Keep the house, move out: the best of both worlds
What actually happens when an older owner hands us a big house — who does the work, what they receive, and what they still control.
The objection we hear most from owners in their sixties and seventies is not about money. It is: I don't want the hassle. They have had a bad tenant, or a two-month void, or a boiler that failed on Christmas Eve, and the idea of becoming a landlord in retirement is exactly what they are trying to escape.
What we take on
We sign a company lease and pay you a fixed amount on a fixed date. From that point the day-to-day is ours: finding occupiers across insurance placements, contractor teams and short stays; cleaning, linen and the garden on a schedule; callouts and minor repairs up to an agreed threshold; the annual gas safety and boiler service arranged so it never lapses. You keep the statutory landlord obligations that cannot be contracted away — structure, roof, major installations — as you would with any tenant.
What you keep
- Ownership, and every pound of capital growth.
- The right to sell at the end of the term, or earlier under the break terms we agree up front.
- A single point of contact — Ash, Olivier or Anith, not a call centre.
- One number arriving on one date, which is what makes retirement budgeting possible.
The practical sequence
First, tell us the postcode and the number of bedrooms; that is enough for an indicative monthly figure within two working days. Second, we visit and agree the figure and the term. Third, we furnish and set the house up at our cost, which typically takes two to three weeks. Fourth, the payments start — and they keep coming whether the house is occupied or not.
Then you go and find the flat, the bungalow or the place near the grandchildren, and pay for it out of the income from the house you did not have to sell. Same asset, different job. That is the whole idea.
Talk to your accountant too
We are not tax advisers and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can tell you is what the house is worth per month on a guaranteed agreement. Take that figure to your accountant alongside the sale numbers and compare them properly — that is a decision worth making with real figures rather than a vague sense that moving is impossible.