Merging properties with DP - is this a reasonable plan?

[futurebristolian]

DP and I currently live in London. We each own a property. We would like to move to Bristol. We would like to rent in Bristol before we buy to make sure it's right for us.

DP plans to sell his property now. My fix term mortgage doesn't run out until 2027. I plan to rent my place out until my fix ends. We will rent a place until I sell. After mortgage payments, management fees and income tax I will break even. I can then put what I currently pay for my mortgage towards a rental + DP's contribution. Budget will be in the region of £2000 - £2500 but all the better if we don't need to spend this much.

Added to this is that I currently have to be in the office two days a week and we would like to have a baby.

Current thinking is that, if we are lucky enough to have a baby, once I am back to work after maternity leave (6 months) I will drive to my parents in the cotswolds once a week with the baby. I will commute by train to London from there two days a week and my parents will look after the baby. I'll then drive back to Bristol and wfh for the rest of the week with baby in nursery. DP is able to wfh full time.

Does this seem like a reasonable plan? Is there a better way of doing things? Is there anything I have missed?

Why rent your place if you're just going to break even?

I think you have no idea how your life will change after having a baby! It won't work like clockwork I can assure you. Also I don't really see your partner doing much here to help why is it all on you if you are planning to carry on full-time?

The main thing you have missed is that having a baby is a major life event and dies not always go as planned.

I don't mean to be negative, but just off the top of my head the things that could derail your plan:

You could have twins
You could have birth injuries
You could get PND

And that's not even allowing for the fact that many grandparents say they will look after the baby but then are too old and too knackered to actually do it.

And that's not even allowing for the fact that many grandparents say they will look after the baby but then are too old and too knackered to actually do it.

During the first year of my baby's life, my dad went from being very fit and active (he'd go for a 10 mile walk before I even got up) to being deaf in one ear with significant mobility issues.

I also don't really, if I'm honest, see how the Cotswolds thing is really helping you all that much. Is the journey into London that much better than from Bristol, once you also factor in all the time spent driving to and from your parents?

Because if I sell now I'd have to pay an early repayment charge. Renting it out will cover the mortgage and free up that money to allow us to rent in Bristol and see if we like living there before we commit to buying. When my fix ends i can sell without an early repayment charge and DP and I will then get a joint mortgage.

Thanks all for your comments. I appreciate I am probably being very naive about just how much life changes after having a baby.

I want my parents to look after the baby some of the time rather than them being in full time nursery. I appreciate that their health is not guaranteed and anything could happen. But, if they remain able to, I don't have any concerns about them opting out or changing their minds. They looked after my nephews before they started school. They have expressed a desire to do so and they loved looking after them. If the worst happens then we would have to look at full time nursery or one or other of me and DP dropping a day at work.

The thinking re the cotswolds is to allow my parents to look after the baby (I'd want them to look after them even if I was commuting from Bristol) so it saves them having to drive to Bristol to do the childcare.

I guess the alternatives are:

1. I commute from Bristol two days a week (more expensive) and my parents have the baby those days with DP meeting them halfway for them to take the baby or them staying at ours and looking after the baby there.

1. I commute from Bristol two days. DP drops and picks baby from nursery on the days I commute. My parents have the baby either at theirs or ours for the eat of the week while I WFH.

I could also just do the commute to London from Bristol one day a week and stay with my brother for a night a week going to the office from his two days in a row. However, I wouldn't want to be away from the baby overnight I don't think.

I should have added, this is intended to be a temporary situation - my company intends to open an office in Bristol and I will then transfer there.

Could you port your mortgage to Bristol and buy?

Get married. Get financial and legal advice if merging properties and buying together if you remain unmarried in case things go wrong. It does happen, although I hope not in your case of course.

I think your plan sounds fine! I think it's a benefit keeping your property for now, much less risk if you decide Bristol isn't for you.

Life throws curveballs and you deal with it, that's the same for everyone whether you're anticipating it or not.

Best of luck, you sound very sensible, I'm sure it'll all work out well!

It sounds totally exhausting. You really don't want to be driving so much after nights of broken sleep. I'd come up with something much simpler.

Why move to Bristol? Why not just move out of London but where you can commute in?

Will your mortgage provider allow you to rent out?

If they're actively planning to open a Bristol office then to be fair it's quite likely that will be up and running faster than you can move, get pregnant, give birth and take your whole maternity leave, so the London commute may not be too big an issue.

It sounds a lot to me. Especially if you are going back to work after six months. I would simplify everything. I used to find it hard enough getting to work half an hour away when I went back to work. Every day was manic.

Do not downsize your career in any way for kids without being married

Well it's a plan. It relies on both your jobs remaining with the possibility of WFH. What happens if they up 2 days to 3 or 4? What happens if DPs job want him in the office?

I second the pp who said you should get married. Even if you don't want a wedding. It protects you both if you are going to have DC together.

Is there a reason why you can’t live closer to your parents and commute to either London or Bristol from there? Bristol - parents - London commute sounds like a nightmare and the trains are awful. Also, as a new mum, you’ll be tired af and factoring in extra time to drop and collect bubs, a massive commute and a full day of work is insane to me. What if the trains pack up one day and you can’t get back or are severely delayed? You arrive at your parents gone 10pm and then have to bring the baby (who will have been asleep for 3 hours) back to Bristol and then do it all again the next day?

Your DP is coasting here.

It sounds exhausting for you and a piece of cake for your DP. Very unbalanced. Have you any idea what it's like commuting from Bristol to London. Why are you moving away from your job?

I will add that I think it's your detailed plans around the theoretical baby that's making this sound all a bit much. If you'd just said 'my partner can WFH and my employer are planning to open a Bristol office; we're thinking of moving there by selling his place and renting mine out for the time being and I'd commute into London twice a week until I can transfer to the new location' then I don't suppose anyone would bat an eyelid. And although I think your childcare plan is almost certainly rosier in your head than it would play out in reality, there are other more workable options on that front and, once again, we are taking about a baby you haven't even conceived yet.

Thanks all for your input. Just to be clear this isn't intended to be a long term situation. Just until the Bristol office is up and running.

An alternative might be if DP comes to my parents with me. So DP, me and the (hypothetical baby) travel to my parents on, say, a Sunday eve. We stay over. I commute to London in the morning, DP works from my parents and they have the baby. I commute back to the cotswolds that eve and we stay there Monday night. I commute in to London again on Tuesday. On Tuesday eve, after Im back in the cotswolds DP drives me and the baby back to Bristol. DP, me and the baby are then together in Bristol wednesday to Sunday.

My mortgage company will allow me to rent out.

We don't want to live in London long term but I don't want to leave my company. I have a good trajectory ahead of me (I hope). We have been considering Bristol for a while and been spending time there and we think it's where we want to be long term. In the long term I don't want a long commute so that's why we want to live in Bristol rather than somewhere closer to my parents.

The only other option would be to stay in my property for now and make the move when the Bristol office is up and running so I don't have the commute.

You’ll be taxed on the sale of your property as an investment/rental property not a home when you sell which will probably wipe out the difference you’re ‘saving’ by renting it out.

I would suggest waiting until the Bristol office is up and running, how long is that estimated to be? Spends like a lot of effort and planning if by the time you have a baby you don't need London. What happens if the company doesn't then open the Bristol office, or you get made redundant? Is your line of work going to be easy to get another job in Bristol at comparable money?

Sounds like a bloody nightmare to me!

Agree with this. What is the rush. Wait until the Bristol office is open and you have an established position there. Otherwise, what's the point? What advantage is there to you in moving before then?

OP you can't afford to be a landlord - if you're only 'breaking even' with those expenses you listed.
What about void periods? Bad tenants? Expensive repairs?

It's a crazy plan. Won't your DP miss his hypothetical baby if they're apart for two days every week?

Also, there are far nicer places to live than Bristol. Just saying.