Just looking for some advice as the information on the government website isn't too clear.
DH and I currently own our home (with a mortgage). Although not yet confirmed, I will likely need to move to the other side of the country for work purposes. The contract would be 3 years. As we like where we are now and have no plans on what would happen after the 3 years, we plan to keep our flat and rent in the new city for the next 3 years.
This will be very expensive on top of our mortgage and I'm starting to worry about it. Ideally, we would have some kind of tenant to try and cushion the financial blow. However, I want to be very cautious in who we rent to and am particularly worried about setting anything up which upsets our lovely neighbours. We would also almost definitely want our home back after the 3 years.
We think we have a solution in that DH's young cousin might want to live here. He definitely couldn't afford the market rent for our 2-bed flat but we'd be happy to charge less if it meant a guaranteed good tenant! This would leave a 2nd bedroom which we were thinking we may keep set up for ourselves so we can come back fairly regularly (once monthly or so) as this city is where our friends and family are. I'm now just wondering if this means we could rent under the rent-a-room scheme? This overall seems a bit less hassle and obviously, the tax-free allowance is greater. The property would still be our 'main' property in that it is the property we own and plan to return to, and we certainly would still spend time here. However, we would, of course, be spending much more of the year living in the new city and would need to register with GPs and dentists down there etc.
Any advice is gratefully received!