Money Box Live: Move or Improve?

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If your home isn't working for you, should you pack up and move or get the builders in and improve?

Moving is expensive, aside from the price of the house there's Stamp Duty and solicitors fees to think about. So, is it worth getting the builders in instead if you're desperate for an extra bedroom? Insurance firm Aviva predicts 7 million of us will renovate over the next two years, spending an average of £14,000 each.

But what happens if the renovations go wrong, you run out of money, or you're hoping to move but no-one wants to buy your home?

Felicity Hannah is joined by Beth Rudolf from the Conveyancing Association and Harvey Fremlin, Managing Director at The National Self Build & Renovation Centre.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers/Helen Ledwick Editor: Jess Quayle

(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Radio 4 on the 7th of May 2025)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.1	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,
0:13.5	moments and movements, stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
0:21.7	means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.5	We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now
0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:36.1	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:40.1	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. Hello, we grow and change all through our lives, and our homes
0:47.4	need to grow and change with us. But if you're a homeowner, should you move or improve?
0:52.5	That's our question in today's Moneybox Live podcast.
0:55.8	After all, moving is expensive from boxes to mortgage fees to stamp duty. So some homeowners
1:01.9	are turning to builders instead. It's predicted seven million of us will renovate over the next
1:07.6	two years, spending an average of £14,000 each. But what happens when
1:12.6	things go wrong? They came round, we paid the deposit, they started the work, ripped out the
1:18.7	bathroom, and then nothing just disappeared. More on that in just a moment. But here to answer
1:24.9	your questions are today's experts? I'm joined by Harvey
1:28.0	Fremlin, managing director at the National Self-Build and Renovation Centre, which is a visitor
1:33.0	centre for Home Improvers, and also Beth Rudolph from the Conveancing Association. Hello.
1:38.0	Hi, Fistie. Good to have you both with us. Okay, Beth, obviously a lot will depend on your
	...

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