What are my options?

househuntingmad

Okay, so just had a bit of a bombshell dropped on me and not really sure what my options are.

Situation is this : I've just bought a house two weeks ago, really enjoying it and really pleased with it. All good. Boss rings up today. Company I work for bought another company earlier this year and starting to expand out some of our work to the other company. All interesting stuff. Except they have an office in Australia they are looking to develop. Boss asks if I'm interested in heading up a workstream over there - for the next two years. All expenses would be paid.

So not sure what to do ! It would be a great opportunity for sure, but also only just bought a house, my first house.

So what are my realistic options?

xylophone

So what are my realistic options?

Stay in the current job and live in your house.

Take the job in Australia, shut up the house, advise your mortgagee and insurers, arrange for someone (friend/parent) to check on the house once a week or so etc etc.

Ask the mortgagee for permission to let, sort out agent to run the letting etc etc.

Gordon_Hose

It's not really a difficult decision at all, as advised above, you've got 3 options. Just pick one.

1. Stay here.
2. Move.
3. Rent out and move.

ancientofdays

What a woder full opportunity this could be, you would gain so much in valuable experience. If this applied to me, I would look at renting my home out for a couple of years but until it was time to go, would enjoy being in my new home.

kim_smith

I agree. You should rent your home & then move to Australia. Don't shut down your current home.

moneyistooshorttomention

Whatever else - do NOT sell that home. That's your bit of security and you actually like the house - so don't get rid.

G_M

You are very unlikely to be granted Consent To Let by your mortgage lender so soon after purchasing. Lender will suspect you intended this and were trying to avoid a BTL mortgage.

But you can always ask.....

Alternative is to switch to a BTL mortgage.

See also:

* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

Zippeh

Rent the house out. Go to Oz. Simples!

agrinnall

If your company is paying all expenses then presumably that would include your mortgage costs, plus things like Council Tax and utilities, in the UK in your absence. In which case I wouldn't bother to rent, although if you have a very trustworthy friend who might like a free place to stay you could let them housesit.

Zoology_Dragon

We let out a property with consent to let. When we asked for permission one of the questions we were asked was: "Are you planning to move to Australia". We were advised that should we answer "yes" to this question, consent would be denied. We weren't moving to Australia so it wasn't a problem.

I don't know if this is at all helpful, it could be that a temporary move won't be an issue? I don't know whether it's a standard question or not so they may not even ask.

uk_american

I had the opportunity to work abroad where my company paid my expenses for four years. Not only was it an interesting experience but it enabled me to save up a bit of cash as the company paid for my housing, car, fuel, telephone, etc in my host country.

Normally in an expat situation a company will pay your host country housing etc. but you're still responsible for your house costs at home, so helpful to run the full numbers to understand your options. In addition, they should provide a cost of living allowance for more expensive countries, make sure that you find out this amount too.

My colleague was in a similar position, but rather than rent her house out, she left it locked up and paid her neighbor to cut the grass, collect the post, pop in and turn some lights on occasionally, etc. There was something in her US contract that if she rented out her house then the company would tax her on any profits due to the tax equalization position of being an expat. So financially it didn't make much sense to her.