Please help!

Abird1108 · 21 January 2015 at 6:15PM

Hi,
I think this is posted in the right subforum, if not, I'm so sorry!
I'm after some advice and hoping you guys can help; it's going to be a LONG one so if you stick around til the end then I love you forever!

I'm 21, and I recently moved into my first house with my other half, and we're avid MSE followers (we get the email and watch Martin on everything he's on!) so we're fine.
The "problem" is my mum. She's never been great with money, getting in debt as long as I can remember, and now she's in a predicament.

*back story* We lived in the house I basically grew up in for 9 years, until 2013, in which we moved to live with my grandad to care for him. My mum moved all the stuff we were keeping and us, with the intention to go back and do skip runs and give it a good clean. It was a pretty snap decision and everything was decided and moved within a week. Unfortunately a couple of days after we moved, she had a heart attack & spent time in hospital. This left me to deal with the house, which I was unable to do due to health conditions. So I liaised with the landlords and such. The house WAS in a mess. Anyway, it didn't get sorted. Mum came out of hospital, I left her to sorting it as she said she had it under control. I was under the impression it was being dealt with.

A year down the line Spring 2014, my dad came back on the scene and mum had some sort of mental breakdown and ended up moving back in with my dad (this is when me and my other half got our house) and I said it was a bad idea, but who listens to those with sense?!

In August of this year, dad chucked mum out and threatened to put her in a hostel, so we took her in til she could find somewhere. Then it became clear how deep her problems were.
She never sorted out the landlord problem, so they professional cleaned it and emptied it and sent her a bill of £1000 which she hadn't paid.
She also has various debts to other places, and has had a CCJ in the past.
Basically, she won't get a reference from the landlord to find somewhere else, owes a tonne of money, and can't get herself out of this mess.
I suggested she go to the council, but they won't help as she has no dependents and doesn't have references.
CAB couldn't help, which I'm surprised about.

So what do I do?
She can't stay here forever (that sounds mean, but it's not meant to sound mean, she needs a life!)...
How can I help her? What can we do to sort all this out?

Any advice GREATLY appreciated, thank you so so much!

xx

Tixy · 21 January 2015 at 8:37PM

Hi and welcome to the forum

Did she speak to CAB about her housing situation? or her finances/debts etc?

First thing would be for her to seek some debt advice, do you know roughly how much she owes in total? does she have any income currently? If she is not working is she claiming any benefits she is entitled to?

Abird1108 · 21 January 2015 at 9:49PM

Hi Tixy,
Thank you

She spoke to CAB about both, apparently they can't do anything about housing as she has no dependent children, and her debts they can't do anything because she's under my roof and it'll affect my credit rating.

I would say max £2000 in debt, possibly less. She works full time and earns £800 a month. She doesn't qualify for any benefits.

Thank you xx

happy_bunny_2 · 21 January 2015 at 10:05PM

Your mum living with you will not have any impact on your credit rating, unless you have joint accounts. That's just wrong.

Could you not draft some kind of tenancy agreement/act as reference?

She should be able to get on a housing list, maybe just not very high priority. You talked to the council?

Tixy · 21 January 2015 at 10:14PM

Her debts and credit won't affect your ability to get credit or your credit file. Credit files are specific to individuals not addresses and have been for almost 20years. Not very good advice from that particular CAB person.

How receptive is she to your help? would she be open to your help discussing where she is spending and setting a budget? £2k debts isn't a lot of money for her income espescially if she is living cheaply with you at the moment. She should be able to afford to set up some repayment plans?

Based on an online calculator on that income she should be entitled to tax credits of around £25 a week I think.

Not sure if it may be worth speaking to shelter to see if they can offer any advice for housing solutions? And what her position would be if you refused to house her any longer (which may change things?).

dancingfairy · 21 January 2015 at 10:30PM

She should be able to apply for council housing. They may not be able to assist her as they probably have a long waiting list but they should at least process her application.
It would probably help her cause if she were to document her health problems (my understanding is that you get a greater priority if you have health issues and mental health issues would come under that).
Furthermore I suspect that in order for the council to step in and house your mum she would need to be truly homeless which would mean that you would have to threaten to give her notice/write to the council to explain that she can't live with you anymore and possibly even actually throw her out.
Shelter should be able to talk you through all the options and applying for council housing etc.
Do you have any savings at all? You may find she can rent privately if you are a home owner and willing to be a guarantor or perhaps you could help her with 6 months rent up front?
She should make sure she is claiming all the benefits she is entitled to. It might be worth having a look to see what help she would get when living on her own to see what sort of help she would get with housing,council tax etc and what sort of level of rent should could afford.
The main thing, I think is to get a roof over her head and get the rent paid. Once she is settled then she can begin to think about tackling her debts (And it can all be sorted with payment plans and the like).
Somewhere like National Debtline, Stepchange or her local CAB should be able to help with sorting out the debts.
Regards
df

Abird1108 · 22 January 2015 at 12:07PM

Thank you so so so much for all your help, I really appreciate it!

MSE'ers are awesome!

When_the_going_gets_tough · 22 January 2015 at 3:11PM

Can she go back and live with your grandad?
If not the housing issue is the first one.
She will only be successful in a homelessness application if she has priority needs because of her health issues. She would need to be able to demonstrate this. She will not be successful unless you state that she is no longer able to live with you. She needs specialist help and advice - larger CABs may have housing experts but not all - it depends where you live. Shelter are a good source of advice - again it depends where you live.
If she is not accepted as in priority need - and you can appeal this if she is rejected - then sadly there is little help for able bodied adults. She needs to rent in the private sector and will need access to a deposit and the first months rent and possibly will need a guarantor. Some local authorities have deposit bonds schemes and some will help via the discretionary housing payments - again it depends where you live. I agree with other posters - she/you need to concentrate on stabilising her housing situation and sorting her benefits out. The she can take advice about her debt.

Dobbibill · 24 January 2015 at 6:16PM

I agree that her housing is a priority before any debts and the advice given by other posters is very good, hopefully it will help you and your Mum.

Also looking ahead for when she does find housing this may be a handy link for essentials. Turn to us have a charity grant database that can help with things like washing machines, cookers and other essentials to live day to day.

DB

Sazzie23 · 25 January 2015 at 1:50AM

Not sure how old Mum is but locally there is generally accommodation available in the sheltered housing sector, often it is available to single people who are not yet retired.

Hope you get it sorted, for all of you.

Vkz · 25 January 2015 at 10:27AM

I would check out the shelter website and also double check the council, I thought they had a obligation to help and advise people who are homeless.

Please help!

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free