Were looing to offer a house share for a single mother and her daughter

GEORGYPORGY

Vader123 wrote: »

And 2.5 year old toddler.

In the spare room.

Meals provided.

Just does not sound right IMO and we are missing something.

Vader

Yes you are being cynical!
we currently let our spare room to foreign students, which believe me is harder work than any 2 year old toddler,
with regards our potential new lodger, as i mentioned, we live in a town with over 60,000 students and rented accommodation is what could only be described as at premium prices, the said single mother and her daughter are life long friends of my Mrs, who is indeed the Godmother to the toddler, i was rather hoping that i might get some advice on the benefits side of this issue rather than have to have our motives called into question, God forbid that any of the doubters who have thrown in their "pennyworth" should fall on difficult times!
I guess i have indeed come to the wrong place to ask for some advice.

blue_monkey_2

So why would they come and live with you and not have their own house which they will get paid for, in full? Rent and council tax.

And how many students can you get into a spare room?

And yes, we did fall on 'hard times' when we was evicted due to the house we rented being sold and the private rents being high we could afford them - however, we went through the process that we had to and now have a 3 bed Housing Association house which means we have a secure lifelong tenancy. Should anything ever happen to my husbands job the rent and the CT will be paid. Your 'friend' could do the same if she is homeless with a child. Unless of course she has a vested interest in another property then she will not get HB anyway.

GEORGYPORGY

i must re-iterate, quite clearly as you don't seem to get it!
my good lady is the God mother of the child in question, moreover, she has known the girl in question for over 21 years, the girl in question has lived in rented accommodation on her own with her child for the past 2 1/2 years which she has been paying for with her wages from work and help from the LA, as a housing association tennent yourself, you will know how long the process of getting deposits together, dealing with councils and social security offices takes, she has been given notice by her current landlord which is due to come to fruition at the end of this month, she does not have a small fortune to hand to put down as a deposit currently, moreover, our LHA is nothing but a dire bloody mess, you might recall the local council in the news recently for loosing millions of pounds after investing in banks in Iceland, well that's the group of retards that this poor girl is having to rely on.
We indeed let our spare room to 1, 2 or sometime 3 foreign students who pay a lot more than would be asked for from the girl and her daughter in question .
we were not asking for your opinions on this particular situation, we were asking for advice into what should be required from her, the LA and possibly any pitfalls that we should be aware of.
Moreover, isnt it Mr Martin Lewis himself that suggests that should someone having issues with Mortgage payments etc be considering renting out a room under the rent a room arrangement?, (not that we find ourselves in financial problems), God forbid.

Oldernotwiser

GEORGYPORGY wrote: »

Moreover, isnt it Mr Martin Lewis himself that suggests that should someone having issues with Mortgage payments etc be considering renting out a room under the rent a room arrangement?, (not that we find ourselves in financial problems), God forbid.

I don't think that ML was advocating the tax payer paying to subsidise people's mortgages though!

If she's being made homeless she might have a chance of being housed by the council, so your offer could be doiing her a grave disservice. Even if not, she'll have the deposit for the current accommodation to use on another one or the LA may well have a deposit scheme that she can use.

Even if your motives are as pure as snow, I don't see that you're doing this young woman any favours and you won't be much better off yourself on 71 pounds a week, compared to letting the room to 3 (!) students!

Vader123

So issues aside, why don't you answer some of the questions put to you:

1) Why are you filling in the LHA application form? Why have you had sight of it?
2) Do you provide meals to the students or is this a new arrangement to the single person friend?

I am sorry to say it raises too many questions and could be considered a contrived agreement.

I base this on :

1) The close nature of you and the young family
2) The unique circumstances of the single mother being entitled to a home of her own yet choosing a "sharing arrangement" in a lodger type setting.
3) The question mark around providing meals
4) The fact you are obviously involved in the application process and seem to be filling in the form.
5) The way your very very denfensive of the circs and openly hostile towards the council.

These are just my observations and all IMO.

Vader

hippy-chicy

dmg24 wrote: »

If she only has sole use of one room, she will only be eligible for the shared rate. I agree with Caz3121, it seems silly to move into a shared house when the LA will provide for a private property.

This will not apply in this case.

As she has a dependant she will be entitled to the two room LHA regardless of if she is in shared accommodation or not. So in this case the shared rate will not apply.

The LA will also look into the commerciality of the agreement as you are a family friend. They will look to see if the agreement is that of a landlord and tenant who do not have the family connection. The will want to be satisfied that the agreement is not contrived (as Vader has already pointed out). This is where you may have problems juding by your subseqent posts.

You should include ALL costs included in the rent on the application form, including the fact that some meals are included in the rent. Depending on what is included in the rent ( if there is substantial board) the LA may decide to refer the case to the rent officer rather than pay the applicable LHA rate.

GEORGYPORGY

Were not filling any forms, moreover, we dont have any forms to fill in apart from the tenancy agreement which has only been printed off and not been filled out as we were hope to glean some important information here with regards "short hold tenancy agreements",
we do indeed provide meals to the foreign students which consist of brekkie, packed lunch and an evening meal, so no nothing new there.
with regards our relationship with said girl, had she not been close to us, this offer would not have been made and we would indeed stick with what we know as in keeping our overseas students.
as i previously mentioned, council property in this neck of the woods is at a premium, the current waiting list for a single mother with a child is nothing less that 18 months, the question of meals is why i asked in the first place, would it be of value to offer her meals like we do our students and let the council know this, the girl in question currently receives £11.00 per week in income support.
I have no access to filling the forms for benefit, however, we have been asked by the claimee to assist, and as i dont really know my way around such tablets of power, i thought i would come and ask you guys( opps, error numero uno).
and finally as a a council take payer or in other words "payee of the local Cosa- Nostra" i find my local council nothing short of bureaucratic and a waste of my very hard earned wages in actual fact Canterbury city council and chocolate teapot wouldn't be far from the truth.

DX2

She would get priority if she and child was being made homeless.

GEORGYPORGY

ok, cool, now were getting advise and opinion, thank you.

terryw

You will be renting a room in your own home. A shorthold tenancy is for a separate dwelling.