I think I've found a perfect home :) but need some advice desperatly!!!

[Sarah-Jane]

I don't really know if this thread should be here... but I know how helpful you all are and I've noticed a few threads like this recently but still slightly confused to where I stand.

I have been e-mailing a landlord about a 2 bedroom house he's renting (I found the house on gumtree.com) and he's willing to take DHSS... I just don't know how to go about it now....

I cannot claim housing benefits yet as I am still living with my parents so I'm not really sure how I go about claiming. The house is £450 a month, fully furnished and is in a perfect location for me and my little boy due in March.

I work part-time (but very rarely as it's really quiet at the moment and I'm only in when they need me) and I go on maternity leave on the 18th of January anyway. I only earn £22 when I am in and have been accepted to claim income support today so that should be sorted within the next 10 days.

My boyfriend will only be staying 2 nights a week as he lives at university (not sure if that will affect anything).

I've babbled on a bit but thought I'd give you all a bit of basic information so I can get some advice on the following questions

Anyways.... my questions lol

1. Can I use my Dad as my rent guarantor and what does that involve doing?
2. How much will the housing benefits be willing to pay of the rent and bills?
3. How do I go about getting in contact with the housing benefits and do you think I'll qualify?
4. Will my boyfriend staying 2 nights a week change anything?

Throw any other information at me if you think I'll need it I'm completely new to this and completely confused so I'm happy to accept any advice

Thanks xxxx

 

[Eoz]

I think you should ring the council and ask for advice or may be pop to the citizens advice bereau xxxx

 

[lesleyann]

where i live, peterborough, england

we got told they will not cover a 2bedroom property untill baby is born as you do not need 2bedrooms before and sometimes they say baby does not need its own room till XX months old so therefore you still do not need a 2bed property...

Rent really depends on how much you earn a month as to how much they will pay anything from £10 per week - £90 per week i think the rate is, as for bills thats all on you

your bf staying over 2 nights a week should not affect anything if his not living there its just like when you had sleep overs with friends at your parents..


but as i said thats where i am but hope it might of helped a bit


good luck

 

[elley_baby248]

Right i have been there done all that and it is really easy to be honest.

I assume you will have to pay a deposit on your house and the council should sort this for you they offered it to me but i had already paid it. If you go into the council offices and speak to someone they should be able to tell you how it works as it differs from council to council.

The housing benefit side of things no one except the council will be able to tell you how much you will get as they do it based on the house you are in/looking at at what you are entitled to as far as i know you will be entitled to a 2 bed house and you are a single parent. Just either phone the council or go to the office and ask for a housing benefit form fill it in and hand it back they usually sort the first payment for the following monday after you have handed in the form (the day might be different but it is a monday here) although if you are not already in the house that may delay it a while. You will need proof of your tenancy agreement showing you are liable for rent and how much or they wont pay it. They should pay the money to you every 2 weeks and then you pay your landlord.

As for your day being your guaruntor he will have to earn over a certain amount and be willing to sign a form saying that if you fail to pay the rent he is happy to pay it he will also have to give them his bank details so they can Direct Debit the amount of your rent if you fail to pay.

Honestly i wouldn't tell the council that your boyfriend is staying with you 2 nights a week as they will start asking other questions like if he is contributing financially to the household and it could complicate things for yourself and him. Plus he wont really be living there so your not breaking any rules.

You should also be entitled to council tax benefit which the council should sort at the same time as your housing benefit.

Hope this helps if you need anymore help let me know as i've been through it all before a million times over.

 

[nightkd]

I don't really know if this thread should be here... but I know how helpful you all are and I've noticed a few threads like this recently but still slightly confused to where I stand.

I have been e-mailing a landlord about a 2 bedroom house he's renting (I found the house on gumtree.com) and he's willing to take DHSS... I just don't know how to go about it now....

I cannot claim housing benefits yet as I am still living with my parents so I'm not really sure how I go about claiming. The house is £450 a month, fully furnished and is in a perfect location for me and my little boy due in March.

I work part-time (but very rarely as it's really quiet at the moment and I'm only in when they need me) and I go on maternity leave on the 18th of January anyway. I only earn £22 when I am in and have been accepted to claim income support today so that should be sorted within the next 10 days.

My boyfriend will only be staying 2 nights a week as he lives at university (not sure if that will affect anything).

I've babbled on a bit but thought I'd give you all a bit of basic information so I can get some advice on the following questions

Anyways.... my questions lol

1. Can I use my Dad as my rent guarantor and what does that involve doing?
2. How much will the housing benefits be willing to pay of the rent and bills?
3. How do I go about getting in contact with the housing benefits and do you think I'll qualify?
4. Will my boyfriend staying 2 nights a week change anything?

Throw any other information at me if you think I'll need it I'm completely new to this and completely confused so I'm happy to accept any advice

Thanks xxxx

The rent guaran-mcdoobery just means that if you fail to pay rent he'll be responsible for it... I think you can do that through the council... Not too sure on that one.

Have a look on entitledto.co.uk and you can roughly work out what you'd get...I'm earning about £500 a month and my BF is on JSA and I'd get all but about £20 a week paid for housing ben and council tax ben on a one-bedroom flat that is £525 a month. According to the calculator anyway!

I think you'll have to sort it out through the council...

Your boyfriend staying a couple of nights won't make a difference. I wouldn't even bother mentioning it tbh. It's only if he's there the majority of the time, eg it's his main home that it makes a difference I think.. Unless because he's in education (he is isn't he?...or am I getting confused) you'd get more by declaring that he does live there... I'm not too sure.

I think your best bet would be talking to the Council or CAB, you could enquire over the phone, then at least you can figure out the best possible way to get the most out of it, without digging yourself into a hole...iykwim... If you start asking what it would be best to declare face to face they might get a bit funny with you.

Just find out what's the best way to do it and then go in and sort it out, I reckon anyway.

Sorry I can't be much more help!!! Good luck!

xxxx

 

[elley_baby248]

where i live, peterborough, england

we got told they will not cover a 2bedroom property untill baby is born as you do not need 2bedrooms before and sometimes they say baby does not need its own room till XX months old so therefore you still do not need a 2bed property...

Rent really depends on how much you earn a month as to how much they will pay anything from £10 per week - £90 per week i think the rate is, as for bills thats all on you

your bf staying over 2 nights a week should not affect anything if his not living there its just like when you had sleep overs with friends at your parents..


but as i said thats where i am but hope it might of helped a bit


good luck

I don't know if rent down your way is slightly cheaper but i know that in Cheshire i get paid £101 a week for just myself in a 3 bed house.

I will get full rent allowance once the baby is here even if i stay in a house that i'm not really entitled to. I had this for 16 weeks when i first asked for HB i was working before then and i got close to £700 a month from them and my rent is only £495

 

[Sarah-Jane]

Thanks alot everyone
I also live in Cheshire... well, Dukinfield but Cheshire's on my address haha!
Council won't be open tomorrow will they? So is it best giving them a ring on Monday?
Hope I can work all this out lol I expected it to be really confusing but you've made it seem quite simple Elley... thanks xxx

 

[Becky]

1. Can I use my Dad as my rent guarantor and what does that involve doing? - Yes but if you were claiming fraugulatly (sp) then the council would seek the money from your dad all he needs to do is write a letter confirming he is happy to do this.

2. How much will the housing benefits be willing to pay of the rent and bills? The council will pay up to 100% of your rent but wont pay anything towards your bills
3. How do I go about getting in contact with the housing benefits and do you think I'll qualify? Call your local council and ask to speak to housing benefits and they will send you all the paper work to fill out
4. Will my boyfriend staying 2 nights a week change anything? as long as he isnt living there permantly at any time e.g holidays I dont see a problem

 

[elley_baby248]

Thanks alot everyone
I also live in Cheshire... well, Dukinfield but Cheshire's on my address haha!
Council won't be open tomorrow will they? So is it best giving them a ring on Monday?
Hope I can work all this out lol I expected it to be really confusing but you've made it seem quite simple Elley... thanks xxx

It sounds complicated my friend thought the same but i think they make it seem that way to put people off lol It's pretty easy to be honest.

I'm in Mid Cheshire (Northwich) so it's a different council (saying that it could be the same now with the councils being split it's all so stupid lol)

Oh and yeah it's monday to friday

 

[Sarah-Jane]

I'll give them a ring on Monday and see where I stand, hopefully it will all go as easy for me as it has for you
If my boyfriend does stay over in the holidays which isn't very often if I'm honest... he has like 3-4 holidays a year... would that affect me? x

 

[elley_baby248]

Not at all as he isn't living there he is just staying. It's only if he would contribute financially to the household and class it as his main home it would affect you.

BTW you may find till the baby is born you will get less housing benefit than you will once he is here.

 

[GersPrincess]

Hey,
sorry for the late reply, but have only just stumbled across your message.

You can actually ask the council to do a "pre-rent determination calculation" whereby you give them the details of the property you want to rent and how much it costs and what income you have etc, and they will tell you how much towards that they will be willing to pay.

If you need help for the deposit, if you're already on Income Support, you can apply for a budgeting loan to help with the deposit costs only.

If you receive housing benefit, you're landlord will not need you to give him a guarantor, because as long as you always keep the council updated with any changes there won't be a break in your benefit so no need for a guarantor. You can also request the payments go direct to your landlord, which they default to doing if you haven't paid your rent for 8 weeks (but don't do that!).

If you get housing benefit, you will more often than not get council tax benefit paid also.

With regards to your partner. Do NOT say he lives with you if he only stays a couple of nights a week at most. If he stays 3 or more then you must admit to it. Because he is a student, you would not be entitiled to any more benefit than you would as a single person, as they are not eligible for access to these funds. They are expected to claim a bursary from the college to help with costs, or to live on campus. So you would be doing yourself more harm than good.

Lastly, watch out for your council's policy, as some of them will only pay for a 1 bedroom property if the claimant is under 25 regardless of having children, whilst others will say you are not entitled to claim for 2 bedrooms until your child reaches 1 year old.

Best way to check is with the pre-rent determination.

Also, look out for any deposit guarantee schemes that may be run by the council where they pay the first months rent and deposit as a "guarantee" to the landlord... can be useful.

Lastly. You could apply to your council as homeless, and would be accepted as a priority because you have no suitable home for yourself, your child and your partner. You do not need to be roofless to be classed as homeless... if you need any info on this (i work in the homeless team of my local council) PM me and I'll help as much as i can

x x x