Leaving house "empty"

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hi, 

I'll try and keep this short..... 

I own my house outright in the East Midlands. We are re-locating to the South East for my partners work and will be renting a property until we decide which area we want to buy a house in.... 

Originally I was thinking of renting my house out, but for various reason I'm now thinking of leaving it as it is and we will stay here at weekends (we need to return to the area for family) 

Running my house isn't a great expense, and I've looked into figures for the "new house" and being realistic, we can afford to keep both running. I was thinking of doing this for around 6 months and then re-evaluating the situation. for example - If the job doesn't work out/we don't settle, we can just come back rather than deal with tenants. If the jobs going well, we can look at renting the home in the East Mids out.  

Aside from the insurance impact, can you see a problem in me doing this? 

getmore4less

plenty of people work away from home during the week.

Do you need a full house or would a Mon-Friday do the job to get you started 

could even consider a mon-Fri lodger if you have a spare room in your cuurent property.

Indigo_and_Violet

You would need to check the council tax implications carefully as you are likely to be liable for it on both homes. 

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

We would need a house in the south full time. I inherited my home so its sentimental, I'm having difficultly in "letting go" at the moment so wouldn't want anyone in it initially. I'm hoping that having the time away from the house will help me accept someone to live here

This would us be paying full bills (inc council tax), except for gas / elec which will be obviously reduced

[Deleted User]

Even with insurance policies for empty properties you usually need someone checking on the property.  The last policy I had for an unoccupied property only covered the contents if it was a family member checking on the property once a week.  If someone else checked the property I wouldn't be covered for theft but the building would still be covered.  

tdawber

Sounds good to me, have you thought about putting it on Airbnb and getting a cleaner to maintain the house in the week? Could make  Extra income that way? 

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

My family all live within 3 streets away so they will be checking it all the time tbh 

I'm not sure anyone would want to Air B&B here  good idea though! 

pumas

Long story short, I had 2 houses on the go for 20 years, 300 miles apart, swapping every 6 weeks - no problems.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated! 

scrappy_returns

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel said:

My family all live within 3 streets away so they will be checking it all the time tbh 

I'm not sure anyone would want to Air B&B here  good idea though! 

You'd be surprised, even if it's workmen rather than holiday makers.