Rent out our house to go and rent a bigger one?!

[cheekymonk]

Hi All. Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this. We (DH, ds, dd and me) live in a 2 bedroom terrace. DD is almost 4 months and in our room. DS aged 6 has his room to himself.
I am worried about them sharing a room and am considering renting out this house and renting a 3 bed property ourselves. We have a mortgage on this house and cannot sell at present as in an IVA and plus we think if we sell now we will never get back on property ladder.
Has anyone else done a similar thing?
Cost wise I think we could charge 750 per month for the house which is the same as mortgage but does not allow for letting fees. Also the house is not in fantastic nick, it is ok as an estate agent said recently when valuing it!
Its just going to be at least 3 years before we can move and its such a small house.
Anyone else done the same??

can you afford the difference then in rent?

Why don't you want the children to share?

If the £750 rent would cover the mortgage, and you have an IVA (presumably for debts?) how are you going to pay for any repairs your house needs? What about void times when you have no tenant? Will your mortgage company allow you to let out the house?

I have done this, but we could afford to live somewhere bigger, just couldn't sell the property we owned. However we seemed to have far more spare cash than you seem to have.

In your circumstances I would have the two kids share and save instead. Maybe putting aside money to re-furbish the house to make it easier to sell. Boys and girls don't need to be separate until secondary age at least.

Yes we could just afford dif in rent but yes the void times and repairs would be an issue. Not sure if mortgage company will allow us to rent it out...
Just thought that with the big age gap, different sex it would be unfair to ask kids to share thats all. Yes we are planning to spuce up house to make it easier to sell. It is is a good catchment and saught after location etc so don't think there would be probs selling/renting.
Thank you all

My DD and DS have a room each, but DS always goes and gets in with DD.He doesn't like to be by himself.DS is 5 and DD is 8.
They don't need a room each.
So my advice would be to stay where you are.
What happens if you have people that pay late or miss payments.Would you be able to cover the payments?It seems abit risky to me just so your DC can have a room each.

I have experience of renting out the house we own and renting a house for the family to live in. Our reasons were quite different- moved to another part of the country but were not initially sure we wanted to stay there.

If you are on a tight budget it can be very difficult is the property is empty even for a short time. There is also the possible problem of people missing payments.

Also - are you aware that the income you make from renting is taxable? The fact that you are counting on the income to pay your own rent makes no difference to the IR. There will be things you can offset against the rental income - but you do need to declare it.

All seems a lot of hassle to give small children their own room!

Can you convert the loft?

My DDs share and have a 5 year age gap. The difference in sex is not an issue at this age.

Also my eldest DD used to wake up her elder brother even though they were in different rooms. She needed less sleep and would just waking him up as she was bored. So even seperating them won't necessarily help.

I have seen various ways of dividing a room in two though: a curtain, a screen, a book/toy shelf (even masking tape across the carpet).

Good luck! (Oh if you need inspiration about living in a small space go to Ikea and really study what they do with their room sets.)

If your existing bedrooms are different sizes, you could put the kids in the bigger room with some kind of ikea room divider and move yourself into the smaller room.

Renting is always more expensive than it looks, so if money is tight I wouldn't recommend it.

Yes you are all right, its a bit head head vs. heart. DS is quite accepting about sharing a room and it is a big room. I just am worrying about them being together. For instance I won't be putting dd in with ds at 6 months but we are at the stahe where dh and I disturb her sleep and vice versa. I was thinking of moving cot further away tho as presently it is next to our bed.
I was worried about how to safely divide the room. Wouldn't dd pull down a curtain or shelf?? I did think though that she wouldn't be left out of the cot in there but what about when she is in a junior bed??? Will she disturd ds's sleep? All seems a bit of a nightmare hence being desperate to move. Good sound practical advice though so thank you.

as for loft conversion, yes others in road have done it but can't afford it and still have the problem of tiny living space downstairs. May need to rethink tho if can't afford to move in 3 years time.

hadn't thought about the income being taxable either eveningprimrose!

It's not about it being unfair.

If they need to share, then they share. They won't know any different.

I would stay put, save up all you can and look to sell and move when you can afford it in 3 years or so.

My BIL and SIL have been living in a 2 bed with their DS and DD, who have been sharing for over 4 years. They like to share and get on very well.

As for the practicalities of them being in the same room, they just get used to it!

My DS and DD have separate rooms. When we go to the IL's, they have to share and they are a nightmare!! They won't go to sleep and they wake each other up in the early morning.

SIL's DS and DD, on the other hand, share a room at home and sleep perfectly well when they are away. They get used to having each other in the room and it doesn't disturb them.