the costs of maintaining a second home

[Surfer Joe]

My wife and I need to keep living near work until she can retire in three years, but we want to buy a property in a cheaper part of the country and move there permanently after she retires.

We live in England near London where property prices are very high.
We would like to move somewhere in England or maybe Scotland when we retire.
We rent and have never owned a home and we have saved an amount of money to buy something for cash without a mortgage.
If we didn't have to pay rent, we could afford to pay other housing expenses, food and utilities with our small pensions.
I also have an additional small income (about £5000/year, currently unused) that I could use for home repairs/improvements if needed.
Beyond that, we have no other source of income unless we return to working.

Our options are to buy something now before prices keep getting higher and keep renting near where we work, or to try to buy something in three years when we finally retire and are able to move in wherever we buy and stop renting.
I am worried that we will get much smaller value for money in 3 years, but also worry about the costs of maintaining a home while renting somewhere else.

If we buy a property now and keep renting near where we have to be for work, I am trying to get a sense of how much it will cost to maintain the house with minimal utilities while we are living elsewhere.
I would prefer not to rent the property while we are not living there, but could that be an option that would pay for itself?

I would appreciate any advice that you could offer about my situation.
THANKS.

[New Home Expert]

Unless you rent out the home you buy until you need it expenses on it will rack up.
Not just utility bills (you will need to have heating on to avoid damp and frozen pipes), but insurance, water rates, and the big one, Council Tax as more and more councils are charging three times council tax for empty homes.

Then there is maintenance etc.
It really isn't worth the hassle!

Retire, look for a home and move.
Inflation is going to be a huge issue though.

[Surfer Joe]

Unless you rent out the home you buy until you need it expenses on it will rack up.
Not just utility bills (you will need to have heating on to avoid damp and frozen pipes), but insurance, water rates, and the big one, Council Tax as more and more councils are charging three times council tax for empty homes.

Then there is maintenance etc.
It really isn't worth the hassle!

Retire, look for a home and move.
Inflation is going to be a huge issue though.

Thanks, those are good points. I wasn't aware of the council tax on empty homes.
Does that apply if one is periodically going there to refurbish it or if one doesn't own a first home and only rents?

[New Home Expert]

Empty means empty that is no furniture.
It doesn't matter whether you rent or own the second home or the first one, you still have to pay council tax.

[panczyk]

Have you thought about using the second home for short-term rentals like airbnb, for example? I'm thinking about investing in a home and paying all the maintenance costs from such short rental fees. But still haven't decided though, need some more research on this.

[AM2003]

What have you ended up doing? With the current housing market that could have been the right moment to buy it since it's only getting worse. I'm still waiting for the right moment to buy a property, because it's simply a bad joke.

[Caji]

The maintenance won't cost you much. However actual prices are very high at the moment. The house itself will cost you a fortune.

[New Home Expert]

Insurance on unoccupied property is another consideration.
You would be well advised to check it out.
Occupied premiums for £350 would be £1,150 for unoccupied.
It also comes with lots of conditions such as visiting he property every 2 weeks, leaving heat on low all through the winter with the loft hatch open and no cover for subsidence, heave or land slip. 
Some insurers don't even cover storm damage and most of the well-know large insurers don't want to even offer cover for empty homes!