Tonight:
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'Letting our flat out means we can move'
Hugo Duncan17 Mar 2009
TONY and Tracey Lee became landlords after the birth of their daughter last July.
They moved from their two-bedroom flat in Notting Hill to a four-bedroom terrace house in the cheaper area of Forest Hill.
Unable to sell their Notting Hill home for a large enough profit, they now rent it out for £2,000 a month. This covers their mortgage in Notting Hill and some of the £1,000 a month they pay in rent in Forest Hill.
Mr Lee, a 35-year-old management consultant, said: "Having had a baby we wanted to move to a larger property but due to the economic downturn we could no longer get a good price for our property so we decided not to sell.
"The only way for us to move into a bigger property was to go down the rental route. We were able to get a reasonable price for our flat and move somewhere much cheaper. It made much more sense to do it this way."
Mr Lee said he does not plan to sell the flat in Notting Hill any time soon given how far the price has fallen. But he also admitted becoming a landlord was something of a shock.
"Neither of us know the first thing about being a professional landlord," he said.
TONY and Tracey Lee became landlords after the birth of their daughter last July.
They moved from their two-bedroom flat in Notting Hill to a four-bedroom terrace house in the cheaper area of Forest Hill.
Unable to sell their Notting Hill home for a large enough profit, they now rent it out for £2,000 a month. This covers their mortgage in Notting Hill and some of the £1,000 a month they pay in rent in Forest Hill.
Mr Lee, a 35-year-old management consultant, said: "Having had a baby we wanted to move to a larger property but due to the economic downturn we could no longer get a good price for our property so we decided not to sell.
"The only way for us to move into a bigger property was to go down the rental route. We were able to get a reasonable price for our flat and move somewhere much cheaper. It made much more sense to do it this way."
Mr Lee said he does not plan to sell the flat in Notting Hill any time soon given how far the price has fallen. But he also admitted becoming a landlord was something of a shock.
"Neither of us know the first thing about being a professional landlord," he said.
