Moving while on mat leave

[Cdu2021]

Hello all,
Advice needed please.
I am currently on mat leave with baby 2 and have 6 months left before I return to work full time.
We are considering selling our house and buying another one that would need renovating.
How would you go about it (assuming we found one we like and found a buyer for ours):

• do you move in and do the renovation/possible extension while living in it? (With a toddler and a baby...)
• do you try to time it so you do minimal redecorating before moving in?
• is it just a bad idea to start all this process before I return to work? I have loads of time now but will be stressed by completing before I go back to work. Waiting until after I've gone back to work will mean having much less available time, and potentially increasing house prices.

Thanks!

There’s no guarantee you’ll even be completed within 6 months. We weren’t.

Asp very unlikely that if you are you’ll manage to get workmen /decorators before you go back to work.

Can you stay elsewhere whilst you get work done? Would the house be live-able with kids

I would take returning to work out of the equation a bit and base your decision on assumption you’re already back at work and have no free-time!

Just a word of warning. Some lenders will only consider your mat leave income, not your "normal" salary. Some will ask for a letter from your employer saying you'e returning on the same pay and conditions as previously, but some just simply wouldn't consider my income until I'd gone back. Had no trouble finding an alternative, but it did mean the lender we'd found with the lowest rate would only lend a multiple of H's salary.

Also, have a look through the affordability criteria to ensure that once 2 x childcare costs kick in, you'll stick be able to borrow the amount you want.

I did this, but we’re having the house renovated before we move in. My income wasn’t as relevant to the mortgage as DP’s so the bank wasn’t too fussed, they only asked for confirmation of my maternity pay entitlement.

I moved when DS was 3mo but to a house that was live-able. It was tough but much easier than working.

Renovating might be more tolerable when you're back at work and your DC are in childcare. Looking after young children in a building site is arguably doable but not much fun.

Correction: Easier than when working

I moved the week I went back to work! It was utter hell and there is absolutely no time to do renovations. I found leaving my baby and the mental load of work exhausting as well as just working full time.

I'd do it whilst not working personally if I had my time again.

No issues with mortgage on mat leave though. A simple letter from my employer stating I was returning full time on my normal salary on X date was perfectly adequate and caused no issue at all.

We put our house on market in Nov 2020, I went back to work after mat leave Feb 2021 and moved last month. It was easier doing the viewings while still on mat leave but working from home has also made it bit easier. I didnt have to leave the office every time I had to make a phone call to solictors/estate agents etc. And that was a lot of phone calls!
I wish I'd started and finished the process while on mat leave but it wasnt to be. In your shoes I'd crack on especially as latest martin lewis email I had seems to say mortgage rates are likely to go up.

Best of luck with it

At least if you at work you are all out of the house all day!!

We are getting kitchen & living space done soon on our new flat and I have nowhere to go / so I have to to stay at my mums in Ireland with the baby for 2 weeks😂😂