Working abroad for a year after buying a house?

cyberfish

I'm being headhunted for a position abroad, which would be a 12 month contract with the possibility to extend. If I didn't own a house here, I would 100% go for it.. but owning a house has complicated the decision a bit.

My mortgage is €1,700 per month - and I was a first time buyer who used the Help-to-Buy scheme to claim the full €30k.

I currently earn just over €5k per month after tax. If I was to get the position abroad, I would be earning over €10k per month after tax.

My monthly living expenses would likely be no more than €4k there, which would leave me with €6k to cover the mortgage on my house here and add to my savings.

I do not want to sell my house, nor do I want to rent it out properly so that I have the ability to return at any time. I currently rent a room to a student (rent-a-room scheme) but I'm guessing I wouldn't be able to do that if I was living out of the country. I also know that the HTB scheme says you need to live in the house for 5 years - so I'm not sure how living abroad for a year would affect that.

If anybody has been in a similar position I would love to hear.

mrslancaster

Tough one, you'll need to do the calculations and work out how much it would cost you. There can be a part clawback by revenue if you occupy the house for less than 5 years, eg, sell it or rent it out. The only exception iirc is where your employer transfers you abroad temporarily. The time away is just added on when you get back, it must be 5 years total. Does the potential new employer have a presence here?

You're correct about the RaR, you're meant to be living there to qualify and if your student lodger was in the house without you living there, they could claim to be a tenant and that's a whole other world of complications.