London leaver: 'we put down a deposit of £1,236 and now we're renting to buy'
Until February Ade and his wife Lara, 36, were renting a three-bedroom house in Thamesmead, south-east London.
With three young children, aged four, six, and eight, the house was packed to the rafters, and the circa £1,400pcm they paid in rent was stopping them saving up for a deposit. In the three years they lived there they paid out around £50,000 in rent.
The couple were also keen to leave behind Thamesmead's urban sprawl and build a new life somewhere more peaceful and child-friendly.
'With three kids all at school age, we knew we had to find a suburb that could offer all the things we felt our life in London was lacking – a like-minded community, great local schools and plenty of green space,' says Ade, 42, a risk manager.
Lara is a dental therapist and their joint salaries are too high for them to be eligible for a shared ownership home. So Ade began to look into Rent to Buy, a Government-backed plan which allows people to rent at a 20 per cent discount so they can save up for a deposit.
In Ade and Lara's case they decided not only to move but to upsize. Their chosen property is a four-bedroom house at Capstone Green, a development between Chatham and Maidstone, in Kent.
They put down a deposit of just over £1,236, and pay rent of £1,340pcm. The move, says Ade, has galvanised them to save seriously and he hopes they will be in a position to buy the house within two to three years.
'We could have stayed in Thamesmead and saved,' says Ade. 'But we would have had to wait and the house was too small. This has really made us commit to saving. It has given us drive.'
Ade works from home most of the time but when he is required in the office his train journey from Chatham to King's Cross St Pancras takes around 40 minutes.
And he is also impressed by how welcoming his new neighbours have been.
'What really stood out is the sense of community here as there's lots of families and everyone is so friendly. The kids have settled in so well at their new schools.
'It truly feels like we're on the right path to homeownership and giving our kids the best possible start.'
For more information on Capstone Green and other rent to buy options, see lqhomes.com/renting-with-lq/rent-to-buy-homes/
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