Buying a house short term....let me explain

Have you thought about - what if her house doesn't sell ...?

Sorry you're in this predicament.

Perhaps you should discuss this with a solicitor before you buy anything. Not being a wet blanket but what would happen if she finally decides she doesn't want to buy the house?

I do not know the ins and outs of it but as you will own two houses, you will be paying extra tax?

If you sell it to her for the same price you paid, you will be out of pocket for the expenses involved in the buying and selling.

That said, if I could afford to do this for DC in such a situation, I would do it.

You will certainly pay twice the stamp duty.

And as SD's present house is mortgaged to the hilt, presumably there won't by much equity? How long will it take her to pay you back - what if she loses her job etc.?

Unless you can comfortably afford to lose £80k it doesn't sound like the ideal solution.

Perhaps it would be better for you to pay for her to rent somewhere in the short term?

Another thought, any chance you could buy her present house to sell on, and she could buy the house she wants right away?

Lower the selling price for a quicker sale and give her the difference? You would be paying for new accommodation anyway. Is there a reason her mortgage wasn't paid off when her husband died?

Honestly think this could get horribly complicated......

I think it's a good idea.
You will have the house in your name until she sells her original house and buys the new one. There will not be any stamp duty to pay on a house worth less than £125,000 anyway.

Like FarNorth says, I would do it if I could afford to.

bytheway hasn't said how much the house they're proposing to buy will cost, just that a mortgage of £80k will have to be raised.

Meanwhile, until the daughter's house is sold the mortgage payments on that property will be mounting up...as nanaK54 says, it could end up getting horribly complicated and the OP and her DH could end up losing a lot of money.

Since April last year an extra property or property for buy to let incurs a sliding scale percentage stamp duty. Up to 150K it is 3%. Not explained this at all well but please check it out before you go ahead.

Depending on your age a mortgage could be difficult to obtain, there are all sorts of rules around affordability and claims on the resale should the mortgagee default.

I certainly would discuss it with a specialist property solicitor.

As chelseababy, I wonder was there not an insurance policy covering the mortgage in the event of one owner passing away. I always believed your mortgage provider insisted you take out a policy and I know when we had a mortgage we had to provide our details

Yes, I forgot about that, Alima. Didn't Cherie Blair make sure she bought more properties to rent out before that date?

If they just buy it, and let her stepdaughter live in it, not charging rent, as she will still be paying mortgage on the first house, will they still be charged stamp duty?

I still think I would do it in that situation, to help her. I wouldn't be worried about losing a lot of money if it was to help my bereaved child.

Rather than getting a mortgage, paying all the fees, stamp duty, estate agent's fee when you want to sell it on etc what about renting a property for her? Short term let, some do 6-monthly, yearly rents. Some do rolling monthly terms. May be worth looking into. Don't you have to keep a property for a minimum time before selling again? Something about money laundering rules I think.

It all sounds very complicated.

Would it be better to help her out with the rent on a property nearby until she manages to sell her own house?

It could, in fact, be cheaper in the long-term unless you intend to keep this house as a rental property.

durhamjen, we are currently doing something on these lines. The stamp duty came as a bit of a shock!

No, but it would be silly just to throw it away!

Seek expert advice, bytheway, most of us on GN don't have the knowledge to advise you.

I suggested that, Jalima, seems like a good compromise to me.

I must read all the thread first .....

Could she let the house she is trying to sell? This would cover her mortgage payments.

So sorry for your family's loss bytheway. Think your solution us fraught with problems. You could buy the house she currently owns but that would involve extra tax etc or you could pay the rent on a place near you. I realise your stepdaughter has seen a house to buy but there will be others. Anything you decide should be checked over by a solicitor to ensure all parties are protected.

Two months isn't long to find a buyer but is her estate agent pushing enough for a sale - actually contacting prospective buyers who've left their contact details (they're especially bad at this), special listing on Rightmove, etc? Around here Open House days are very successful.

It can take several months for a sale to be agreed and reach completion so even if you did fund the purchase of the local house you could still find your home overcrowded for some time, so it may be cheaper for you to fund a bridging loan to hurry things up and hope that SD's house sells in the meantime. Perhaps a talk with a mortgage advisor may be a good idea?