What to do with house equity...?

[Nosnogginginthekitchen]

So I'm in the process of selling a house. For a variety of reasons I will probably not be buying again straight away, but will instead rent for 6 months to a year. Has anybody got any smart ideas for what to do with roughly 170k until I need it for a deposit?

I have 5k in an ISA and 5k in premium bonds. I know not to put more than 82k with any one bank. I'll want it somewhere where I can access it within about 6 weeks. I have a DP I can trust who doesn't have any premium bonds yet.

So what do I do for the best? If it was up to me 65k into my premium bonds, 70k into his, the rest into my ISA, but I'm aware i may be missing a trick with this...

You have high balance protection from FSCS for 6 months, so you can just leave it in a bank account.

As you know you want to spend it within a year, I would not invest it. So NS&I Premium Bonds is certainly something you could use, you might even get some winnings. You could use NS&I Direct Saver which is protected up to £2million (I think, it might be £1million) but don't expect interest!

Details about high balance protection: www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/claims-process/temporary-high-balances/

If you are planning to buy again eventually perhaps it would be better to hold on and rent it out. In all likelihood the money you realise by selling now would not buy back the same property in a year's time.

May be wrong but think maximum holding of premium bonds is £50,000 per person.

You're right, it is 50k. No idea why i thought it was 70k!

House sale is already agreed. Needed to get it sold before a certain date due to divorce mesher order. Plus it puts us in a better place when we're buying a house because we'll be chain free and in thebright area already. Basically there are reasons why renting it out won't work.