Moving abroad: What to do with my house?

WIAWSNB

Hi DG.

You "love" your current house and the area.

Q - how easy would it be to find an equivalent on your return? Obviously there are some unknowns - will prices rise, fall, or stay the same? But I'm really refering to how much you 'love' this particular home? How hard was it to find in the first place? How lucky were you to find it?

And, if you sold it, how easy would it be to repeat that process on your return, or would you need to rent for likely waaay over a year whilst you located and bought its replacement? With all the commensurate hassle and cost - moving stored items again.

If the answers are hard, very, and a 'mare, then rent it out using a local agent with a good reputation - personal recommendation is always better.

Accept the possibility of it going 'wrong' to some degree; more damage than expected, tenants hard to move on, etc - but it should have earned you a significant number of £ks over these years, which - coupled with the deposit - will sort all that out to 'new', and pay off some of your mortgage as well. If they burn it down or completely wreck it - which they won't - the insurance will cover it.

You'll have your loved home back on your return, quickly refreshed, and you'll be financially better off.

Obviously some risk, but it seems a clear call to me. Rent it out.

SiliconChip

Echoing the last sentence of the previous post:

Moving abroad for "some years", increasingly onerous conditions on landlords, dodgy estate agents, bad tenants, MTD, CGT, it seems a clear call to me. Sell now.

MEM62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81870264#Comment_81870264

Then I would sell. It's a no-brainer in my opinion.

knightstyle

We had a daughter near the house and would let it for 'holiday lets' through Haven. She would look after it and clean etc between lettings. Worked well and we could use it when we returned for a week or two.

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6653820/moving-abroad-what-to-do-with-my-house

Plenty of opinions already on other options, but the one thing I would NOT do is sell and buy somewhere to rent out.

You lose most of the benefits of keeping the property as its no longer in the area you love) plus you have to pay stamp duty / agents fees / solicitor / searches all over again. All to get a rental from afar which is expensive as you need someone else to manage it 100%, have no control over whether the rental references or deposit protecting or repairs authorised etc are actually done well.

I would say its a choice between

1. selling and investing the money elsewhere
2. keeping and renting out
3. keeping empty

Between 2 and 3, you still have most of the same insurance and repair costs, but 2 has the added risk of whoever you appoint not meeting your LL responsibilities, plus time to evict the tenant when you want to move back in (you may need to rent your self for a few months) while 3 has the significant loss of income. 1 means you are flexible in whether you come back sooner or later, but then have to start again with paying stamp duty again etc.

mta999

The other thing you might want to consider is if you need to have access to a UK address for example to keep your UK bank account

elsien

option 3, leaving the property unoccupied - who will check on the property and sort out any maintenance, you will probably have double council tax while unoccupied property and you need to get insurance that covers it being empty for that length of time.

Dancing_Girl

Yes, I would want to have access to UK bank account and may visit every 6 months or so for a short period of time. (may be a week or so). A lot efforts and emotions went in to call it a home.

Dancing_Girl

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81871140#Comment_81871140

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is giving me a hope to explore all options.

Slinky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81873523#Comment_81873523

Don't rent out a home you have an emotional attachment to.

We rented out my home when I first moved in with my OH. All of the 4 lots of tenants in 3 years damaged the house in small ways and peed me off, just by living their lives. We moved back in eventually, and it was a relief to get it back, but for example we were left with dings in skirtings and woodwork up the stairs where furniture had been dragged in and out. Plants had been removed from the garden, etc. I redecorated after some random viewer said my bedroom decor was 'dated'. I loved it, but apparently it wasn't everyone's taste. That person didn't even rent the house. It was a necessary evil, but if it's your been your home, tenant damage seems way more personal than if it's just a property you own with the intention of renting it out.