Not sure whether to sell or rent

Hedgepigs

Slithery said:

movilogo said:

If your house in an area where it is easy to get tenant, then I'd suggest you let it out. So if every you decide Germany is not for you, you can come back to UK and have own space for living. 

With the government looking to abolish S21's there's a fairly good chance they may never be able to evict the tenant and live in the property themselves when they return.

I think it's a more likely chance to go along the lines of Scotland, where wanting to occupy the house yourself would be a valid reason to apply for eviction - but no, no-one knows what the rules would look like yet .

MEM62

Slithery said:

movilogo said:

If your house in an area where it is easy to get tenant, then I'd suggest you let it out. So if every you decide Germany is not for you, you can come back to UK and have own space for living. 

With the government looking to abolish S21's there's a fairly good chance they may never be able to evict the tenant and live in the property themselves when they return.

It is difficult enough now.  Because of the proposed changes in legislation and the fact that a rental property is not tax efficient, I want out of the market.  With the lease ending in May I gave my tenant notice in January to give them sufficient time to look for something else.  They are still there and showing no indication of moving on so I am having to go to court to regain possession of my property.  We are already at the point where being an accidental landlord has more problems and advantages.      

SusieT

My property will be empty very soon (they handed in their notice), and I will not be letting it again. With some personal changes and the new rules I have decided that I will no longer be a landlord. 
You need to allow for rent not being paid, damage to the property, a longish time and the related costs to evict if you want to move back in, plus agency and other fees, general maintenance (replacing boiler, decorating, carpets), required gas and electric checks etc. 
I would sell and invest the money somewhere, you may not find it will increase to the point that a house might, but if it is sold you can go to Germany and not have it in the back of your mind, then in however many years when you come back you can find a house wherever you want to live.

Bendy_House

Tete_du_Pain said:

Hi there,
We're in a pretty specific situation and we're just not sure what to do. My W recently got promoted at work to a position in Germany, so we have moved there as a family and rent an apartment. I work remotely from there, only coming back here for the odd meeting. Originally we'd decided to keep our UK house as a ready-made home office / base for the occasions when we come home, but given how rarely we're coming back, it feels like that makes no sense any more. We can either rent it out, or sell it. We have approx £300k equity in it at the moment. Normally I feel it would be a straightforward decision to keep the house because everything is relative - if you sell high, you buy high so the market is negated, but in this instance, we don't need to move to another house in the UK. We're likely to be away for approx 5-6 years. Should we sell, based on the fact we may be in a bubble? Or would no one in their right mind sell in this situation and should I just see if we can rent it for a few years?

Any insight appreciated!

TdP

Hi TdP..

If you rent or sell, what will you do for the brief times you do return? If you have an acceptable solution for that, eg staying with family or friends, in a hotel, buy a small flat, etc., then I think I would sell rather than rent.

Although no-one can predict the medium-term future, it would seem that, on balance of probabilities, it is likely to involve:

1) Higher than usual interest rates. This should mean a reasonable return from wherever you invest the sale proceeds.

2) An actual, or near, recession. This will surely (he says...) mean an end to property price rises, and possibly even a fall? So your property's CURRENT value could be at a premium. Could.

3) Renting comes with all sorts of potential headaches, possibly made more tricky to sort by you not being in the country. It can, of course, also run smoothly, but it's a gamble. 

As asked before, how emotionally attached are you to this house? 

Bendy_House

*sigh* Halifax report house prices went up 1.8% last month... 

movilogo

With the government looking to abolish S21's there's a fairly good chance they may never be able to evict the tenant and live in the property themselves when they return.

Even after the change, landlord will be allowed to serve S21 for tenants in arrears, for selling, or if he wants to move in. Only the no fault eviction will be banned. 

MEM62

Bendy_House said:

*sigh* Halifax report house prices went up 1.8% last month... 

Excellent!  :-) 

Woolsery

Bendy_House said:

*sigh* Halifax report house prices went up 1.8% last month... 

Yes, fuelled mostly by the money printing during C*v*d, when we paid folks to do nowt productive. Some of us knew that would come back and bite us on the bum as inflation. Still, one thing we do well in this country is  selling stuff to each other at ever higher prices.