We bought a flat in South Wales in 2016 as a base to spend time in when we visited the UK from our home in Dubai, to be near family and friends, to have somewhere to see people, for the adult children to use when they came to visit and somewhere we could could just arrive to and not have to live out of a suitcase, cook our own meals and not trip over anyone else.
I had the most use of it, Peter only stayed for a week or two at a time, whereas I was in it for at least half the year.
During covid we've had it rented out, the income earned has been declared to the tax man, but it's remained empty since October as we had to do repairs between tenants and we had rental agents contacting us saying they had buyers interested in this particular area. So we put it on the market, have made a profit, but as I don't live in it there will be capital gains tax to pay on the profit made.
We thought about keeping it and whilst it's near some of our family, it's only an hours drive away therefore we can go there and back in a day.
The next plan was to buy another property somewhere near the sea, or nearer our other grandchild, somewhere we could visit and stay in, take holidays, not worry about taking everything with us when we travelled.
But then we thought 'do we want to go to the same place every time we go away?' How often would we actually use it and then we remembered all the hassles we've had with rental agents with the flat and our house and we'd have to organise a change over cleaning team, plus people who could do repairs, set up a website, manage bookings and pay tax if we set it up as a holiday let or used it as an air b&b.
Next we thought about the cost of running a flat that lies empty most of the year. Council tax, property management fees, insurance and water rates. Currently we pay £3500 a year just for the above.
Over the Easter weekend we visited West Wales. We rented a dog friendly 2 bed cottage, fully equipped, in a great location near the coast. We paid £120 per night for 5 nights. We can have 29 nights away each year for the same price as the running costs of the flat. It would be a waste of money seeing as for the next half term we'll be visiting Yorkshire. and in the summer holidays we'll be going to Australia. We've also got a few trips to Northern Ireland planned.
So we're selling our flat, it's no longer in our interests to own it as we don't need to stay in one place in the UK anymore, we have our house for that.
So what to do with the money?
We'll get more use out of a camper van, for days out and trips away.
It does sound a good idea selling the flat especially when you can get so many nights renting somewhere for the same price of running the flat. A camper van does sound like a great idea, you would certainly get plenty of use out of it x
ReplyDeletePlus there's all the hassle with bad tenants and getting repairs sorted
DeleteI remember you had lots of troubles with the flat, with irresponsible tenants, repairs and useless agents. I'd say the cottage you rented for £120 for five days is very cheap. We pay over £1200 for a week for a cottage in Cornwall (it starts at £500+ for non-holidays), though it is during summer holidays. But anyway, if you fancy travelling and staying in different locations, then selling your flat makes total sense.
ReplyDelete£120 per night for 5 nights
DeleteSounds like selling it is the best thing. I think I'd do the same - I'm not a fan of keeping going back to the same place, plus as you say, it's expensive to maintain. #pocolo
ReplyDeleteIt'll be nice to explore more of the UK now
DeleteIt sounds like you have it all worked out and buying a camper van sounds like a great idea.
ReplyDeleteTrying to find a camper van is more of a challenge than we thought
DeleteSounds to me that you will be much more unencumbered! Good work!
ReplyDeleteIt will be so much nicer to just have the one home to worry about
DeleteI have always liked the idea, of a, camper van going a way and not being tied down X #pocolo
ReplyDeleteFinding the right camper van is a bit of a challenge
DeleteSounds like an awesome plan! If house prices in the UK are anything like they're here, you'll make good money out of selling the flat. #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteNot making as much as you'd think with all the sale costs involved sadly
DeleteThe camper van sounds like an adventure waiting to happen, but it's true isn't it - our requirements change as life changes, and the challenge is adapting to them in a way that suits our current lives. Good luck with the sale #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteI really hope we can find the right one for us soon
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