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Should we? Very confused...!
Splatfoot
Posts: 593 Forumite
Hi all.... I know there will be lots of differing opinions on this and will be interested to hear them all.
So, we put our house on the market the day of the first lockdown. We'd spent a few weeks getting it up to scratch as we'd finally decided we were going to move away from the South East and move West, possibly to Wales, although this is not definite. It could be Scotland or anywhere else in between. It obviously sat on the market until it reopened and sold fairly easily. We knew we would struggle to,view houses as Wales wasn't open as early as England opened up. We did go to Wales in August but found nothing. Decided we would move into a self converted camper so spent weeks doing that, so we could then travel around and search for the ideal house.
Well, we all know what happened next. We completed in the middle of the November lockdown and have been living mobile, still in our original area, on various friends and family drives for the last 7 weeks. Decided to stay local till Christmas and then January arrives, another lockdown. Meanwhile, we are slowly eating into our capital with storage costs etc.
As we are completely self contained in the camper, apart from stopping for fuel and food, would it be considered 'wrong' to travel away from here to try and view properties? As far as I can make out reading the guidelines, it appears to be ok to do this. But when you read of people being fined for travelling 5 miles to go for a walk, I'm back to square one. We really need to be settled somewhere by July/August as my eldest wants to go to college so need to find an area that's suitable and this could take a while.
At the moment we're living on MIL's drive but don't know how much longer we can be here really.
So, we put our house on the market the day of the first lockdown. We'd spent a few weeks getting it up to scratch as we'd finally decided we were going to move away from the South East and move West, possibly to Wales, although this is not definite. It could be Scotland or anywhere else in between. It obviously sat on the market until it reopened and sold fairly easily. We knew we would struggle to,view houses as Wales wasn't open as early as England opened up. We did go to Wales in August but found nothing. Decided we would move into a self converted camper so spent weeks doing that, so we could then travel around and search for the ideal house.
Well, we all know what happened next. We completed in the middle of the November lockdown and have been living mobile, still in our original area, on various friends and family drives for the last 7 weeks. Decided to stay local till Christmas and then January arrives, another lockdown. Meanwhile, we are slowly eating into our capital with storage costs etc.
As we are completely self contained in the camper, apart from stopping for fuel and food, would it be considered 'wrong' to travel away from here to try and view properties? As far as I can make out reading the guidelines, it appears to be ok to do this. But when you read of people being fined for travelling 5 miles to go for a walk, I'm back to square one. We really need to be settled somewhere by July/August as my eldest wants to go to college so need to find an area that's suitable and this could take a while.
At the moment we're living on MIL's drive but don't know how much longer we can be here really.
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Comments
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Moving home is allowed during lockdown, but where would you be planning to park up on arrival in the new area?Everything will be alright in the end so, if it’s not yet alright, it means it’s not yet the endQuidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur0
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I guess convincing the Police that the guys in the camper van parked up overnight in the layby / carpark are actually searching for property and not just visitors might take a bit of work. Maybe if you take some paperwork showing the sale of your house it might make things easier.
But then again, if you will be buying food in Wales then this is not a house moving related activity.0 -
Stealth parking...jackieblack said:Moving home is allowed during lockdown, but where would you be planning to park up on arrival in the new area?0 -
Yes, I suppose we could take paperwork. It might be slightly easier for us as ours is not a camper from the outside.moneysavinghero said:I guess convincing the Police that the guys in the camper van parked up overnight in the layby / carpark are actually searching for property and not just visitors might take a bit of work. Maybe if you take some paperwork showing the sale of your house it might make things easier.
But then again, if you will be buying food in Wales then this is not a house moving related activity.0 -
Can you borrow a car to go house hunting in ?0
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that would be worse as they would need accommodation.Angela_D_3 said:Can you borrow a car to go house hunting in ?
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/#exceptions
Travel for house viewing is allowed as an exception to the travel ban between Scotland and the rest of the UK.- travel in connection with moving home (including viewing a property), or for activities in connection with the maintenance, purchase, sale, letting, or rental of residential property that the person owns or is otherwise responsible for. Travelling for the purposes of undertaking maintenance on a property other than your main residence should not be used as a pretext for a holiday. You should not stay longer than for the length of time required to undertake the necessary work.
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Surprised nobody's mentioned the dog/bag for life thread yet lol.2024 wins: *must start comping again!*1
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I think we have decided to stay put after listening to Chris Whitty. I'll get a job to pay for the storage costs. This wasn't how it was meant to be really but I suppose we'll just crack on with it.2
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