To move because dh inherited property?

[bowmejen3]

So I'm born and bred in Hackney. Met my husband here who is originally from south Manchester in one of the largest council estates In Europe apparently.

We've been married 10 years and have two children. (4 and 2 months)

We rent privately and was looking forward to getting on the shared ownership scheme this year! 4 year old settled in nursery waiting for reception etc! However DH has been very stressed and with rising living costs. We have not got much to spare each month after saving for our deposit.

Now here is my aibu.
Dh father recently died and left his house (ex council but bought) to dh. It has no mortgage left.

Dh thinks this is the best thing ever as we could move there (3 bed semi detached, big garden, driveway, extra room for washing etc)
Be mortgage free, near his family and have essentially more disposable income to enjoy life, holidays, other ventures etc.

I know I know it sounds perfect on paper... but I always envisioned raising my children in London but dh claims we are actually being selfish because potentially they will never be able to afford to live near us in the future and we may only ever own 25 percent of a flat!
And the area he is from has not got a great reputation...

I believe he could sell the house for around £240,000 (from Rightmove) and put it down for a deposit on a house in London!

Dh thinks I'm being ridiculous to want to not be mortgage free just for the sake of "London" and being snobby towards his childhood area? (Which I'm not)

Aibu?

@Mummadeze somewhere in Greater London yeah, but not in Hackney. Most of the one bad flats are about £450k

bowmejen3 do you know what kind of mortgage you'd get?

Is using the money as a deposit and getting a mortgage in London an option? There are lots of calculators online that will give you an idea of how much you may be able to borrow.

It sounds to me like the house must be wythenshawe? If so. Sell the house and use it as a deposit!

@bakebeans

It sounds to me like the house must be wythenshawe? If so. Sell the house and use it as a deposit!

Yes, the OP confirmed "it's in wythenshawe, close to Northenden/Gatley."

Lived in both London and Manchester and I wouldn't raise my kids in Manchester personally. If they can't get a mortgage in London when they are older that's a bridge we will cross at that point but I still wouldn't take away from them being able to be raised in London.

Londoner born and bred here OP, (OK south of the river) but I'm with your DH. Move to somewhere you own outright. Having no mortgage is a life changer.

If you put Is Wythenshawe into Google, one of the first results is

Is Wythenshawe a nice place to live?

These days, following all sorts of interventions, Wythenshawe is a safer and nicer place, though still far more crime ridden than neighbouring areas. Some 777 crimes were reported in the area in April, compared with just 93 in nearby Wilmslow North

Not nice and safe, but relatively nicer and safer than it used to be, when it was fucking awful.

It's not snobby to not want to bring your DC up in a crime filled area if you don't need to. If you live there you make the best of it, of course. and to you, it means the friends, memories and family you have there. But if you're not from there - why move into it?

And yes, I do understand about stigma. I grew up in Hackney when it was known for murder mile and gun crime, as you probably did too, OP.

But, Hackney has changed loads. it's unrecognisable from those days. And to swap vibrant Hackney, full of opportunities for your DC for Withenshaw would be nuts.

My sisters's ex grew up not too far from there. 2 of 3 of his DC have served time in prison. The youngest was exploited by people who got her to run drugs for them as an 18 year old, without her fully realising what she was getting into. (She though it was a bit of weed. It was heroin).

No fucking way would I move my DC to an area of Manchester where crime is high or that's known for gang culture.

Wythenshawe is fine. I lived there for years.

@HappyDays40

Wythenshawe is fine. I lived there for years.

I'm sure it is fine. But is it brilliant?

Hackney was fine for me in its bad old days too! I wasn't anything to do with the crime, but it was there. The schools were shit though, that did affect me.

When I was young, my local secondary was on a road where teenage prostitutes worked the streets on the same road. Teachers were demoralised and the education wasn't great.

It's massively changed now. And, it is brilliant IMO.

Now, it has some amazing schools. Have a look at this overview of Hackney secondaries to see what I mean.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=204&geographic=la&for=secondary

I don't mean to offend people from Withenshaw. I expect I have now. Sorry.

*Wythenshawe!!!

@nancy75

100% this. Can't imagine choosing London over Manchester as a place to raise my kids

Even though crime is worse in Manchester than London?
www.thesun.co.uk/news/16918261/england-wales-most-dangerous-county-crime-map/
I think we need to get over the idea that London is a war zone & Manchester is a crime free oasis

Not sure why you think crime has anything to do with my opinion, or that I've presented Manchester as a crime free paradise

I've lived in both cities, loved them both for very different reasons. The main reason I wouldn't raise my kids in London is the filthy air and overcrowding, it's horrendously busy. I lived in lots of different parts of London and could never sleep like I do outside it, it's so noisy.

In Manchester we have space, which is very important to me.

The fact you couldn’t sleep anywhere in London is amusing, sorry. Many of us have lived in London for years and never had problems. We also have “space” - 3,000 parks.
This thread is just showing that people have different opinions on what constitutes good living. Go figure

I'm fully with your DH here. You have a chance to own a decent sized house mortgage free - I'd go for it and wouldn't look back!

Last comment but I would avoid shared ownership at all costs. My friend did it and she was tied to a crap small property with awful neighbours which was difficult to sell.

Hopefully this will mean you can bypass this part of the housing ladder.

Wythenshawe is a really dodgy area to be fair, so I would sell it and invest in a house in a nicer area. Manchester is a fantastic city, and actually affordable unlike London.

I am going to totally break with what everyone else is saying, he is asking you to give up your support network and everything you have know to move 400 miles away. Sell the property and use the money to a deposit some where you want to live.

(Never lived in London before anyone comments!)

@bowmejen3 you’ll regret leaving London !

I love London for the things to do and transport. I'm from and live in Liverpool. From an outside pov the stabbings seem scary. But residents will know the true picture. I've friends that live in Manchester and go there for concerts/shopping. If I had a choice I'd choose London. It's easy to get around and everything is available. There's work opportunities that don't exist more northern places. We've had an employment boom, but it will drop back down. My children didn't have cousins/family to consider though.

Manchester isn't 400 miles from London more like 200 miles. I'm not a fan of London so I would side with your DH. Manchester is more appealing to me.

have know to move 400 miles away.

It’s 193, don’t exaggerate

@ivykaty44

You don’t pay CGT on an inherited property.

Surely you do when you sell it if it’s gone up in value since you became owners and haven’t lived in the property?

Yes, but this isn't a significant part of the plan is it? They will either sell it or live there, not leave it standing empty for years. There might be a small amount to pay at 18% of the gain from the probate valuation as I recall. But probably hundreds, not thousands. And not a significant proportion of a £240k windfall (which in fact will be a bigger windfall by then because there will have been a gain!)

@Bingbangbongbash

I know both places really well and I would stay in London. £240,000 will buy you about half a house in some Z3 areas and you wouldn’t have to live in Wythenshaw. It’s not like you’re swapping the opportunities and culture of London life for a massive garden and loads of square footage - you’d be moving to a pretty grotty suburb of a not as good city. If you want to give your kids more than London can offer, I’d look further out of either city.

I agree with this.

And @WinnieMac
Or you might as well stick a pin in a map and move to fuck knows where, just because the houses are cheaper.
Exactly, why choose where to live by accident of inheritance? It makes more sense to sell up and use the cash to make an informed choice. And if you're happy where you are then stay there. It seems crazy to uproot everybody just because someone died somewhere else in the country.

(Also London is an amazing place to live )

I'd be worried about the schools in Wythenshawe if I moved there with DC. Also anti-social behaviour.

Neither of you is being unreasonable, but clearly you need to arrive at a solution that works for all of you as a family.

The main question here is are your jobs based in London. If so is it something easy to exchange to another city?