To want to buy a second property

I'm sorry, OP, but I don't think this a sensible option. I read recently that if you are relying on rent to pay your mortgage, you can't afford to be a landlord, and I do think that's true. There are a lot of legal responsibilities and costs that come with being a landlord. You need to either manage the property yourself, which can be stressful, or you'll have to pay an agent to do so - their fees aren't cheap and you'll still end up being more involved than you'd expect. You'll also have to have a slush fund to pay for unexpected expenses, like leaks, broken appliances, refreshing the property between tenants; and to cover periods where the property may be empty or the tenants you have fail to pay their rent. And you'll have to pay tax on your rental income.

If you could afford to pay for a property outright, and still have a slush fund - which you wouldn never need access to - for unexpected costs, then I think it would be something to consider. But in your current circumstances, it sounds like it would be a big risk that has the potentially to make your current financial situation much worse.

How are your pensions so poor? The employer contributions alone for teachers pensions are one of the highest in the country across all industry sectors. Probably 6 or 7 times higher than someone on your salary in the private sector. Unless you opted out, are you sure you're not underestimating your pension?

That assumes he is a secondary school teacher. Senior management in a primary is around £40,000.

Headteacher in a small primary only earn around £50,000 and certainly no six figure sums even in a large primary.

I agree with others OP this doesn’t sound like a good idea. I don’t really understand how you would fund this house purchase anyway.

Moving to a cheaper area sounds like a plan.

Or tutoring - are either of you secondary maths or science? If so you will be in demand. Boggling slightly at a tutor charging £100 ph tho!

OP, I don't think it's a good idea in your situation. I'm an experienced LL and there is so much more to it than many people realise. For a start you have to have 25 percent deposit, then stamp duty of 5 percent of purchase price, then solicitors fees. If you wanted to write of interest against tax you'd have to set up a limited company to do so. You'd also have to do self assessment for any profits and pay tax on those profits. Other things to consider you'd need to get an annual gas certificate, insurance, carry out all maintenance and if a boiler goes you have to have enough money to get an immediate replacement. Also what would you do if your tenant didn't pay their rent? You'd still have to pay the mortgage. You would be better trying to increase your hours or maybe either you or DH to do some examining or tutoring in the evenings or weekends.

Another issue with regards to advice on moving, older teachers are seen as too expensive by many cash strapped schools. I know several teachers who can't find alternative jobs in their early 50s, they are on too high of a band, and schools choose NQTs instead. Changing jobs as a teacher is incredibly time consuming and draining at the best of times, but as an older teacher, and travelling 100s of miles for interviews? Yeesh. Not easy at all.

Agree. I think stay close to the money. There are always ways to supplement your income if people around you have plenty to spend.

Definitely don't go the BTL route... the days of making any money on a rental property are long gone.

Surely as teachers you automatically have a pension? Or did you opt out?

Whatever... your best bet is to move from the SE. The home you have is your ticket to a better retirement. Along with tutoring. If I were you, I'd set up a tutoring business with your husband and save as much as you can into a pension. Once your children have finished school, you can sell up and move to a much cheaper area of the country. You'll be able to afford a better house with less money, so if your children need to continue to live with you, you'll have more space.

You can also continue to earn good money tutoring wherever you go.

This isn't a good idea. Where are you finding the lump sum for deposit and stamp duty if things are that tough?

You've made some extremely questionable financial decisions up til now - don't make another one and try to buy another property.

The only real option is to move somewhere cheaper!

I think there's more money to be made by staying in the SE and supplementing your incomes through tutoring.

These days (or rather, the last time I looked into it!) if the rent is paying capital into your mortgage (ie not interest only) then you have to pay tax on that capital that you've essentially gained. So you're having to pay tax on money that's not yet actually hit your pocket.

That said, there is still a small amount of money to be made from buy to let, it's just nothing like it used to be.

FWIW for other people suggesting "just get a teaching job in a cheaper part of the country" it's not usually that simple - if you've been teaching a while and are on the upper pay scale, then you're expensive, and most schools are forced to go for cheap over experienced these days.

I'd be more tempted to relocate to a cheaper housing area to make teaching income go further

Buying a rental is risky at the moment, many landlords are selling up because of increasing costs and less profit and the political situation. You also need a financial cushion in case you get a bad tenant who doesn't pay - it's not something to do if you are short of money.
I would look for a cheaper area where you can buy a bigger house mortgage free and therefore live on less money. Teachers are needed everywhere so you should find work.

The tax alone makes it totally not worth it. We became accidental LLs during the pandemic and sold up last year. We’re still dealing with the tax headache. Total nightmare.

Others have given good advice regarding BTL but here's an idea for you - tutoring, not bog standard tutoring, but something specialist (you get people's kids through 11 plus or to specialist SEN stuff in the daytime for kids who are out of school, getting kids top marks in physics A level & support with uni applications etc) make it so that very soon you are word of mouth and difficult to book. And charge a LOT £100 an hour at least. Then squirrel it all away. You're in the SE and there are a lot of ambitious parents there.

I am a landlord and I’d strongly advise not to do this.

I don’t want to sound glib but investing in a single buy to let property is only a safe investment if you don’t need the money. One non paying tenant could bring you to your knees financially.

There seem to be additional responsibilities and costs being added on a frequent basis, and there is no question of ‘not being able to afford’ them. The rules regarding the EPC C rating will be costly ( in my case one suggestion is insulating floors at a cost of £7k, which is expected to save £13 PA in fuel), and is another reason why so many landlords are selling up.

Larger scale landlords can spread the load and be more resilient, but I don’t see much future for landlords with only a few properties.

I really think that in your situation I would consider relocating to a cheaper area.

I know that it would be a massive faff and upheaval, but so would buying and letting a second properly, with all the complexities that accompany that.

If you are teachers, I don’t think you would struggle to find work anywhere jn the country, the way things are now.

I know your DC have SEN and it would be a huge change for them, but if you thoroughly research schools and SEN provision in the area before committing to move, it can be done.

Even if you have not been paying into the Teachers' Pension Scheme, your employer should have been, so your pension is not dependent on your contributions like a private pension. Buying a second property is not the solution - you are just straddling yourself with more debt. Also, a lot of buy to let mortgages are interest only meaning at the end of the mortgage you still owe the full lump sum (the real reason landlords are selling up). Plus, with a BTL flat you might find yourself having to pay for freeholder's repairs/improvements like replacing windows or a new roof as well as any ground rent or service charges they put on. It's not a money maker. Pay extra into your pension. Build up an ISA. Also look at SEN tutoring through your local authority for the days you are not in school.

Look it maybe a fair financial plan but whenever I hear people trying to find ways to get others to pay their mortgage for them it grinds my gears.

I've recently sought advice from an Estate Planner and been advised to sell my property and invest instead/use the income from interest.

I'm disabled and inherited a decent sized, well maintained pretty modern 3 bed home which I rent out. The income works out at about 5k per annum once you take out tax, landlords insurance, safety checks and inevitable repairs/maintenance. I am reliant on the income to survive. Some months I make nothing at all as I've had to pay out for emergency repairs, call out fees, two things going wrong at once. I pay around £90 a month to a management company to save some hassle, but still...it's not as lucrative as people think. The current government is very anti-landlord too so letting out is only going to get harder.

I too became an accidental landlord after the 2008 crash. I do still rent out the property but there is no profit in it - once you’ve paid tax/maintenance/repairs plus mortgage there is nothing left. I’m hanging onto it though but the mortgage is repayment not interest only, so it’s being paid down over time.

Really bad idea.
The btl mortgages you are thinking of are basically interest-only. The rent will just about cover interest payments plus maintenance costs, agent fees and the costs of an occasional nightmare tenant (and you will get them occasionally). The only profit in this scenario is from house price rises but with the economy as it is I wouldn't bet on that as a certainty for you between now and retirement.
If you increased monthly payments to make it a repayment mortgage by adding in your own money once your main mortgage is paid off then your plan might possibly work but I doubt you'd be any richer than if you put the same money into other investments.

It's really only profitable if you can make significant savings on running costs by having multiple properties and getting economies of scale, but the people doing that are the ones to blame for the ridiculous acceleration of house prices beyond the means of most FTBs causing the rental traps that secures their profits - ie not good to emulate.

You are both teachers.
The teachers pension scheme (TPS) is excellent
You first point of call should be to talk to TPS about making additional contributions (AVCs) to your pension to build it up.
Then look at investment ISAs (not cash, you need to take some risk to make the better returns you need)
Buy to let is fraught with pitholes & not something I would consider.

Tutoring is a good idea I pay £60 er hour cash in hand for primary

Buy to let mortgages are often interest only so you would need to 1) make sure you have £ to put aside from the rental to pay off the propertyor 2) e aware a repayment rental would need quite a bit of rent multiples tonbe accepted 3) make enough to then also pay any tax owed to hmrc 3) hope that the ending value will be more and give you that pension