Should we rent out our house and move near family?

[lking679]

I can't decide if I want to rent out our London house and move near to my family in the North West. One of my main concerns is that if our London house stayed empty for long and we had to pay the mortgage, bills, council tax we really couldn't afford it for more than a few months which makes it a bit scary?

For background I am from the North West and my parents and two siblings are there including my twin sister who I'm really close to. I moved to London for work and have been here 15 years and in our house for 7. We now have two children with dd1 starting primary school in September. I am pregnant with dc3 due in November (hopefully!).
My husbands office is now closed and mine was merged that I only need to be in the office 1 day every 2 weeks if I want to. I can easily commute that on the west coast mainline.
I am often lonely because even though I have mum friends they're with their own extended families on weekends and not really around for play dates. DH is lovely but we see each other all the time every day, sometimes it feels too much both WFH! I'd love to see more of my family especially with another baby on the way and my parents in their mid 70s. At the moment we try and do some holidays together and see each other every 2-3 months.

I've been considering moving back up North for a while but I must say where we live in London is nicer with better amenities and better prospects if I wanted to change jobs/companies in future. Schools are very similar in both areas.

Because I can't decide what to do we've discussed renting out our house for two years and renting up North, then after two years making a decision to stay or come back. This would be in time to apply for schools for dd2 so she'd get into a desired primary, but dd1 would have to take the risk with in year transfers both times.

Should we risk renting out our house and in year transfers for dd1 to see if family life is better for us up North?

What would you do?

One of my main concerns is that if our London house stayed empty for long and we had to pay the mortgage, bills, council tax we really couldn't afford it for more than a few months which makes it a bit scary?

This is the killer for me.

We essentially did what you're thinking about several years ago- did everything the way you're supposed to, had prospective tenants properly vetted, passed credit checks and all that business and a few months after moving in they stopped paying rent, or only paid partial rent when they felt like it.

We were incredibly lucky that they moved on of their own accord after a few months and we didn't need to go down the very costly and time consuming route of getting them lawfully evicted.

They did however trash the place, requiring a full renovation costing around £30k which put me into debt and ultimately an IVA.

Yes we got very unlucky with our first ever rental experience and many people do similar and have zero issues, but it does happen.

For me, having seen the ugly side, it's not worth the risk- especially if you cannot afford to subsidise the London place if anything goes wrong. If we ever wanted to do the same again, we'd just sell up.

Okay- thanks. It's having the option to come back that means we'd have to keep our London house, there is no way I want to sell up and then try and get back into this area in a few years, the housing market is crazy. And we've done a lot of work on this house!
I thought landlord insurance would cover non payment of rent and some damage but I haven't looked into it properly!

We decided against doing this as the risks were too high, and financially it would only work if we had guaranteed responsible and reliable tenants for the entire time we were away. We would have had to change our mortgage (more expensive), pay for management fees, increased insurance costs etc. and it just wasn't worth it.

Your response above suggests that you need to do a lot more research into the financial implications.

@lking679

Okay- thanks. It's having the option to come back that means we'd have to keep our London house, there is no way I want to sell up and then try and get back into this area in a few years, the housing market is crazy. And we've done a lot of work on this house! I thought landlord insurance would cover non payment of rent and some damage but I haven't looked into it properly!

It should, but as with virtually all insurance policies they'll try and wriggle out of paying somehow with various loopholes and technicalities. As I say, we did everything properly, on paper we did every single thing you're supposed to (and then some) had everything covered, insurance, the lot.

It really, really isn't always as straightforward as putting your place up for rent and collecting the cash at the end of every month. Especially if you have an emotional attachment to the property, which it sounds like you do?

Yes I love this house we've spent a lot of time and money on it and it's just the way I want it.
........Except its 200 miles away from my nearest and dearest!

Moving was never really an option before because of work, but only having to go in to the office twice a month has completely changed possibilities.
I think it's been hard recently as I haven't seen any family since before christmas due to the kids having various winter bugs... we're all meeting up at Easter for a holiday in Wales so maybe that will fill the family bucket up and I'll stop thinking about moving.