Renting for 6 months inbetween selling and buying panic

[jimmyeatworld]

sold our house, in a chain of 3 which goes ftb - us - downsizes who already have a house ready to go.
Due to vendors solicitors not being on the ball our purchase is going to take another couple of months or so, unavoidable due to land registry delays so we’re looking at a short term let flat this weekend that’s very local to us. I don’t want to lose our buyers, so thinking just complete the sale and move into rented.
I have spoke to my broker who said it’s fine just Halifax will need the new address, he asked them if renting and the credit checks that come with that will affect our mortgage, they said unlikely but possible.
so now I’m worrying it’s going to mess up our offer !! Does anyone know if this is the case? Or done the same thing and it was fine ?
I did ask if we could exchange contracts and have a longer window for completion but was told no the solicitors won’t do that.

I wouldn’t do it personally. It’s really difficult to find a short term let depending where you are, and you’d have to pay a deposit and one month rent upfront (Not sure how difficult or if this would be a problem for you?) and then what if your Ongoing purchase does not complete? You could be stuck renting, and potentially have to move again. I would ask your buyers to wait if it’s only a couple of months.

I wouldn’t do it. Buyers can surely wait a a couple of months if they want the house, especially if they are FTBs. If they pull out and try to find another house, it will take them a lot longer than a couple of months.

And personally I’d rather lose buyers and find new ones, rather that go through the hassle of moving twice.

What if you move into rented and your vendor pulls out? Then you’re stuck in rented.

We did that and it worked fine. Best thing we did in fact. If it’s only for a couple of months you can always put most stuff in storage (much cheaper than you think) and then get an Airbnb or short term rental. In our case we were in rental for 6 months as our purchase dragged on and our previous house sold immediately. Our sellers were buying a probate property which delayed it. We only took a third of our stuff at most into rental as we rented somewhere smaller than our previous and future property. Simply boxed up the rest and off it went to storage. Also handy having a cross over week so you’re not moving everything in on one day. Can’t remember it ever causing any issues mortgage wise.

Surely you can get the mortgage all agreed before you get the rental?

Given the situation you describe though I wouldn't rush to get out. A couple of months is not that long in house buying/selling terms and with such a short chain it seems unnecessary. The FTBs will already be in rental or living with mum and dad and so likely to find it's far less of an inconvenience to them to just wait slightly longer. If it does come to a point where they are being kicked out of a rental and becoming homeless you can reassess, but in the short term you'd be taking on the risk and pain for the sake of people who can bear it better than you.

Sorry should’ve added a couple of points, we already have two storage containers as dh uses them for work.
We have found somewhere for £700pcm which is cheap and not a problem as we do have the money.
we don’t have a mortgage on current property so no having to pay mortgage and rent if buyers pulled out.
we have a mortgage offer already with Halifax.
estate agent is telling buyers it’s a few weeks when it won’t be, we’re looking another 12 weeks and they’ve already been waiting since beginning of April.
we’ve got a good price for our house and really really hated viewings and all the shit that came with it

There is also the fact vendors are elderly and anything could happen to prolong it even further

Another thing is we cannot lose this house, it is the only one around here that suits us, houses on this road don’t go up for sale often, everything about it is perfect and it’s half 1/2 a mile away from our current property. I just can’t risk losing our buyers, I can’t trust the estate agent to tell them truthfully it’s going to be more like 3 months. She emailed me saying she spoke to them and they said they’re happy to wait a few more weeks, but it isn’t a few more weeks, it’s a few more months and then we have to factor in mortgage offers expiring. We’ve already been told we can’t get an extension on ours so I’m guessing theirs would be the same ?

I’ve just worked it all out with the timelines I’ve been given with the land registry delays and their current processing times, added a couple of weeks on for vendors solicitors as they are behind slow! And 4 weeks for searches, then a couple of weeks for exchange and completion and that takes us to the beginning of October !!!

We did it successfully. Had to get a six month rental but only stayed for three in the end so lost some rent but it was worth it for the forever house and having a bit of extra time if required was reassuring.

It was hassle moving twice even though we had most of our stuff in storage and of course once we got to the rental we realised we had put a lot of needed stuff beyond reach for months.

Sounds like you’re rushing into trying to rent somewhere. How close are the buyers to actually being able to exchange on your house? If they’re breathing down your neck and getting jittery then maybe think about renting. Otherwise just wait and see what happens, there could well be delays on your buyers side as well.

Completion in October might seem a long time, but it’s not unusually excessive. It took me 16 weeks from start to finish in a chain of 3 houses.

Our sale is ready has been for a couple of weeks

Thanks for this, yeah I agree even though it’ll be 6 months rental that means we haven’t got to rush straight into new house and can do some stuff to make it home beforehand

We did it just over a year ago for 6 months. We were buying a new build and the developer was pushing us to conclude about 8 months before the new house was ready, which we didn’t want to do until we had certainty that we would sell our previous house. It was a pain to move twice but ultimately worth it to get our new house and not have the stress of trying to make both timelines work out. It had no impact on our mortgage offer, which we had to extend once or twice to get us to our entry date for the new house. It’s now a distant memory!

We did it a couple of years ago 😊 Ended up in the rental for 6 months. Purchase completed just at the start of month 6 so we stayed put in the rental and used the few weeks overlap to get some of the cosmetic stuff done that we wanted to do 😊

Was lovely moving in to a house that was already decorated to our taste and just build furniture and put our stuff away 😊

We’ve just done it, moved into rental to no lose buyers, and just after moving into rental our onward purchase fell through. I’m having a big wobble right now as we can’t find a house that works for us in our price range now, but we couldn’t afford to lose our buyers - we had to move, and we lost our first buyers and it was torture going back on the market and dealing with so many viewings. That stress was unbearable for us.

@JustAMum35Hi, I’m wondering about the address change. Our broker said we have to inform the lender of the address change if we do move into the rental. Does that mean we need proof of new dress via bank statements or bills etc ? What did you do?

Oh shit sorry this happened !! It’s a risk isn’t it, I absolutely hate this process and now I understand why they say moving one of the most stressful things you will do in life.
Something will come up though, these things tend to sort themselves out in the end

Hi, I’m glad it all worked out. Unfortunately we can’t get an extension on ours, not sure why, broker just said they already said no at some point, annoying !

I think it sounds like you are keen to do this. I am the impatient type so would do as well to keep things moving. I also would quite like the challenge of living small for a little while.

In the grand scheme of things I think it doesn't matter too much. If you don't currently have a mortgage then your current house is simply an asset. Moving elsewhere doesn't really change the affordability of your purchase. You are keen to maximise your asset, and this would be a way of keeping the hoped for value.

@jimmyeatworld I honestly can’t remember in great detail. Our solicitor knew the situation and just advised us of what was needed T the time. We also had a baby at the time, it was just after Covid when the housing market was insane (our house sold the day it went on the market 😅) and decided to do all the physical moves ourselves to try and save a bit of money (don’t do this - It’s insane 😂😂) so I think I was just in survival mode tbh!
I definitely never had my bank details etc changed to the rental address.

It depends on your local market, I think. If you’re somewhere that you could get another buyer easily, I wouldn’t break the chain. Our sale was ready to go by 11 weeks and we’d have broken chain to keep our buyers, despite having a 3 year old and a cat. Luckily they haven’t made the suggestion and we’ll complete in 15 weeks (assuming nothing goes wrong).

Just make sure contracts are exchanged with your buyer before you sign anything for the rented property.

Another option is to look at contributing to any additional rent or storage fees they incur. But that is risky as you won’t be exchanging contracts until the chain is ready.

Yes I am impatient too, and autistic, so I need to have a plan all the time to keep some kind of order (control) over things !
The house being mortgage free is a bonus I agree so the cash can just sit in the bank until the purchase is ready.
I just want the sale done so I can not worry about everything all at once, it’s all so stressful and I’m just trying to eliminate some of that stress where I can!

@JustAMum35Sounds like something I would do 😆
I’m not sure if we just get a post redirection or physically change it all over to satisfy Halifax. It’s all so confusing

We have two storage containers already so storage isn’t a problem at the moment luckily. We can just take the minimum with us.

Our house sold within 2 weeks but I don’t think I’m happy to take a risk on it again, we’ve got buyers and feel like why would I jeopardise that ? I’m trying to think of them too, I worry they’ll get fed up waiting and by chance see another house that they prefer to this one ! I’m a really anxious person and just want it done.

What do I tell my solicitor ? Will they tell me not to do it ?!

Your solicitor works for you not the other way round.

I agree it’s not fair to expect your buyers to wait until October so I would definitely be exploring renting for 6 months.

Just tell your solicitors you have decided you want to exchange soon on the house you are selling & move into a rental. They may ask you if you’re sure, discuss it with you. But it’s your decision to make & not their place to tell you not to do it.