Midlife crisis number 238

[EarthDemon]

I've done a lot of time in the van over the past 5 years, way more than 50%. I turned my house into a successful furnished holiday let - happy days. But now the govt is killing that trade I can't justify keeping the house (big old mortgage). Tempting to sell up, pay me debts and just travel and be fully itinerant - how bad can it be? I've already got boatmail but what's it like literally not having an address for things like driving license etc? You can't register that to boatmail.

Would love to hear from anyone that's done similar. I'm 57 and do have an income but don't have any savings or pension. Flogging the house and investing the proceeds for ten years would be a decent pension.

Really feels like this country is going to the dogs atm which is maybe another reason to be on the road.

 

[izwozral]

Have you not got a close friend or relative whose address you could use? They could contact you when anything important comes up.

And I agree, this country has gone to poop in a hand cart and it won't be getting better anytime soon.

 

[Pauljenny]

If you choose to spend some time abroad, say up to 50% in Europe, eg ...89 days in Southern Europe when the weather is best, then back to UK, when it's too hot abroad. .

If you have an UK address, there are various credit cards that you can use efficiently overseas.

If you've got a decent wedge of money in the bank, you could consider Barclaycard Advantage, Nationwide Platinum or Halifax Clarity, amongst others.
Banks offer better terms when they are sitting on a large amount of your moolah. If you do sell your house, they'll love you.
There are ways to avoid paying council tax on your UK address.
I'm led to believe.
Good luck, you're only allowed 1 lifetime.

 

[yeoblade]

The tax on rental/holiday/ABNB/lodger is all a minefield, that's changing rapidly. I hope that they know what they're achieving.
It's infuriating that one can rent out a bedroom in your house and earn £7.5k tax free
But,
Rent out a one bed house for £7.5k and it's all taxable.
Good luck with what you do.

 

[marchie]

If you choose to spend some time abroad, say up to 50% in Europe, eg ...89 days in Southern Europe when the weather is best, then back to UK, when it's too hot abroad. .

If you have an UK address, there are various credit cards that you can use efficiently overseas.

If you've got a decent wedge of money in the bank, you could consider Barclaycard Advantage, Nationwide Platinum or Halifax Clarity, amongst others.
Banks offer better terms when they are sitting on a large amount of your moolah. If you do sell your house, they'll love you.
There are ways to avoid paying council tax on your UK address.
I'm led to believe.
Good luck, you're only allowed 1 lifetime.

In Scotland, the purchase of a 2nd property, irrespective of the reason attracts an additional Land Tax of 5% of the purchase price. You can apply for a refund if you sell one property within 3 years. Our upstairs neighbour ignored my warning in early May about his dripping shower leaking into our bedroom ceiling. When we got back from France in mid-July, the leak had spread, loosening plaster and producing heavy black mould spores [not good to breathe, especially after a heart attack, a mini-stroke, and 2 pulmonary embolisms].

It's estimated that the wall will take about 10 months to dry out properly, and then the replastering can start, so probably 12 months in total [assuming the total onanist actually gets the leak fixed ...]. We are going to purchase a small property, rather than risk a fatal dose of mould spores, but we will have to pay the tax AND take a mortgage on, because we will not be able to sell the flat until the repairs are finished. Still have to pay the Tax and the Interest, and I'm not allowed to shoot the worthless piece of excrement in the upstairs flat. Suing him will be a waste, he's a scaffy git with insufficient money to repair his rotting windows who took over 6 months to get the money together for his retrospective Planning Consent [another PITA]. I think I should be allowed to shoot him under a Pest Control Licence and claim a Government bounty upon production of the rotting cadaver ...

Steve

 

[colinm]

Really feels like this country is going to the dogs atm which is maybe another reason to be on the road.

It's an age thing, older people have been saying this for as long as I can remember.

 

[izwozral]

It's an age thing, older people have been saying this for as long as I can remember.

One thing for sure, it ain't getting any better!

 

[Nabsim]

Not again Steve? Can’t the council do anything about it, emergency repair on his property to protect yours and them charge him? I know they aren’t council properties but seem to think they can do things like this

 

[trevexess]

I've done a lot of time in the van over the past 5 years, way more than 50%. I turned my house into a successful furnished holiday let - happy days. But now the govt is killing that trade I can't justify keeping the house (big old mortgage). Tempting to sell up, pay me debts and just travel and be fully itinerant - how bad can it be? I've already got boatmail but what's it like literally not having an address for things like driving license etc? You can't register that to boatmail.

Would love to hear from anyone that's done similar. I'm 57 and do have an income but don't have any savings or pension. Flogging the house and investing the proceeds for ten years would be a decent pension.

Really feels like this country is going to the dogs atm which is maybe another reason to be on the road.

I would strongly suggest that you look at the pension scene as you need a very big pot to get any form of reasonable income.
Shooting the guy upstairs would be my solution, a couple of years in jail being kept by the state then you're out free.
Country definitely gone to the dogs, if you put nothing in you get everything given to you in a plate, work all your life and then it's all taken off you.

 

[maingate]

Labour Councils are starting to implement much tighter controls on Landlords. I received a flyer through the post from my Council, inviting comments on their website. As a rental property owner in the past, I would be dismayed at the plans to tighten up controls and being strangled by red tape. The changes to rental agreements proposed by Labour in their manifesto and these tighter controls will effectively kill the private rental sector. It comes at a very convenient time as Councils will be buying up private property to house illegal immigrants, instead of putting them up in hotels. You could almost think it had been planned this way.

 

[marchie]

Not again Steve? Can’t the council do anything about it, emergency repair on his property to protect yours and them charge him? I know they aren’t council properties but seem to think they can do things like this

Environmental Health 'intervened' by making a site visit and reminded him of his responsibilities. He told us that the leak was caused by an overslop of bath water, and Environmental Health that it was a shower leak, so he can't even lie consistently. He also told Environmental Health that he had a plumber booked for 12th August, thinking that that was the day we were to leave for France. ... We neither saw nor heard any evidence of workmen arriving, and, IF he were a decent neighbour [which he clearly isn't], he would have either knocked the door, or put a note through the letterbox, confirming that the work had been done. He did neither, so that's another lie ...

The flat is registered in his wife's name, to get round the 2nd property tax, and she refused to confirm whether the work has been done, telling me in an email that I need to calm down. Think she may have been at the bottle or the funny farm pills. If I received an email listing episodes of anti-social behaviour [dog fouling, repeated water leaks, washing machine vibration that shakes the ceiling, washing the dog on the balcony stairs so that the bathwater runs onto us when we use te back door], I would be mortified. But, when you are the scum of the earth who presents a Hyacinth Bucket veneer of respectability to the outside world, you are an anti-social stain on society

I told him in last night's email that I suspect he will try to undertake more damage to our property, but that if he does, I'll treat it as malicious damage and report it to the police. He also uses a tatty/dangerous VW Camper for his 'business' [Steptoe & Son tatting] with lattice bodywork, because he can try to get away without business use insurance, so I'll report my suspicion to the traffic police for investigation

Steve

 

[Robmac]

Surely he or his insurance company (if he has any?) are liable for the cost of repairs to your property Steve?

I would suggest a strongly worded solicitors letter to him regarding present and further damage to your place. Given your previous health conditions and the fact that he is ignoring warnings to me that verges on criminality?

Also, are Environmental Health following up on the repairs he has supposed to have done?

I presume you are using a dehumidifier to speed up the drying out process?

I wish you the best of luck with it Steve, sell up and get out as soon as you can!

 

[barryd]

I think the question here is when you sell up will you have enough income to protect your pension and the money from the sale of the house after you pay your debts and mortgage and in ten years time when you have possibly had enough and also get your state pension will you have enough to get back on the property ladder mortgage free? I think I would always want a property to fall back on and they rarely go down in value. Who's to say in ten years time they might not be 20-50% more expensive?

I reckon as a minimum you will need £12-14k a year to full time in a van.

 

[Drover]

Insurance was the biggest problem for us. We wanted 9 to 12 months europe cover Saga was good but their prices jumped astronomically. Others all were high without an post code address along with council registration.
Comfort did 270 days europe min one trip with us LIVING at our daughter house..
Good enough for us and we are still with them.
It is not as easy as it was but doable.
We have since built a small house on land we were left but there's clauses on insurance with that..
It's all a compromise but not cheap any more when you need somewhere to stay without being bothered.

 

[marchie]

Surely he or his insurance company (if he has any?) are liable for the cost of repairs to your property Steve?

I would suggest a strongly worded solicitors letter to him regarding present and further damage to your place. Given your previous health conditions and the fact that he is ignoring warnings to me that verges on criminality?

Also, are Environmental Health following up on the repairs he has supposed to have done?

I presume you are using a dehumidifier to speed up the drying out process?

I wish you the best of luck with it Steve, sell up and get out as soon as you can!

Our flat is a B Listed property [but Fife Council are still prepared to grant retrospective Planning Consent for a 4m high wooden shack, with windows that look straight into our bedroom ..., so that shows the total lack of Conservation Area Planning Controls]. Aviva will insure the property, but with very tight restrictions, including the right for them to refuse to reinsure if 2 claims made in 5 years. The previous Upsatirs Flat Owner flooded our Dining Room in December 2022, and his insurers said it was nothing to do with them, and we must claim on our own insurance ... Whatever happened to 3rd Party Liability that the Con Artist Insurance Companies promote?

He will pay for the damage one way or the other

Steve

 

[JQB]

I've done a lot of time in the van over the past 5 years, way more than 50%. I turned my house into a successful furnished holiday let - happy days. But now the govt is killing that trade I can't justify keeping the house (big old mortgage). Tempting to sell up, pay me debts and just travel and be fully itinerant - how bad can it be? I've already got boatmail but what's it like literally not having an address for things like driving license etc? You can't register that to boatmail.

Would love to hear from anyone that's done similar. I'm 57 and do have an income but don't have any savings or pension. Flogging the house and investing the proceeds for ten years would be a decent pension.

Really feels like this country is going to the dogs atm which is maybe another reason to be on the road.

All good, but i would still keeo an addr, poss a one bedroom place. Can a person of NFA vote for instance?

 

[JQB]

The tax on rental/holiday/ABNB/lodger is all a minefield, that's changing rapidly. I hope that they know what they're achieving.
It's infuriating that one can rent out a bedroom in your house and earn £7.5k tax free
But,
Rent out a one bed house for £7.5k and it's all taxable.
Good luck with what you do.

Joe public must taxed and taxed and taxed for crap services because the wealthy and many corporations don't won't pay their dues. Cameron and Osborne have clever tax avoiding family trusts, and what did those twi do to us?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Buy a bit of Woodland and put a cabin on wheels in it, that might work, meanwhile the woods have value and that will only increase.

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[Dezi]

Hi,
We have been residential landlords for well over 30 years.
Until I hit 80 we ran everything ourselves,I did maintenance and the boss did the finances.
When 80 came along we handed our portfolio over to a local recommended estate / letting agent.
For a small fee, percentage, everything is taken care of, including the collection of the rents.
So far so good.
Dezi.

 

[izwozral]

Steve, you could try ringing the environmental health department within the local council. They will get involved in noise and anti social issues, your problem may well fall under the latter category.
Also worthwhile keeping a log of all events.
Good luck.