Has anyone had to live with parents/inlaws with a newborn and how quickly can you buy a house if its in a chain?

[SadPander]

We have a buyer (FTB) for our house, but the house we want to buy is in a chain. It was agreed that it wouldn't be and then after accepting our offer they sprang it on us. I'm not sure how long the chain is, at the very least there is us (and our buyer) the owners of the house we want, and the owners of the house they want, possibly this goes on indefinitely though I guess!

Our buyers want to be in in November and I am expecting my first baby at the end of December. Realistically it doesn't seem very likely that the whole chain will be able to complete and move by Christmas does it? I've never been in a chain before so I'm not sure how long you would expect things to take. It seems to me that we might end up having to move out of our house and not having anywhere to go before the baby arrives. I've withdrawn our offer on the basis that I don't think I can live with my inlaws with a newborn, its really not what I imagined having a new baby to be like and I'm finding the prospect pretty depressing.

So my questions are - What do you think the chances are that we could be in before Christmas given there is a reasonable sized chain?
And
-Have you lived with family with a newborn? Is it doable or am I going to go completely insane and wish we'd just rented a grotty house for 6 months so that we at least have some privacy ?(this will probably mean giving up on the house we want as I don't suppose the whole chain will be willing to wait for our rental contract to expire for exchange/completion to happen)

And really can someone just decide for me what I should do as its driving me mad and I don't feel capable of making a decision anymore!

[specialsubject]

rental does not mean giving up the place you want or stopping the chain, worst case is you just pay for a place you don't live in for a month or two.

chances cannot be quantified, all sorts can happen. Sounds like your best bet is to reinstate your offer, keep your sale moving and if it looks like you need to rent, then do so.

[pongping]

Chains - how long is a piece of string? And of course it may well collapse. Our house has been under offer since June and the chain collapsed once so we are on our second buyer. It's just a complete unknown and you can't make plans around it.

Living with in laws with a newborn - we lived with my parents for 18 months after the birth of our first and it was manageable, although not ideal. Would not have worked with my in laws, no matter how much I love them!

What about renting?

[Mutley77]

Your buyers will have to wait if you are in a chain. Then you stay put and complete on sale and purchase an same time. But you could all complete by Christmas.

[SuperiorCat]

YY to piece of string. You can have a long chain go through seamlessly and a short chain full of stops and starts - my friend isn't in a chain and her house sale has fallen through for the third time this year (all FTBers).

We lived with my parents for 3 months while we renovated our house. It was do-able but we were all glad to have our own space at the end of it. It is not something that I would chose to do again unless totally necessary.

Like someone has suggested, you may be better selling your house and going into rented until after the baby is born.

[SadPander]

Thanks for your replies, I thought it might be a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, just hoping for experiences of what is 'average'. Although it seems maybe there is no average!

I have considered renting, the draw backs really are that we have 3 cats and everywhere seems to specifiy no pets (quite a few actually say no children either which I found a bit surprising), and that as I will be on maternity leave and money is tight I can't afford to pay £800+ rent a month as well as a mortgage, even for a couple of months. Does anyone know if many landlords will let you rent for a period of less than 6 months? They adverts say long term so I'm guessing most would want a min 6 months.

We will try and get a buyers to hold on if possible, but they would like to be in by November and I'm certain they wont want to wait past Christmas. We've already had a sale fall through so I don't want to push it too far. I don't think there's an easy answer, just hormonal and ranting sorry!

[AllIWant85]

Whereabouts do you live OP? We are in this situation and will be renting a chalet for a maximum 6 months. As we are coming into the off peak holiday season lots of places offer out holiday lets. We will be paying £640 per month for a chalet/bungalow with all bills included. We have to give 1 month notice to leave and can't stay longer than 6 months. We also have a dog.

Any holiday lets around you?

[specialsubject]

the six months is a legal thing as it is the minimum period for the assured shorthold tenancy. There are short-let landlords in some areas (I rented from one and it was all fine on both sides) so it can be done.

pets aren't popular due to damage., but the suggestion of holiday lets does seem a good one.

[SadPander]

Holiday let sounds like a great idea. I'm near Cardiff and had a quick look but everything seems to be at least £300 per week, perhaps for a few months over the winter they may offer a reduced rate? AllIWant was that the advertised price or did you manange to get a discount due to time of year etc? Will have abother google and see if I can find anything cheaper.

[AllIWant85]

Just email them or phone and ask if they would consider a longer term let. This one is approx £150 a week but another one was £180 a week and I found a caravan for £100 per week! I live in the South West so good tourism industry until end of October then they struggle until March so any money is better than none!

One did advertise on Rightmove but I haven't seen any others.