal credits.

Any money left will stop your TC. I think I'm right in that a lot of your household income is tax credits? Also with UC, there is one payment so, if you need to move then as far as any landlord is concerned you are on benefits, even if on child element only, as it moves the ethos of TC away to being what they are which is reliant on benefits.

How landlords will deal with this is unknown, but I expect the "none DSS" market ones have the potential to say none universal credit, regardless of elements claimed.

CharlieRabbit01

Do be careful renting out your own home, if you have to move back it can be hard to get the tenants to leave.

mummyroysof3

You are all bringing up some interesting points. Re the benefite situation I'm not sure what will happen when universal credit and the cap comes in but as youngest gets high rate dla that is taken into account I think. If we sell and rent then we will be paying rent from money in bank not actual benefits anyway.

princessdon

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

You are all bringing up some interesting points. Re the benefite situation I'm not sure what will happen when universal credit and the cap comes in but as youngest gets high rate dla that is taken into account I think. If we sell and rent then we will be paying rent from money in bank not actual benefits anyway.

If you have over £6000 in bank then you will loose some tax credits, if you have £16,000 you will get zero tax credits under UC.

Also it's not the cap, you will be on the same benefit as those currently on JSA ETC, its just one benefit and how landlords will treat that is unknown. I'm pretty familiar so I would allow child element of UC, I'm not convinced all will understand it and feel some landlords will exclude ALL universal credit claimants, this includes current Tax Credits when moved over.

mummyroysof3

Will carers and sons dla be affected?

princessdon

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

Will carers and sons dla be affected?

No, but your tax credits will, so if you expect money in bank will affect it, then do consider this long term as a change in circumstances can trigger an early transfer.

Just something to consider as savings will now affect tax credits under UC.

Treevo

I wouldn't ever rent again. Especially not with kids. I hated it when it was just the two of us.

Can you look laterally for properties? Look for a three bed that is easier to extend for example. You'll be moving sideways rather than up but if you can then extend for £30,000 and get what you need, rather than extending for £50,000 where you are now - it should be worth it.

There's also the danger that after finding the perfect property to rent, it can be taken away from you with just months notice, so you could find yourself back in an unsuitable property, and having no equity or security.