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Original poster

Moving in to rented to break the chain when buying

11 replies

xyzandabc · 06/03/2017 20:52

Has anyone done this?

We are currently at the top of a complete chain of 5, there is only 1 house we like on the market at the moment in the area we need and we can't afford the asking price. Have tried offering lower but been rejected both for the low offer and the fact we are already a longish chain so more risky in terms of it falling through.

Would I be mad to consider selling then renting while we continue our search to buy again? 3 kids, 5-10 years, a whole house worth's of stuff. Moving kids twice in a short time (hopefully). Do landlords even consider shorter term tenants? We'd have to put some stuff in storage, how do you decide what to store and what to keep?
Renting a 3 bed would be approx double our current mortgage per month.

Would make us a much better prospect to vendors if we came with no chain.

Sorry if this is a bit garbled, I'm just getting my thoughts out as they pop in to my head. If you did this, what was your experience? Bad, good, worth it ?

OP posts:

fluffandsnuff · 06/03/2017 20:56

We did it. Worked out for us but it is costly. We got a contract with a 6 month break clause. Bear in mind agents fees etc and the deposit which you will need to have upfront.

Bluntness100 · 06/03/2017 21:00

It's doable but it's not the cheap option, from moving costs twice onwards to six months of rent. Personally it'd try to avoid it as I don't like to spend that kind of money if I can avoid it.

TalkingofMichaelAngel0 · 06/03/2017 21:01

We moved in with family for a while and had our belongings in storage. so very stressful

SerialReJoiner · 06/03/2017 21:08

We had an overlap of a month as we couldn't break our six month contract, which was expensive, but meant we could move our things a little bit at a time. Saved money on removal men. Timing was pretty critical, as even though we were chain free, we still had a rental contract to consider. We were locked into the first six months and then I believe it would have gone into a rolling monthly arrangement. Not all landlords will do that.

Costs include moving several times in less than a year, storage (we stored items at my parents' place, luckily), forwarding post, council tax on two properties if an overlap occurs... Landlord may not be happy about their property standing empty if you move out before end of contract, it could go against the tenancy agreement.

Original poster

xyzandabc · 06/03/2017 21:10

We have no family within an hour's drive so that's a non starter as all kids are in school and I wouldn't move them for the sake of a few months.

OP posts:

JoJoSM2 · 06/03/2017 21:13

We did it but it was just DH and I. Stuff went into storage and we rented. As we rented a tiny place it worked out cheap for us. It also meant that when the perfect house finally came onto the market 3 months into renting (and some 5-6 months since accepting the offer on our place) we were able to secure it because we were chain free (there were many offers). I think it's a massive advantage to have. However, I do think it will quite an undertaking with 3 children...

Original poster

xyzandabc · 06/03/2017 21:26

Yes JoJo, if it was just dh and i it would be a no brainier and a 1 bed place could be cheap however we really need 3 beds so I'm looking at £1300,-1500 a month to rent a smaller place than we're in now.

OP posts:

namechangedtoday15 · 06/03/2017 22:21

We did. We were moving area so slightly different. Sold & moved into rented in old area (with 3 yr old twins). Moved into another rental in new area where I had Baby Number 3 then bought current house. So 4 different houses in about 2 years.

I don't think financially it was a 'cost'. We didn't spend any money on maintenance / DIY for those 2 years - that was all down to the agents. Think we got a better deal on our sale because we sold very quickly as we weren't trying to tie it in with a purchase, and when we did buy, we went to sealed bids and being chain free was what worked in our favour. House prices in our new area were (are) increasing all the time so if we'd have lost out on this house, a similar house would have cost us more. There was just too much competition for every single house in our price range - we knew very early on renting was probably the only way we could beat the opposition!

The children were fine - we all looked on it as a bit of an adventure. Always set their bedrooms up first / in the same way, so it was always relatively familiar for them.

didireallysaythat · 07/03/2017 06:53

We did it. Treated the rental property as a holiday cottage.

Does your 10 year old have a secondary school place already ? Might limit your options.

specialsubject · 07/03/2017 09:15

Did it a few years back when money in the bank earned interest and storage didn't attract vat. Your minimum rental will be six months although on practice you will need all that.

Two moves, more hassle, address changes etc - but gets you out of a chain.

ShotsFired · 07/03/2017 09:23

I have no idea of the sums, but would a serviced apartment and everything in storage work? Rather than bits everywhere?

The SA may offer more flexibility as and when you need to move on; and the storage may get some good deals if you sign up to e.g. six months upfront?

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