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!

@privilegeporridge

That's horrifying, and definitely a cause for concern. I know my DH wouldn't cut me out of the house (we have conversations and odds are I would probably end up staying in the house if we divorced) but I don't want to be solely reliant on that trust in case of emergency.

But if a mortgage company won't lend to both of us, what options do we have?

The best option would be, as I’ve said, to wait till you’re earning too and then buy together.

It’ll also have the advantage of allowing you to start establishing a career before starting a family, so you have better earning potential and some experience when looking for work after your first child. I feel it’s very important for women to have the ability to support themselves in the event of a relationship breakdown. At present you’d be at a huge disadvantage if you lost your home (because it won’t be in your name) and had to support yourself and a child while trying to complete your studies, and then trying to start a career. I’m more than old enough to be your mum, and this is the advice I’d give a daughter of mine in your shoes.

Some mortgage brokers charge fees and some just take their commission from the contract. But it’s really worth getting a good independent mortgage adviser.

Buying a property, suggest you check cost of;

Freehold or leasehold
If leasehold, confirm all extra costs before buying

Solicitor fees
Mortgage arrangement fees
Building survey
Deposit
Cost of moving
Post redirection
Council tax may cost more
Emergency fund
Other fees that need to be paid
Building & contents insurance
Life insurance
Will (can do this at a later time)
Transport to work if commuting
Cost of mortgage per month

Things like furniture, curtains, white goods like fridge, oven, hoover, lawn mower, washing machine, shower etc can be bought when you have money over time or second hand or Freecycle

Secondly, tenants & landlords circumstances change, that is a fact of life. I would not tell your landlord until you have researched all the above first

Good luck

Here in the UK if the LL does not protect the deposit and then tries to evict you he is in BIG trouble. You can counter sue the ass off him for 3X the deposit plus damages.

Your LL sounds well dodgy so I would proceed to look for a house and give him the required legal notice once contracts completed. It is not good to have a situation where your DH is tiptoeing around in a relationship with his boss which is so delicate that it might be "damaged" by your moving out.

I think your first step on the house move should be to speak with an independent mortgage broker to understand how much you can afford. When I bought earlier this year most mortgages needed a 15% deposit and at the time my broker mentioned that there were a few banks offering 10% deposits, some of which were only available to people applying using a broker.

The broker is usually paid by the lender not by you (so is free for you). It can also speed things up as they will make sure the application is done correctly and brokers will often access to a broker line at the bank to chase up applications (my application took about 3 weeks as I bought at a busy time using a lender that was one of the only banks doing 10% deposits at the time. I had more than that but it meant there was a backlog. The broker kept on top of them and was able to chase. The moneysavingexpert forum was full of people who waited a lot longer than me and couldn’t even get through to chase).

I don’t know how long it takes for a Scottish property purchase to go through but I would want to be in a position to know I’m definitely moving before giving notice (I.e. something legally binding - perhaps having your offer accepted in Scotland but not sure).

How long until you graduate?

It seems pretty obvious it's a handshake deal and the deposits not protected, but personally I wouldn't mess up a friendship over it when you're looking to buy so soon. I'd just give him a heads up you're looking then when you give notice so long as the house is in good condition not pay the last month's rent "to save home the hassle of paying the deposit back".

As someone said upthread, when it comes to renting and buying, please research specific rules for Scotland as both are different to England. Housing is a devolved matter.

Here is a link to the Scottish gov site re: deposits www.mygov.scot/tenancy-deposits-landlords/

Moreover, the idea that your landlord can evict you at a moment's notice is nonsense. Currently it's a minimum of six months notice (on their side, it's still one month for you) and if your landlord isn't registered (as is required in Scotland) he'll be in an even more precarious position. Here's another link to all his responsibilities www.mygov.scot/renting-your-property-out/your-responsibilities/

You have a defacto tenancy agreement even if nothing has been signed on paper.

With regards to buying and affordability, it's ultimately a waste of time asking people what they think on an Internet forum as your financial situation is unique to you. Speak to a financial advisor/ mortgage broker and an estate agent to understand what you are and are not able to achieve.

I would tell him once you have a mortgage in principle and an offer accepted first

Wait until you get the money and start looking.

OP as I said upthread, many well meaning posters are giving you incorrect advice because they do not understand Scots Law. They are probably telling your about the law and procedures in England, Wales or northern Ireland or perhaps even another country where they live.

Eg You are very very unlikely to be buying a leasehold property in Scotland. In effect everything is freehold, although the freehold / leasehold thing doesn't really exist the same way in Scotland.

Conveyancing is totally different in Scotland.

Being on the deeds of the property is different from being on the mortgage.

If you are legally married your rights are different. Please note that some religious marriages alone are not valid, there is no such thing as ‘common law marriage’ and calling him “husband” when you mean “boyfriend I love a lot “ has no legal effect.

Minimum house deposits are unlikely to go down in the next few weeks/ months.

Some mortgage lenders will be convened about relying solely on a deposit that is a gift / inheritance that you did not save yourselves.

You need to learn about all these things before you even start viewing properties . As I said upthread, many estate agents won’t even let you view as you don’t know how you are going to fund your purchase.

Things can move very fast in Scotland - you could view a property one day and it could go to closing a week or 10 days later. So your viewing it is a waste of everyone’s time and in these times, an unnecessary Covid risk for owners or viewing agent as well as yourselves.

You also need to learn more about the gynaecological condition you have and its possible effects on conception and pregnancy before rushing into TTC when you are very young, don’t really know what you are doing and have no income and no work experience.

You are already in a fairly precarious housing situation with little or no legal protection because you didn’t do your research or get advice. A few hours on Google or even asking some well informed family members / friends should have shown up some of these red flags.

You say you are a student but clearly you know less about renting than your average first year student.

You also say you are married but you don’t understand your legal rights on this either.

If you follow much of the advice here you will be doing the same again.

I’m not saying this to be mean - I’m trying to help you. You need to get a great deal smarter about legal and financial matters right now, let alone before you think of TTC.

Oh and the other thing you need to learn about is the legal situation on inheritances in Scotland. You say that “ we “ are about to inherit money but I guess you mean one of you. If its you, using that inheritance for a joint house deposit has serious legal implications which you should understand before you do anything.

You seem to have got caught on a runaway train.

Your current renting situation has been working well for you. Yes it's not ideal legally and yes your deposit is a bit risky but balance that up with a breakdown in the relationship between DH and Landlord. I'd keep your head down for now.
Next YOU need to decide what your plans are. Your at Uni still so is TTC ideal? You won't get SMP pay if you do fall pregnant and if you have a rough pregnancy will that affect your academic achievements? (I'm much older with gynae issues (so can relate to your concerns), pregnant now but previously spent many years studying so I'm not being judgemental just trying to give you some things to conisder).
I'd be inclined to get any job possible (part time maybe) so that I was in a stronger position to contribute to the current finances, stronger employment position for pregnancy and if you can proceed with mortgage application then you would not be classed as a dependent so even a very small wage would help you on this front.

Take a step back and a deep breath. Everything can't happen at once so break it into smaller steps.

Nb there are plenty of online mortgage calculators so you can see your borrowing potential. Go to your banks site first.

Good luck!

Lots of useful advice to consider here.

Ultimately, the question of when you notify your landlord is not a big consideration - as others have said legally you only need to give a month’s notice. Other than that it is just a case of what level of social obligation you feel you have given your landlord is DH’s colleague. I am sure you can smooth over leaving it quite late to tell him you are moving with a “we wanted to tell you as soon as we had some certainty / our circumstances suddenly changed / everything moved very quickly”.

It sounds like he has hardly been a model landlord so I don’t think you should feel you have the slightest obligation to hold up your end of the bargain (in staying long term), and all you need to consider is what is necessary in terms of a heads up on your plans to keep a civil relationship with a colleague.

More generally it sounds like you are starting your thinking at the wrong end of the process - giving notice to your landlord is one of the last considerations, not one of the first. Understanding the what your options are with regards to getting a mortgage is much more fundamental.

Why are you rushing this?

Graduate, get a job, save some money, have a baby while renting (its what lots of people do)

I had an offer accepted in a place with 10% deposit in October - then we struggled to get a mortgage - the broker said they had literally take all the 90% mortgages off the table - then just as we were giving up they got us on (terrible interest rate though) 5yr fixed term very high repayments - we decided to go ahead - house sale fell through in November!

So we were back to square 1 - then we just reapplied there 2 weeks ago for mortgage on another house - got a much better mortgage offer with 10% deposit 2 year fixed term - the mortgages are available but there are much less of them and they come available say Monday and are withdrawn by end of the day Tuesday according to our broker!

So you just have to try and see what happens

Be patient -

I’d sit tight in your rental. Keep saving and keep looking for a house! We were looking for 10 months and only put in an offer on 4 properties in all that time - we got offer accepted on 2 and of those, one fell through!

It’s not a fast process

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?

If you see o/o 105 and the home report value is 120, they are expecting about 10% over that, so 130. Maybe more in some areas as the hoisting market is very hot right now.

Although Im a bit confused about where you are house hunting, as you say it’s a very low cost area. Yet you are paying £700 / month rent, which is high for a one bedroom flat in a low cost area. That’s the rent for a nice one bed in a more expensive area of Scotland.

So I’m not sure that your illegal landlord ( who refuses to give you a tenancy agreement, can’t even tell you honestly what’s included with the rent and probably hasn’t done the relevant safety checks ) is doing you any great favours.

Thank you for your advice everyone, I'm reading it all over and I appreciate it!

Just as a little sidenote: I knew that renting without a written contract was a bad idea, I've rented before and I'm aware of the risks but I truly didn't have a better option. If I don't have to I will never do it again, and I accept that with the househunting element I am very naive and unaware, but with this specific bit of the renting I genuinely couldn't choose to do anything else. I can't go into all the details for privacy reasons, but believe me if I had any choice I wouldn't be doing it this way. Just wanted to pop on and say that

Oh also, @C0NNIE, thank you for your advice and we aren't in a 1 bed at the moment hence the price being higher in this area! We're also looking in the same county as where we are now, but probably not the same place hence the price discrepancy with the houses.

There seem to be 3 sorts of landlords;

Ones that follow all the rules & repairs, safety rules & declare income & pay taxes

Ones that don't follow the rules, don't declare income & don't pay taxes

Ones that are a combination of the above

You as a tenant have a responsibility too
You accepted to rent with a certain type of landlord/property

We all have choices

I made a choice with what little I had at the time. I'm not making myself out to be the victim by any means, I'm just seeking out help from an unfortunate situation.

@privilegeporridge the benefit of your landlord not being 100% on all the usual rules (like written tenancy agreement or deposit scheme) means that you can be pretty flexible about leaving at short notice. A silver lining perhaps.

Also probably means he can boot me out at any time though, right? @nowishtofly

Still, focusing on the positives!

I wouldn't tell him until you've exchanged as a pp said - you don't know how long you'll be looking, how long it will take to have an offer accepted and then how long it will take to complete. It took me 3 months from getting my offer accepted on my first house to completing for various reasons, then I didn't move in for another 2 months as I was having some minor work done that I wanted out of the way before I moved in. 3-5 months is plenty of notice plus you have somewhere to go. If you let your landlord know too early he might find another tenant and put pressure on you to leave before you want to.

You can check with the main scheme holders if your deposit is protected. Personally I would tell him you're planning to look for somewhere to buy next year. Seems like the reasonable thing to do.

OP I've only read your posts so apologies of this has been covered. As you are married and living in Scotland even if only one of you is on the mortgage the other is entitled to a claim on the properly if anything should happen. I purchased our house and DH had to sign documents to that effect. I needed a 20% deposit to get a mortgage for a 70k house on a 20k salary in 2016. The actual sale also took months to go through because the seller hadn't got probate before listing it on the market.