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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to spend a month overlap from one rental property to another?

26 replies

lill72 · 22/04/2015 10:14

We have to move house. It's a rental property. We don't want to move far from DD school. We have found a really nice property close to the school, in fact right next to it. However they want us to move late may and we have to pay rent on our current property until July 2nd. That hurts, but we can do. It is throwing money away, but we are gaining a great property, next to the school.

Not sure if we should hold out and try and find something else with not such a big overlap? Just worried we wont. I have been looking at many properties and nothing has been as good. what would you do?

OP posts:

YouMakeMyHeartSmile · 22/04/2015 10:17

We did this. It was a big financial hit but for us it was worth it to get the house we wanted. Another benefit is that you don't have to move in a rush and can spend time cleaning your last rental property/making sure it's in a state to get your full deposit back.
If you do it, don't forget there will also be 2 months council tax so take that into account too.

Artistic · 22/04/2015 10:28

It's totally worth it. We did it too.

What you could do is 'request' your landlord if they can find a tenant sooner & minimise your overlap. Most agents will atleast try though they are not obliged to. Also whatever date the new tenant asks for - will be your termination date. But IMO even if that saves you a week's rent that's great!

Get the new house & talk to your agents about what date earliest you are happy to give your keys back...then they can look for someone who needs a house from that date.

Moving between rentals is never perfect, you just got to accept that and write off the loss.

LIZS · 22/04/2015 10:30

If you can afford it do so . Agree with pp you could request an earlier hand over date but ll not obliged to agree.

SomeSortOfDeliciousBiscuit · 22/04/2015 10:32

We've always accepted some degree of overlap as normal and planned for it. A month is the longest we've done, but it's definitely worth it.

bilbodog · 22/04/2015 10:47

you would probably be hard pressed to jump to another property now and get the timings to work out - I would take the hit and stay with what you are doing. It's only just over one month?

Original poster

lill72 · 22/04/2015 11:09

Yes just one month overlap. We happen to be away for 10 days of it so is a bit annoying. but still gives us ample yime to move. Is only in the next street so will be easy to do.

The landlords are moving back and we have written to them asking for a few days grace. At the moment they are saying no but I have tried again. I don't think they will agree as they are travelling and I uess counting on every penny from rent. But you have to ask.

glad to hear we are no alone in doing this.

OP posts:

SquiddlyDiddlyDoo · 22/04/2015 12:23

Erm this is entirely normal. Rarely does anyone manage to find a property to move into the exact day that their old lease ends. Loads of people have to pay an overlap. If you can afford it, just suck it up.

PtolemysNeedle · 22/04/2015 12:27

Do it, and enjoy having plenty of time to move in, clean, and do wherever needs doing to sort out each place.

YouMakeMyHeartSmile · 22/04/2015 12:28

Squiddly we've moved rental properties 7 times and only had to overlap once, must have just been lucky.

LikeABadSethRogenMovie · 22/04/2015 12:29

It's easier that way than having a month's gap between homes. That really was a pain in the arse!

Stormtreader · 22/04/2015 12:31

Ive done this on purpose more than once, its great to be able to move stuff you can cope without early so the day of the Big Move is quicker and easier :)

blibblibs · 22/04/2015 12:37

We're doing just that, will have two places for the whole of May. Its expensive but it does mean we can move at our own pace. Hoping the landlords may refund some of the rent if they want the keys back earlier but we budgeted for them not doing that.

emwithme · 22/04/2015 12:42

We had a SEVEN week overlap the last time we moved. It meant we could get the new place cleaned/painted/ready to go and the old place ready to hand back without too much stress.

Yes, it was a bit on finances, but it was definitely worth it.

RenterNomad · 22/04/2015 12:51

If you can afford it, it's worth doing. In general, the rental market moves very quickly - far more so than the purchase/sale market - and things do become available, but equally, properties do "go." On a personal level, renting really does cut down your ability to manipulate and ride timescales. Notices are short and court-backed, so there can't really be "chains" in renting unless there's an area of the country where the supply-demand equation is in the tenants' favour... but around a school, there's little chance of that!

hidingfromthem · 22/04/2015 13:10

YANBU.
this is a common scenario in renting.
i would pay it and then just try to forget that i've had to pay double rent.
its for your benefit in the long run.

ImNameyChangey · 22/04/2015 13:20

I would pay it too OP. You've found a nice house...take it.

londonrach · 22/04/2015 13:37

We had 4 days overlap once and boy did we need it. If you can afford it go for it!

Flossyfloof · 22/04/2015 13:42

Can't you ask if they can meet you halfway?

FanSpamTastic · 22/04/2015 13:47

You should be able to apply to the council to only pay council tax on one of the properties. We had this when we completed on a house at beginning of July but did not move in until end of August as we had work to do on the new house and the rental ran until end of August. I had to fill a form in at the council confirming which one was the main one. But this was both houses in the same council and was 9 years ago so rules may have changed.

ElectraCute · 22/04/2015 13:47

We're just about to do exactly the same thing. Getting the keys for the new place mid May, notice on our current place not officially up until mid-June.

I'm negotiating with our current letting agency to see if we can get it down to a shorter overlap, but have budgeted for a month. Hopefully they will get tenants in earlier than that though!

I agree it's probably worth it to be able to do a 'slower' move rather than a one-day panic/stress! Will also mean we can really get the old place up to scratch and make sure we don't lose any of the deposit. And definitely worth it to get the lovely house that we want

HappenstanceMarmite · 22/04/2015 13:51

^ re Council Tax - depends entirely on individual Council rules.

Custardcream14 · 22/04/2015 13:55

We also did it, twice actually.

It's a necessity a lot of the time, and no we had to pay both council tax on the second move, they gave us a small discount.

LadyintheRadiator · 22/04/2015 13:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

x2boys · 22/04/2015 14:02

We have just left private rented to move into a council house regarding the council tax my council said I only had to pay one lot as one property was empty the letting agents have been s nightmare we were on a rolling contract as when we renewd our lease the landlord failed to sign his bit so they put us on a rolling contract but have tried to demand a further months rent just told them no way we hand our keys back tomorrow thank god!

cestlavielife · 22/04/2015 14:02

depending when the payment dates are it can seem less - i paid one property no the 18th and the next on 1st - so although there was overlap of 15 days it didnt make a difference on monthly basis.

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