UK Landlord Forum / Life

Dear Property Experts,

I am in dire need of some valuable advice as I know nothing about property.

We have an option to buy a 2 bed flat in (Sheen - SW London)  or a 2 bed house in Kingston £525k no mortgage) with rental income of around £1600 per month.

Our plan is to rent the property out for the next 2 years until we move back and then we could sell this porperty to buy our family home.

Please suggest what's the best way to go. I beleive flats are harder to sell than Houses and obviously there is ground rent and maintenance costs involved for a flat.


Thank you for your advice!

I'd go for a freehold house every time: they're just less hassle all round.

Mind you, if it's just a case of somewhere to park some money for two years I don't think I'd bother, especially if I wasn't going to be around to keep an eye on it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I was hoping to make this short term investment for two reasons:
1. stamp duty holiday (saving of £15k)
2. Potential rental income (net) over two years (£35k)
For someone like me that's a lot of money, but that's where I needed advice from the experts on this plattform.

£35k isn't small change to me either, but it arguably reflects a best-case scenario where you buy a property that doesn't need much prep work, you find a cheap, reliable agent who immediately finds you good-quality tenants who look after the place, always pay the rent on time, stay for exactly as long as you want them to and leave quietly at the end.

I'd say it's worth spending a few quid on a chat with an IFA to see what other options you have. It's not necessarily a question of £35k versus no return at all.