What would you do, rent or buy

masueuk

Hi

For the last 7 years we have rented a lovely house in the country, it was too big for us from the start. My Mum was going to live with us, we moved in, her health failed and she died in six months of moving in. Our landlord has made it clear he plans to increase our rent quite a lot (he has frozen it for the last few years). He has offered us another house he owns which is about 2/3 of the rent of our current house. I will be 60 next year, my partner is 51.

Our choices are: Move to a smaller rented house owned by current landlord or try to buy something by cashing in one of my pensions and getting a 15 yr mortgage (which my partner should be able to do)

If you can think of another option, please do shout. We live in Scotland so there are less choices available it seems.

Thanks in advance.

AnotherJoe

Move to a smaller rental house owned by a different landlord.

tlc678910

Hi,
I wonder if the help to buy scheme (shared equity) is any good to you. It says people aged 60 or over get priority but you could explore the effect of your partners younger age. https://www.mygov.scot/shared-equity-older-people/help-to-buy-scotland-schemes/

Edit: I spotted on the page that joint applications are ok if one of the applicants is 60+ and it says older people get priority in the scheme.

comeandgo

I would buy, just to have peace of mind that you won't be asked to leave to me is priceless.

warby68

If buying is an option and you have the means to maintain an owned property, I'd go for buying over private renting for security of tenure if nothing else.

That's a very general opinion though - people would need to know a lot more specifics about your particular circumstances to see which was truly the better choice for you.

masueuk

My partner earns around £19000 including overtime before tax. I have been working freelance, have been unwell for a few months but hope to return soon. I was earning around £1000 a month after tax. I'm trying to find permanent work as I dont think we could get a mortgage based on my freelance earnings. I have a pension investment product which has approximately £50000 in it. Already had my 25% tax free, so would have to pay full tax if I cashed in the £50k. Our rent currently is £945 pm and the other house our landlord has is likely to be around £725 increasing 5% pa. We have looked at the MSE mortgage calculator and it looks like my partner could get around £55K mortgage, which we would hope to have for 15 years. I get one small pension next year, then another at 65, then state pension.
I know there are people in much worse circumstances, I am really struggling with feeling a complete failure in life, approaching 60 and very little to show for it.