Am I completely doolally??

[Kay00]

Mother in law currently lives (but is not resident) in France and now, after Brexit, she wants to return to the UK. She has pit her property on the market in France but it will likely take a while (years) to sell.

So my partner and I are looking into the possibility of borrowing more against our mortgage to raise the funds for a deposit to put down on a second property.

It would be a residential mortgage and MIL would live there rent free until she sells her property in France (we might sell at that point).

Looking at buying somewhere cheap (£100-125k) in South of England (Devon to Hampshire), so it will be small.

Its a huge risk for DH and I as we will be paying out for 2 x mortgages and we have to stump up cash for deposit and stamp duty etc! MiL has no savings and is in her 70s and becoming poorly.

Unless it really might take 4 years to sell, can she really not stay put until it sells?

It seems a huge amount of risk and expense (there will be net expense if you end up paying the second home owners stamp duty, CG when / if you sell, etc) for what could be a manageable year of her staying in France.

OTOH you could view the new place as a long term investment and rent it out after she leaves. In which case a student city like Southampton could be a good bet.

Unless you can pay both mortgages comfortably and with a bit of fat in the deal, I wouldn’t. You could lose your home providing her with one.

She won’t be alone in doing this and French property can take longer than UK to sell. These types of properties could also take a hit while Brexit unwinds