Is it mad to consider renting over owning?

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DP & I have 5 DCs between us 12yo -15yo. They are all with us EOW and some of the time during school holidays and mine are with us 50/50. We live in a 4 bed house (shared ownership, we own 50%) where the 4th bedroom is a tiny box room & 3 boys have to share the biggest room. It’s not really tenable any more.

We live in one of the most expensive areas outside London & to afford a bigger house we would have to take on a terrifying mortgage that makes me feel ill just thinking about it. However our ideal property has come up for rent for significantly less than the mortgage payments would be on an equivalent property.

Is it totally mad to move from our own home into rented? We’d have to sell as we can’t sublet. It just seems so counter-intuitive but our quality of life would be vastly improved.

Why not sell the shared ownership place you are living in and buy a property that yo can rent out and then go in to rented yourself.

This makes no sense to me - why are you living in a too small shared ownership house if you have enough spare cash to buy another property?

All your money should surely have been pooled to buy the best house you could afford to live in - either bigger or not shared ownership.

It’s too small because it was my house before my partner moved in with me. We could only buy another property if we sold this one & it would likely be smaller than this one to keep the mortgage small.

Having just been given a rent increase AND a section 21 eviction notice, after 20 years of living in this house, i would say you are insane to consider renting, as house prices will continue to increase, inflation will eat away the value of savings & at your age, the option of a 25yr mortgage is dissapearing.

Even with the proposed removal of section 21, the LL will still be able to evict if selling or wanting to move back in, so you could move to your larger rented house and then in 12 months time be evicted... it is extremely stressful, i am experiencing some very dark moods because oif this.

I would look at a garden bedroom or if there is any other room that could be used for w/e's ?

Don't step off the property ladder or you'll never get back on. Think of your retirement and keep the house.

You said you could buy another small property to rent out?

So you would be paying to rent somewhere yourself and also buying a property to rent out to someone else?

I don't know why you don't just combine all your assets with your partner & buy the biggest property you can afford?

@Twiglets1 If we sold our current property & moved into rented we could use the proceeds to buy another small property (that would still be too small for us) to rent out. This would at least keep us in the housing market as PP suggested.

We can afford to rent a bigger house but not to buy one is what it boils down to.

Im not sure why 2 children have their own rooms and 3 share one big one? Are they just sharing eow? There are lots of clever ideas for subdividing sleeping areas.

I wouldn’t want to give up home ownership so I’d be looking at ways to make existing house work. I have a 3 bed and 4 dc so will be sacrificing the second reception so eldest two don’t have to share for example.

Personally I think you would be overcomplicating your life.

You would have the stress of being a landlord - which seems very stressful if you look at some of the threads on Mumsnet about tenants who trash a property or refuse to leave after being served notice and have to be evicted. And you would also have the stress of being a tenant where the landlord could give you notice and suddenly you would all have to move again with a few months notice.

Far better to stay where you are. Or sell if you can get a good price and get away from shared ownership to full ownership while property prices are stagnant or falling

I think you would be completely insane to sell and rent. So many things can go wrong like having to move multiple times etc. which would be incredibly unsettling for everyone and could put incredible pressure on your relationship. You also need to consider if your circumstances change dramatically e.g. serious illness. This happened to us and thank goodness we already owned or we would never have been able to get back on the housing ladder. If you ended up having to rent an even smaller place the DC would be in a worse situation. The DC aren't even there all the time sharing and at least one or two will have their own place in a few years as they aren't young children.

You have stability and security. Think very carefully whether it would be responsible to risk that.... and renting in this country right now is very risky....

Renting is so stressful ime.

We bought a really cheap house miles away - we are a family of 5 and fit very comfortably into a two bed terrace.

Dh and I sleep downstairs and we are separating the bigger room upstairs so the kids have their own space.

I would stay where you are but look at having a huge declutter of clothes, books, ornaments and furniture.

Didn’t your partner have a home he sold? It feels like you are contemplating giving up a lot here. Security in your home to accommodate him/ his children. What is he bringing to the table? If you ended up in rented for five years whilst you whittle down your savings and then break up when he no longer needs you to house his children eow how would you feel about this decision?

I've rented for 13 years and I would never rent if I had the option to buy. Never. In that time we have moved... (counts on fingers) 5 times and our house is currently in the market which means we'll have to move again!! Rents have risen a terrifying amount.

I understand not wanting a huge mortgage so maybe that means staying put for now? But if you get off the property ladder I think you would be making a mistake.

Can you sell your current property, use the sale money to buy a rental property that will give you enough income to pay rent on a house big enough for you all to live in?

Then you will still be on the property ladder and when your children leave home you can downsize.

Everyone’s points are very reasonable thanks. I guess I was just tempted by what seems like a temporary fix for a temporary problem. It’s very frustrating that house prices are just so crazy here & we can’t choose to live anywhere else just now. I guess we’ll just have to stay put :-)

Can you not rent your house out and then rent?

I think that's a better choice for you and your family. Sounds like the children have a happy family life and are secure - that's better than a big house.

House prices are declining in many parts of the country

You would be bat shit crazy to sell and rent
rents are going up due to the shortage of suitable houses

if your not disciplined with the money you could easily go through it - a few nice holidays , a new car and crap a big percentage of it’s gone

you have no security in renting other than the first 12 months after that your only there because the landlord has not decided to sell , move in or make it a HMO your basically living with 2 months notice hanging over you .

Is your house your only or both yours and your DP
if it’s yours and he’s moved in with you then your giving up an awful lot of security for someone else and their kids . That’s sounds awful but it’s true .

There is a government scheme where you can rent a property that you want to buy at 30 percent less than the market rate for up to five years while you save or add to your deposit
but you are only tied into a standard 1 year AST and you don’t actually have to buy the property it’s just a way of cheap rent and being able to save while renting

The Welsh scheme is better as you get back a percentage of the rent you have paid
i don’t think the English one offers the same

My son is halfway through his first year of this scheme and already has a 50k deposit from inheritance so having a big deposit behind you isn’t a issue with this scheme

He’s renting a huge gorgeous 2 bed / 2bath flat with parking for 850 a month

The market rent is around 1300 -1450 a month we live in an expensive city in the southwest and even if my son doesn’t buy it he’s got cheap rent for 5 years 😂😂

The children are 12 - 15 is your answer. When they are 18 they may start goingn away to university before you know it and you won't need the space. I would stay where you are for now and over time try to move your current place from shared to full ownership.

I wouldn’t do it myself, mainly because of the fact that I’d be worried about being evicted on 2-3 months notice and also house prices rising above any other asset I could invest in in the meantime.

I was wondering if you could sell the shared ownership house, buy a place in the cheaper area and rent it out, then put the rent towards a bigger place in the short term?

At least then you’d not have to worry about a huge house price rise, but you’d still have a risk of being evicted (and then having to find somewhere quickly).

Overall i agree with trying to rejig your current place. Is there a downstairs reception you could have as a part time bedroom (like a dining room or separate lounge)? If you posted a floor plan of both floors here people might be able to help?

I would not do this if I were you.

Rents are extortionate in this country and you have no security. Also many landlords won't take on tenants with kids.

Instead I would look at relocating to a new cheaper area that still has some good schools.

Also technically you are already renting as your house is a shared-ownership property.

I don't know why people are suggesting op buys a place to rent out and then rents another place herself.

This is madness. Op doesn't have a financial cushion by the sound of things. Tenants often don't pay their rent, landlords need to cover void periods and repairs and the associated costs of property ownership. It really frustrates me that people think being a landlord is a cost free exercise. That's the reason tenants end up with awful landlords who don't fix things or try and unreasonably hang on to deposits.

Would you be able to avoid it if you were having to move every 6 months? Obviously the ideal is to get a long term rental, but in theory, you could get a S21 (no fault eviction) every 6 months if you were unlucky. You can't really compare with countries that don't have no fault evictions.

Anyway, each time you move you will likely need to find a deposit (1.5 months rent) and first month's rent in advance as a minimum. You'll likely have a few deductions from each deposit with 5 teenagers in the house- it'll be very hard to keep things pristine. You'll probably have to pay for a professional clean each time you move, and so on.

It'll likely be very unsettling for the kids.

You'll find some landlords will advertise a low rent for the first 6 months, and then increase it a lot after the first year. If you challenge this, you'll likely get an S21. Some landlords will also issue an S21 if you request too many repairs and so on.

You also need to consider the worst case scenario- What if you got a S21, and there were no suitable properties available? You only get 2 months to move, and if you overstay it can impact your references etc and therefore your ability to find another property.

You also need to consider the general inconvenience of renting, e.g. inspections every 3 months or so + gas safety checks and so on. Either you have to be in for this, or trust the letting agent to go around your house alone.

I don't think you're mad to consider it, but you're not considering the insecurity of renting.

With the option of buying a smaller property to rent, you have a few issues:

1. What if you have a void period? How long could you afford to pay the mortgage and rent for?

2. What if the property is damaged even in accidental circumstances? You'd potentially be in the situation of having to house tenants elsewhere, do repairs and so on, it could get very expensive.

3. If you had "bad tenants" who stop paying rent or similar, then you'd need to go through the eviction process, and this can be very expensive and time consuming. They could also cause damage to the property, meaning you'd then have to pay for repairs and have a void period.

And it doesn't solve your problems in terms of living in a rental being potentially very insecure for yourself and your children.