Should we use an inheritance to buy a shared-ownership property?

We wonder if by doing so we will be able to sell easily if we decide to move in a few years

Q We may be coming into a little bit of money from a small inheritance. We currently rent and are happy where we are. But if we used the inheritance we could afford to buy 25% of a shared-ownership property in the area we live. Are shared-ownership properties worth it? And would we be able to sell easily if we wanted to move elsewhere in, say, five years’ time as work might take us elsewhere?

Or should we hang fire and save up more for a few years and just try to get an outright mortgage on a normal property? In the area we live that could take a long time.
TR

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Weird, wacky and utterly wonderful: the world's greatest unsung museums

A bullring full of blood, a house full of sweet wrappers, a power station full of sculpture, a roundabout full of plants … Hilton Als, Mary Beard, Russell Tovey and more pick their alternative favourite museums

Jessie Burton, novelist
A tourist might more prosaically call this the world-famous bullring of Seville. I lived in Andalucía in my 20s and the culture of bullfighting was unavoidable. I had a kid in my class who, at 16, was a trainee fighter. Whatever your thoughts on the ethics, I defy you not to be captivated by this building and the exhibits within its corridors. It’s a living museum, as bullfights still take place. Standing in the middle of the empty 12,000-seater ring is a hair-raising experience, especially when you notice the wooden panels scarred by horns. The toreador costumes – all camp and skintight glory, butterfly colours and braiding – belie the fully equipped emergency room, a place of blood loss and death since 1749. The matador prayer chapel, the equipment, the bulls’ heads and the black and white photographs seem like relics of a faded world – until you leave and see posters advertising the next fight.

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Renting with pets: How to make it work Nottingham Estate Agents

A pet can be a treasured member of the family – but not all landlords are willing to let animal owners take on a tenancy. According to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association, an estimated 40 per cent of UK households had a pet in 2019, from cats and dogs to ferrets and toads. And yet, […]

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Rental market reveals UK divide between affluent and deprived areas

Researchers say tenants in worse off areas more likely to be affected by economic fallout

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Britain’s rental market has diverged since reopening after the Covid-19 lockdown, with the number of homes in affluent areas being let increasing, while activity in deprived neighbourhoods has sharply dropped.

Research by Hamptons International showed that in 10% of the wealthiest neighbourhoods, the number of homes let between May and September was up by 1.3% on last year. Meanwhile, new instructions rose by 4%.

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A $10 bulb can completely alter the vibe': high-impact house fixes for under $100

If you have never cared much about home decorating, odds are 2020 has changed that. Four interior designers share affordable ways to make a difference

With the pandemic making homebodies of us all, beautifying our living spaces has become a collective obsession. Monsteras have been bought. Bookshelves have been colour-coded.

It’s understandable. “We spend 90% of our time inside our houses now,” says Monique Vuk, an interior decorator from One Wolf Design who is currently living through Melbourne’s second lockdown. “And we don’t all have north-facing windows.We didn’t consider when we rented our properties that we were going to spend so much time inside.

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Drone Photographer In Reading

Isle of light: Oliver Spencer’s ‘lucky’ dream home by the sea

The fashion designer’s home on the Isle of Wight is full of charm and idiosyncratic touches

Have you heard the one about the man who walks into a pub, has a chance encounter with an estate agent and ends up buying his dream home off her six months later? Fashion designer Oliver Spencer was the lucky punter in that meeting back in 2016, but he is far from the butt of the joke.

Spencer and his wife Nancy had been looking for a weekend escape on the south coast of the UK to no avail, when they decided to hop on a ferry to the Isle of Wight to have a drink with some friends. By the time the year was out, they were the proud owners of a midcentury modern waterfront home complete with 2.5 acres of botanical gardens.

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