To break my promise to my landlord?

[privilegeporridge]

NC.

I'm in my early twenties and I live with my husband in a flat we rent from one of his colleagues. We originally had to move somewhere quite quickly back in summer as we had issues with our previous rental, but we spoke to his colleague and he said he'd love for us to move in on a "longterm" basis. A specific amount of time had not been specified and so far, we've been here about 6months.

However, we are due to come into an amount of money in early 2021 that would mean that with a little luck we are not too far off from putting a deposit down on a house. This would also be great as it would mean it we could TTC significantly sooner, as I would feel more secure owning property before having kids and not being dependent on a landlord. (just a personal preference and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity for that choice).

If we came into the money in February time ish, would it be unreasonable to start looking for a house then? I don't want my landlord to feel that he's been deceived (especially considering he works with my husband) but I simultaneously don't want to rent, as we have cats and the longer we stay here the more deposit gets chipped away along with the wallpaper.

He also asked for notice a few months in advance before we decide to move out, so I don't know how far into the house buying process I should wait before letting him know (if buying a house very soon is the right thing to do).

Thank you!

Also bear in mind banks are being extremely cautious at the moment. Your figures show a deposit of less than mine, and I only got a £137k mortgage with a very safe job and a decent salary. My bank also said it would only consider money saved rather than coming from a third party because of covid, so prepare to do some shopping around. Go straight to the banks for estimates rather than a comparison site or a generic site which tells you how much you Could get, because these tend to be based on pre covid figures. For example, I was told I could get a 95% deposit for much higher (and even had this on a mortgage in principle certificate) but when I actually spoke to the bank's mortgage advisor, he said because of covid they were only doing 85% mortgages.

*You might be able to top your savings up by taking your landlord to court re the deposit: you are guaranteed your deposit and 1-3x it on top back that way I think (check Martin's money savings for details).
*

The problem is you need the money for the house deposit before you move in and you won't be able to to get the flat deposit back before you move out whatever you do. Plus lenders want evidence of your deposit and a plan to take your landlord to court to possibly get back 3x the rental deposit at some point in the future is not going to be good enough for them!

OP the mortgage market has changed hugely due to covid, you would be best speaking to a mortgage adviser, they are usually free, we got an agreement in principle sorted out after a 10 min phonecall, very straightforward. That was after weeks of approaching lenders directly with no joy.

Also what you can afford is kind of irrelevant, the amount they will actually lend us results in us paying back £350 a month when our current rent is double that (and is not a stretch).

@privilegeporridge

So I'm looking on Gumtree for houses around my area now, does anyone know the difference between "offers above" and "offers in excess of"? Is "offers in excess of" just a nice way of saying "we want a shit ton more money but still want this house to show up in your search criteria?"

Should have married for money, I knew it

Yes it means they want more. But bare in mind, the place I'm buying originally went up for offers in excess of £170k and it ended up getting reduced to £150k. They were hoping for more but it needed work!

Also, sorry another stupid question, but when a property says "Offers over" how much "over" do they mean? E.g. should I be looking at "Offers over 105k" if I want a 115k house?

Yes, @CheesecakeAddict I'm hoping that around February time ish we won't be in lockdown but Covid has made things much shakier. I'm not feeling very confident about this whole experience at all, if I'm honest (either in myself or the more general capability to buy a house).

I would forget Gumtree, look at Rightmove or Zoopla.

Also, bear in mind, the bank gave ME the mortgage as the earner. They really weren't keen on my DH (sahp) being on it at all. So it's my house even though the deposit was ours.
Be careful on that one.

I think you should seriously consider whether this is the right time for you to be buying a house. Not only will you have greater buying power when you have graduated and have a steady job, and thus be able to afford a more expensive home, but we might have got over bumps in interest rates caused by Brexit and COVID related uncertainty, and the economy might be on a better footing than it’s likely to be in the next few months, with lenders perhaps a little less cautious than they are at present.

Sorry not Gumtree ** I've literally no idea why I said Gumtree, I meant Rightmove Forgive me, mind's in 5 places at once!

Also, bear in mind, the bank gave ME the mortgage as the earner. They really weren't keen on my DH (sahp) being on it at all. So it's my house even though the deposit was ours.

Yep, I'm worried about that. Is the house entirely yours, or did you make any agreement afterwards? (the tenants in common thing, if I'm referencing that right? which I doubt)

OP, you should also check out the help to buy schemes too.

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/right-to-buy-scotland

Offers over and offers in excess of means they are looking for more than the price they state. Your mortgage advisor, solicitor or estate agent (pinch of salt on estate agent) should have a sense of what the going rate is right now - eg 'properties seem to be going for around 10% over asking price'. The Home Report also gives an indication of value.

No. It's MY house. Luckily, I'm not a dick and it's our home.
I wanted DH named and they wouldn't.

You should also find out a lot more about the buying process - as I understand it, in Scotland, you’re legally bound to buy once your offer is accepted, whereas in England you can still pull out up to exchange. So it’s even more important if you’re buying in Scotland that you understand exactly what you’re doing!

Wait till the money comes through then tell him you’ve come into some money and will start house hunting. You could find somewhere straight away or spend months looking. Once you have found somewhere put an offer in, done surveys, conveyances etc.., your looking at 6-8 weeks to settle, longer if there is a chain. And Covid could also impact this.

We moved very quickly on our current house, from starting to look to taking procession was 4.5 months in total (no chain).But we were on a deadline too. We also stayed in our previous house an extra 6 weeks as our new place needed essential, work before we could move in.

The only issue with waiting to buy (other than that we kind of "waste" monthly rent) is that my DH would want to put off having kids as he's concerned that most of our disposable income would start going to kids and make it much harder to save and get on the property ladder.

I've got an ovarian condition and so I'm concerned about putting it off in case we end up waiting too long and struggling / not being able to have kids (or going through brutal & expensive processes later down the line). So there's a whole bunch of plates in the air and I'm not sure I'm catching any of them!

Say nothing until you have exchanged contacts and have a completion date (or whatever the Scottish terminology is. Don't shoot yourself in the foot!

It may be harder than you think to get a mortgage. This rental property you are living in at the moment - are you building up good credit history while you are there? Are you on the electoral roll, bank accounts and credit cards registered to the address? I only ask as you mentioned some confusion over the gas and electric plus the lack of a tenancy agreement.

Are you on the electoral roll, bank accounts and credit cards registered to the address?

We are on the electoral roll, so yes we are registered to vote at this flat. For bank accounts and credit cards we alerted our bank to the fact that we moved to this address - is that what you mean?

Your landlord is a muppet, he went back on his work about the energy bills so don't tell him any sooner than you need to about buying a house. You are a capable person, don't feel that you are not able to buy a house, you just need to research because you have not done it before. That's normal! Everything I learnt about the process, I went on Money Saving Expert and read up about. I assume it covers Scotland. Good luck.

@privilegeporridge - Yes, that is what I meant! Have a look at your credit score now and do everything you can to get it perfect. I managed to borrow 4 x my salary and although my credit score is very good (one credit card with £150 balance, no outstanding loans, no overdraft etc) I was turned down by a few lenders and I had 100k deposit plus the cash for stamp duty and fees set aside. On the plus side, I managed to find a house, exchange and complete in 5 weeks.

So does telling your bank you've moved or registering to vote improve your credit score? Sorry potentially stupid question but I hadn't thought of that. @bowchicawowwow

I think the last time my husband checked his credit score it was "Fair" but that was maybe a year ago and he would need to check again to be sure. I'll ask him when he's home.

As he's a colleague of DH's I'd wait until you've checked out mortgages and made sure it's viable to buy then give him a heads up along the lines of priviledgeporrige has just been given an unexpected lump sum so we're really lucky we're now in a position to buy earlier than expected and starting looking at houses next month.

Then officially give notice when you have a completion date you're confident in.

Gives him time to think about his options and saves the relationship as he's in the loop

So you live in Scotland right now? If you do, you need to know that a lot of the advice given On this thread is for England and not relevant to Scotland.

Your landlord is clearly not registered and therefore he is committing a criminal offence. This is no doubt why he is refusing to give you a tenancy agreement and why he has not registered your deposit.

Also the timescales that people have given you for house purchase are not reverent to Scotland - it’s much quicker.

Some estate agents won’t even let you view a house right now if you don’t have a Mortgage in principle.

This is what I’d do in your situation.

1. Sort out your mortgage. Money saving expert is great for advice on this. I suspect you will need a bigger deposit that you think and you’ll need about £1200 for transactions costs plus your LBTT if any - calculator here

www.revenue.scot/land-buildings-transaction-tax/tax-calculator/lbtt-property-transactions-calculator

1. Start looking at properties online, once you know your price range.

1. Once you have the cash in your account , start viewing properties and get a solicitor ( preferably one local to the area you are buying in ).

Remember the relevant figure for your budget is the home report value, not the offers over price.

1. Once you have concluded missives and have an entry date, give notice to your landlord. In the meantime, do everything by email not text and make all payments through the bank.

As long as you have everything in writing, you are likely to get your deports back. If there’s any problem with that, tell your landlord that your are going to get advice from Shelter or CAB, and you will get it back super quick .

Yeah just hold tight til you find a place. We had offer accepted there middle of December - the mortgage application took 3 weeks to come through and be approved - we’ve booked the survey and the earliest date they can do it is 25th jan! It’s all slowed down now obviously with Christmas - tbh we are not gonna hand notice in until we literally are about to exchange and know for sure we are moving in / getting keys!
It will likely mean we have a month with rent and mortgage but at least we won’t be homeless 😂

Alright, well the options are winning the lottery or selling a few organs then I'm joking but thank you for that list, C0NNIE that's very helpful.

If my landlord hasn't protected the deposit, what does this mean? Do I need to ask him to do it and take him to court if he doesn't? I don't want to cause any issues, especially given there are several issues with the flat and we are in quite a bit of contact.

This may be morally wrong but I'm debating holding off and seeing how much deposit he gives back. E.g. if he gives the whole thing then I'll just leave the protection part alone but if he tries to take it then I'll do the courts thing?

Or is that wrong / naive?

With only a 20k deposit and only 3k to cover moving I’d scale down your plans. Mortgage companies are being very cautious, anyone could be made redundant due to Covid or Brexit and house prices may also be impacted.

Don’t know where you are in Scotland but some friends of mine have just bought a 2 bed flat on the sea within an hour of Glasgow for 80k.

You owe him nothing. However, give him notice that you’re looking to buy.