Move now or later? Pregnant with rental woes!

[deliwoman1]

I'm 19 weeks on Sunday and my partner and I are facing a conundrum. We rent a good-sized 2-bed flat in London, and our landlord has just decided to increase our monthly rent by 8.5% when our tenancy expires in early April. Despite us having been here three years, with no trouble to him whatsoever, he has declined to compromise and meet us in the middle. Unfortunately for us, this does bring the rent up to around market rate atm - prices are just nuts where we are (and everywhere nearby).

We said we'd only stay another year anyway, as the flat isn't ideal with a baby, and will likely be a pain once our daughter is mobile. Now that I WFH most days (and also teach online a lot in the evenings), I also need a dedicated space for that.

So, realistically, we need a 3-bed (2 bed + box room). Bonus points for ground floor + some outside space. We're happy to move out a bit further from where we are, but it gets a bit dicey in parts and nurseries/schools get a bit shit, so we're not looking to go too far. It'll mean spending a lot more than our rent increase. Probably like £400 more per month, which is eye watering for us. The jump from 2 to 3 beds here is quite steep.

We are stuck! We don't know whether to stay put for now (and pay more for nothing to change) or to just suck it up and move to a 3-bed now before baby comes. I don't relish the idea of moving at 6 months pregnant, but I feel it may be tougher/more disruptive with a 10 month old in tow.

What would you do?! We have to decide in 2 days because the landlord requires 2 months notice to vacate.

I'd move now! Once all the baby stuff is in it'll be so much harder to move, and if baby gets disturbed by moving that can create a whole lot of problems with sleep etc

Move now. I moved when my son was 8 months… was a nightmare and a lot of disruption for him

If you can afford it then move now however if it means you can't take as long maternity leave or that money will be very tight wait until you're back at work (if going back to work!). Our house is too small for us but we're £1k+ down a month whilst I'm on maternity so we're waiting until I'm back at work.

Moving with a young baby is HARD! More so if you don't have childcare/family support nearby. I would definitely do it before baby is here so you can settle and enjoy your new home

Moving while pregnant is a doddle compared to with a baby. We moved (out of London actually) when I was about 7 months pregnant with DC2, DC1 was 3 yo.

Thanks everyone! That's a resounding vote for move now!

I suppose we are very daunted by the additional cost of a 3-bed. I'm not convinced we'll find a better 2-bed than we're in either; we'll just be trading one annoyance for another, and likely paying more to boot.

Moving to a place we actually want to live in/that has the space we need may not actually be affordable for us at all, so there's the bigger issue of whether to remain in London or not. It's sad to feel like you're being forced out rather than it being your choice to leave. But I think I'm also a bit hormonal today!

I’ve just been put in this exact position today. I could feel a rent increase coming even though like you, we have been ideal tenants and already pay a lot for rent as it is!
Unfortunately I’m nearly 37 weeks pregnant so after talking it through with my partner we’ve decided it would be far too much stress to move now with a newborn on the way and again like you it would probably mean moving to a similar house as 3 beds in my area aren’t cheap either.
However, at 19 weeks, I’d be tempted to move asap. It’s really not ideal but I’d say easier than trying to move with an actual newborn. Even if it’s to a similar size place, at least it would be yours but I do feel your pain, having to compromise moving further away to find something more suitable is a sting. That’s what we’re going to do eventually though. Yeah I’d love to stay in the area but I’m trying to focus on the positive things of better house for baby to grow up in, that we can make our proper home and enjoy that.

We moved when DS was 10 weeks. It was stressful but doable. We paid a company to pack our house for us the day before the move for £££ - otherwise it wouldn't have been possible. If we could've got the paperwork sorted I would've rather done it 39wks PG! Even then, moving a newborn was probably easier than moving with DS who is now 10 months. But anything is possible (with childcare)!

Absolutely move while pregnant. Have done both and moving before the baby was much, much easier. You'll obviously need movers as you won't be able to help carrying stuff.

I should say I moved at 35 weeks and would 100 times do it again rather than move with a baby or young toddler. It's really hard to find childcare somewhere you don't live yet! Also, if you take a few weeks off before the birth you can use that for decorating etc.

We moved from rented with a three month old baby just before Christmas. Ideally we would have moved before the baby but the sale took a stupidly long time. We could not afford movers (just a man with a van) and I don’t have family nearby to help at all (my friend was going to come over to literally hold the baby but she got covid)

I honestly think I might have PTSD from it. Never, ever again.

Perhaps look for a place to buy rather than rent, even if it is smaller place. If you are renting in London you lost likely can afford a mortgage. You need stability for your baby. Good luck!

I moved at 6 months pregnant and then again with a four month old with reflux (long term ‘you can stay forever’ landlord suddenly decided they wanted the property back.) it was far easier moving while pregnant, could still sort stuff out and pack, lift lighter stuff, prepare room for baby, etc. I spent every feed property hunting and making phone calls. Moving with baby was horrific, she wouldn’t go down for a minute without howling, not even being in a sling helped so I could pack barely anything. XH was useless which didn’t help. We wouldn’t have managed at all without some really good friends helping loads and my mum, who happened to be taking a few months off between jobs, coming up to help.

@blessings2022

Perhaps look for a place to buy rather than rent, even if it is smaller place. If you are renting in London you lost likely can afford a mortgage. You need stability for your baby. Good luck!

🤦🏻‍♀️ Sure the OP might have thought of that. It’s not so easy to pull a £35,000 deposit out of your arse even if your mortgage would be cheaper.

Moving with a baby isn’t that horrific. People do it it all the time.

I’d rather save the extra rent you’d need and have some savings and knowledge that you have the ability to pay that extra £400 a month.

I’d also not want to be overcommitted to paying extra rent whilst on maternity leave.

Also you don’t have to normally give 2 months notice. That’s for the landlord to do. I’d ask them to just keep you on a periodic rolling tenancy so you have 1 month to give and they have 2 months to give and just have the rent increase served correctly.

@WheelieBinPrincess Absolutely! We did think about it, and we can afford a mortgage easily. The deposits + the house prices are the absolute killer. We're looking at 350k for a tiny 1-bed flat that we can't even bloody fit into! Madness.

Realistically we'd need to look in the 450-500k price range in order to find somewhere to fit, and that would be a major compromise. For some perspective, the flat we currently rent is likely worth around £550k right now, and we need more space...

We have savings but certainly not enough for a deposit on an affordable mortgage.

@CornishTiger 2 months notice is in our contract, so we're stuck with that. He won't allow rolling tenancies. It's both a blessing and a curse how officious and by-the-book our landlord is.

@deliwoman1
It’s hard isn’t it. It took us ten years to raise the deposit with no family help at all (I’m not saying I was expecting that but that’s how a lot of people our age achieve their own property) but we had to move out from zone 3 to zone 5 in the ‘nicer’ bit of a slightly rougher area because that was the only way to get a two-bed.
Actually it’s worked out well, it’s not an area I’d have chosen if i had more options but I think we will be happy here.

@WheelieBinPrincess Impossible! Congratulations though, for making it work! I totally admire you for that, because it's insanely difficult to do what you've achieved.

Both our families live up north and we've been working at a glacial pace on tentative plans to build a modest house on DPs parents' land up there. (They're asset rich, cash poor, and weren't flush before they inherited what they have, so I can't hate, lol.) But, that's a long way off actually being a reality, if ever. Our careers are in the arts/education so we have no idea what we'd do for work in the middle of nowhere up there, anyway!

Update: we're moving! Thanks everyone for the help in making up our minds. Just about everyone in our lives said GO NOW! too and we both feel much better for taking the leap.

I'll probably be back here crying in a month when we've seen six million exorbitant shit-holes and still no dice!

Good on your for deciding :)

Where in London are you now and where can you move to?

Have a look at house prices and find an area to rent in that you could soonish afford to buy in. Will help you get used to the area and you're there ready to strike