A man was able to escape his 'damp' flat that left him with 'renter's cough' and become a home-owner in London - thanks to his parents and this little-known buying hack.

Liam Fairweather had a persistent cough from a damp patch that he says was 'continuously painted over' in his rented house-share in Tooting, London.

The 26-year-old had moved into the property with three of his best friends, commuting 30 minutes every day to central London for his job as a video editor.

However, when Liam's mum came to visit his new rental home back in 2021, she was horrified to find her son's standard of living was far below what she had hoped.  

Liam said his previously flat made him cough. Liam said his previously flat made him cough. (Image: Kennedy News)

That's when Liam's parents, Jo Fairweather, 55, and Martin Fairweather, 58, stumbled upon a way to combine the family's incomes and increase Liam's borrowing amount so their son could get onto the competitive London property ladder.

This allowed Liam to escape his disliked house share and purchase his dream home for £390,000 in east London after his parents contributed 70 per cent of the deposit by remortgaging their home.

Despite being reluctant to abandon his dream of buying his own home, Liam was grateful to receive the financial support of his parents and escape the chains of rented accommodation.

Mum Jo said: "Liam's house-share was pretty typical of those who are first renting in London; the damp spots were painted over instead of fixed, leaks and breaks were left for weeks before being repaired, and huge sums of money transferred to landlords you only saw once every three months.

Liam found 'secret' hack to buy his own home. Liam found 'secret' hack to buy his own home. (Image: Kennedy News)

"Every time Liam called home, he had the same persistent cough from the damp patch that was steadily growing in his room.

"He was spending £750 a month alone on rent, and as a result was barely scratching the surface of paying off his student loans (or contributing much to his savings). The rent increased to £850 a month in his second year living there."

In his third year of living in Tooting, Liam's flatmates had moved out with partners or to live elsewhere - and Liam soon followed after his landlord announced another rent increase.

Despite having £17,000 in savings, Liam was only able to afford a property worth £169,000 with a standard mortgage.

That's when Liam's mum Jo learnt about Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgages (also known as guarantor mortgages), which had allowed her friend to add some of her own income to her son's deposit, allowing him to borrow more and buy his own place in London.

But Liam said he took some convincing to give up his dream of purchasing his own home.

Liam said: "It took a bit of time to convince me. When Mum and Dad came to me with the idea [of a JBSP] I was kind of against it.

"The pride part of me wanted to be able to buy my own home myself, and I didn't want to take an easy road out or a shortcut with someone else's money."

Liam began researching ways to buy a house whilst using his parents' help and stumbled upon Tembo - a mortgage broker that offers personalised mortgage recommendations based on Liam, Jo and Martin's incomes and assets.

In May, Liam was able to purchase his dream flat in the east of London for £390,000 by taking out a JBSP that Tembo's rate-checking team sourced for him to combine the family's incomes and increase Liam's borrowing amount to £400,000.

Liam has the O2 Arena in his view.Liam has the O2 Arena in his view. (Image: Kennedy News)

The Fairweathers also entered into negotiations to create a deposit split of 30:70 for Liam - and Liam put up £17,000 from his Lifetime ISA and savings funds, and Jo and Martin contributed £43,000 for the deposit, which they had unlocked by remortgaging their home to release equity.

You can find more information about the method Liam used here on the Tembo Money website.

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Liam said: "A weight has gone from my shoulders since moving into my new home. It feels surreal. It's a different level of responsibility, but I'm glad it's my responsibility now. I can take it upon myself to maintain the flat, instead of waiting months for my landlord to 'fix' things in Tooting."

Martin said: "It was a long journey but when you see Liam's pictures of the views from his flat during the day and at night, everyone gets it immediately.

"And he's happy now, you can tell it. Even though he's only been in there three or four weeks, we can tell just from the tone of his voice on the telephone that he's a lot happier. And that makes us happier as well."