Downsize dilemma

RETIRED teacher Linda Christian, 61, is eager to sell her five-bedroom home.

She and her husband Simon, 53, paid £560,000 for it in 2010, when their two sons were at school. But now the couple want to spend less time maintaining their half-acre garden and more time travelling.

They have struggled to find any suitable three or four-bed homes near Witney, West Oxfordshire, where they live.

Those that do appeal are often sold within days — and the couple have been told they are unlikely to secure a newbuild home without selling their current home first.

Linda says: ‘We don’t want to have to rent somewhere else before we buy. I also don’t want to spend money on legal fees, only for a deal to fall through.’