My Situation

tesuhoha

My husband works in the building trade and can do almost all the work by himself. It will be a proper loft extension with building regulations, steel beams, a staircase, central heating, velux windows and an en-suite bathroom. He is a plumber so it would be silly not to add this and will increase the price of the house by giving it two bathrooms. It will be a big room in spite of the ensuite and have loads of storage space. I know we won't get the money for the house and that is not what we want, to sell it but if we had financial difficulties and had to sell up which is possible anyway with the current debt and the tax bill, the house would be worth more. The tax bill is not an annual affair as my husband pays tax at source but money that his accountant told him he has underpaid. We have not had time to save it up as the accountant told us only in June that we would have to pay it and I thought the best thing to do was to get the current debt down. I intend to pay it with a cc cheque which is on offer till February with a rate of 2.9% till September. You ask me what is the rate after that, well I always search for 0% offers and so far have been lucky. If not then I will just take the best deal I can. However by the time the good rates run out I intend to get the debt down a great deal. We both have secure jobs and the mortgage will be paid off by December 2014.

tesuhoha

Thanks to everyone for the replies. My daughter has not put pressure on me. She has put up with the tiny room since we moved and would not dream of asking us to do this. She knows our situation. It is my husband who wants to do it and he brings in the bulk of the money. He is very hardworking and would spend all his weekends doing it and evenings too as that is his way when he has a project. No, I hate the idea of borrowing more money but feel Im between the devil and the deep blue sea. No one would have a go at me if I insisted we didnt do it but I feel equally unhappy about her living in that room. It is very difficult to explain how I feel. One minute I think the right thing to do is the loft, the next not and then I think Im going to be £11,000 in debt by February anyway so what difference does it make. £7000 extra will take 7 months to pay off.

postingalwaysposting

tes i havent got any advice/soloutons to mention, but i just want to say that i know what its like when you heart is saying one thing and your head the other. The only person that can decide this is you and your family. Why dont you do what was suggested and ask your daughter if she will be finding a job near home/staying at home for a few more years. If so it sounds like a good idea but if she will only be staying for a while untill she finds a better job i think just doing up her room with a lick of paint and adding storage is surfice.

tesuhoha

Hi Pap thanks

I think she will be here for a while as she has no job yet, no money and some student debt, not too much as we have helped her, but some. As you know it is hard for young people to get their own place nowadays and she needs to assess her situation. I want her to feel this is her home as she does not feel that at the moment, where she can relax and bring friends. At the moment she cant even get ready to go out, has to put her make up on the windowsill. I think of this house as only two-bedroomed as the third bedroom is no larger than a large cupboard.

BTW we dont like dormer windows that much and wont regretnot having them we have already discussed this. Anyway Pap, thanks for understanding how I feel. It is a matter of head and heart, youve hit the nail on the head.

postingalwaysposting

tesuhoha wrote: »

Hi Pap thanks

I think she will be here for a while as she has no job yet, no money and some student debt, not too much as we have helped her, but some. As you know it is hard for young people to get their own place nowadays and she needs to assess her situation. I want her to feel this is her home as she does not feel that at the moment, where she can relax and bring friends. At the moment she cant even get ready to go out, has to put her make up on the windowsill. I think of this house as only two-bedroomed as the third bedroom is no larger than a large cupboard.

BTW we dont like dormer windows that much and wont regretnot having them we have already discussed this. Anyway Pap, thanks for understanding how I feel. It is a matter of head and heart, youve hit the nail on the head.

Hi tes Yes i do totally understand what its like as a young person in certain areas trying to move on. I guess if she will be staying there for a fair few year (3+) then i think thats the best solution. Have you worked out your dfd without the extra £7k and with it? I know you say it will take an extra 7 months to pay off but what is that in terms of dates? Also i know you say it will 'only' cost £7k but have you got anyplans if things go wrong?

I know what you are saying regaring young people. When i lived in the box room i never had friends round but now i have a really nice room thats been decorated etc i have my friends around much more.

I guess you need to think things through and look at it logically. At the end of the day it ultimatly your familys decision but i would hate to think that you added this extra debt and then you cause yourself more hardship/upset than you are already in. Please let me know what you decide ~ and good luck with the future

Pap xx

Gemmzie

Hi Tes, we've had very similar debates in our house as my brother wants to convert the loft into a flat for himself and his girlfriend which would then be two bedrooms when they moved out eventually. We decided that the only fair way that this could be done would be for him to pay for a percentage of it, by paying extra through rent plus a deposit (same way they would moving into their own place).

Maybe your daughter could do this once she has a job? She should be paying rent once she's out of uni anyway, and it would certainly help.

Kevicho

Tricky situation, I think that if this money is loaned for the intentions of making the house more habitable, as opposed to raising its value, then its for the right reasons, as realistically theres no guarantees of that "value" ever being at received at the moment.

However why does your daughter need lots or room?

I know im not typical, but I have spent several months decluttering to be basically down now to the bare essentials, as I have (and have always had) a small room i can sympathise, but this is one of the best things I have done, despite the smallness of the room I have lots of space and feel liberated.

Also can makeup be done in the bathroom?


I think you know what the outcom of this should be, but you are afraid of your daughters reaction to the logical conclusion, but you have done so well to clear the debt, and to effectively double it, for the sake of this would be a shame.

I think if you explain this, and your daughter is staying for the long term, then you can make these amendments eventually without having to borrow.

System

How i see it is, your going into all this debt for her when she could be moved out and settled in her own place in a couple of years and you will be still paying the debt off.

floss2

At the end of the day, your daughter is an adult - and effectively she will be a lodger. Would you expect an adult / lodger to have the smallest room and to have to do daily routine things like make-up in the family bathroom? I certainly wouldn't, and this is a regular discussion topic in our home, as despite being a 4-bedroomed house, we don't have room to potentially accomodate 2 adult DS's when they graduate in 2 more years, as the attic is DF's home-office (home-based job), the boxroom is our office / book storage, and I wouldn't expect them to share the spare room.

Maybe you & OH could move into the attic, and have the en-suite, then DD could have your room?

mummytofour

Dont do it, you have been there is hueg debt before DO NOT do it.
Get some new furniture for her room and paint it, make it as nice as possible but please dont get into more debt she may only stay a couple of months if something better comes along then what a waste of 6k.