Is this a sensible idea? Letting my current house to buy another. Looking for input!

JimLad

TBagpuss said:

OP, one question I would ask is whether you would be looking to buy your neighbour's house if you weren't thinking of letting out the existing one? 

If you want the other house, then go for it.


Meanwhile, consider whether you actually want to be a landlord.  As others have said, it does have a lot of responsibilities, and it also means that you are putting all your eggs in one basket - you do need to consider things such as how long you would be able to afford to pay the mortgage if you had a tenant who failed to pay the rent, or if you had a void period with no tenants.

If you do want to become a landlord, is your existing house the best investment? Or is it just convenient? It might make better sense to look at selling it and investing in a property to rent out, if that 's what you want to do.

I think some of your figures are probably on the low side so do review your budget - and look at joining a landlords association to ensure that you are fully familiar with your legal responsibilities if you decide to go ahead. 

The other option is selling ours to buy theirs and that is something we are also considering. Just trying explore both options thoroughly 

macman

JimLad said:

Well this has been overwhelmingly negative! 🤣

No, overwhelmingly realistic.

Bendy_House

Won't some LL insurance policies cover lost rent through unforeseen action by the tenant?

Ditzy_Mitzy

Just something to consider: you're committing yourself to living on that road for the foreseeable, which means that good relationships with neighbours will need to be maintained.  You don't want to be responsible for moving problem tenants into the area, as it's likely that you'll get the blame for it personally.  Be careful with vetting, in this case, and be prepared for others making issues out of things.  Would you be able to manage that?   

michelle09

In my last rented place (before we bought) we lived next door to the landlords. It was a really positive relationship. We had a key to their house and watered plants / sorted post etc as they were out of the country a lot. They also charged us below market rate for rent (about 90% of the local area) and I probably wouldn't have been as helpful if  we were paying the extra £150/month. They ran on the idea that good tenants were better than the extra money.

That being said, I'd also consider that this relationship could go very wrong very fast. And if you have nightmare tenants then your neighbours will expect you to deal with it.

I would also query the amount you've budgeted for maintenance. You do have the advantage that you currently live in the house so should know what the remaining lifespan of things are. But a new boiler / carpets / bathroom / decorating job would more than wipe out the £1200 / year you're saving for that.