How many super rich rent?

ivan_the_not-so-terrible

OK, probably not an accurate heading, but read on ....

We've been sheltered from the "real" cost of housing for years as I've always lived in tied accomodation due to my agricultural occupation. Sixteen months ago I lost my job as a farm manager and with it the farmhouse

The local council housing is a no hoper as we have five kids and the chances of getting a four bedroom house are the same as me getting new job as an astronaut!. Before you say it ... I'd be happy with three bedrooms, but they are not allowed to offer us one as ages and sex of kids + their rules mean four bedrooms min??? That said, even three bedroom houses around here on the council are like hens teeth and we are well down the list!

So ... Private renting. Ok, we eventually found a four bedroom house with a LL hppy to accept housing benefit recievers, but now it looks like they are going to sell up (they've moved to NZ) so we may have to strt looking again. Now the problem we had last time, so presumably this time too, is finding somewhere. I'm now a self employed agricultural contractor and make around £15-20K (I could make more ... maybe £25K) However, round here even the most humble three bedroom house rents out for around £900-£1100/month. Letting agents require you earn at least thirty times the monthly rent which is around £30k. I hate claiming HB but simply can't get out of the vicious circle we're now in. Most letting agents around here don't allow HB (Henry Adams, Hancocks, ect) but with my earnings I need that top up. There is no council housing as I said, so where are you supposed to live? We were very lucky last time around, as we were within days of becoming homeless. I can see the whole thing happening again if our present LL's do sell. I'm not a scrounger, in fact HB is the first thing I've ever claimed in the 28 years since I left school! I work (bloody hard), but in an industry that doesn't pay much. We've never missed a rent payment and never been a bother to the LL's, but once you mention the dreaded HB's to Letting agents, you never hear from them again!

So how do others manage? I noticed a thread on the Jobs/work forum, where people have posted about their work and income. It seems most earn around £25k, so how do they pass the rent/earnings ratio set by letting agents? Surely not everyone around my area (Sussex) who rents, can be earning over £30K+?

Ivan

PS ... I know earning £30K doesn't make you super rich BTW ;-)

julie03

try looking for private landlords that don't use letting agents, we need housing benefit as a top up and we found our landlord in loot. had to phone alot of others first though

PasturesNew

As I understand it, it's not bedrooms they are counting, but rooms. So if a house has 4 rooms upstairs (bedrooms) and two downstairs (living rooms), that'd count as a "5 bedroom house" and one with 3 rooms upstairs and two downstairs would count as a "4 bedroom house".

Jowo_2

The council may have regulations concerning minimum/maximum number of rooms but a private landlord is not subject to this, as far as I'm aware.

Some landlords require LHA tenants to provide a guarantor - can you offer one?

Does your wife work?

Sammy85_2

Look for a private landlord, but as said before, he may require a guarantor or x months upfront.

Check out the local papers/corner shop windows. Worth ringing round your local LAs too, specifically ask them to check with LL's if they will take HB, some advertise "no HB" but can be swayed on individual cases.

PasturesNew

Jowo wrote: »

The council may have regulations concerning minimum/maximum number of rooms but a private landlord is not subject to this, as far as I'm aware.

This is true, you can rent any size house you want. It's just when you're allocated social housing that they apply the rooms rule.

NEH

Agree with the others find out about your local papers as they can be a good source of properties to let...Agents can throw spanners in the works...Unfortunately it will be a case of ringing around and spending some time on it.

My husband is self employed and i have a long term illness so we weren't in the high earners either though we weren't on housing benefit. We did however have a guarantor on stand by which does seem to help, would there be any family members say willing to do this?

ivan_the_not-so-terrible

Thanks for the replies,

As I understand it, it's not bedrooms they are counting, but rooms. So if a house has 4 rooms upstairs (bedrooms) and two downstairs (living rooms), that'd count as a "5 bedroom house" and one with 3 rooms upstairs and two downstairs would count as a "4 bedroom house".

Amounts to the same thing really, but I see where you're coming from. Local housing association show max number of people who can live in a property, and like you say, a three bedroom may count as four if a downstairs room can be used as a forth bedroom. Even so, there are no three beds available and those that are go to higher priority cases. We had an interview with the locl housing officer and he basiclly said we don't stand a chance of getting a council house in this area.

try looking for private landlords that don't use letting agents, we need housing benefit as a top up and we found our landlord in loot. had to phone alot of others first though

Yep, will keep looking .... you never know!

The council may have regulations concerning minimum/maximum number of rooms but a private landlord is not subject to this, as far as I'm aware.

Some landlords require LHA tenants to provide a guarantor - can you offer one?

Does your wife work?

Housing benefit is subject to the same room requirements, so to get help paying we'd still need at least four available rooms to use as bedrooms.
No unfortuntely
Again no, she looks after the kids, and as unskilled, if she did go back to work, I doubt her wages would contribute much other than make the housing benefit claim more complicated than it already is (they really need to sort out how they deal with self employed ernings that fluctuate!)

Ivan

PasturesNew

ivan_the_not-so-terrible wrote: »

Housing benefit is subject to the same room requirements, so to get help paying we'd still need at least four available rooms to use as bedrooms.

I think there's misunderstanding somewhere.

For private renting, housing benefit will tell you the maximum number of rooms they'd be prepared to pay for that covers your mix of sex/age within the household. That doesn't mean you can't choose something bigger or larger. If larger, you make up the cost difference, if smaller then I think (for now) you can even keep £15/week of the difference.

So you're free to choose whatever size house you want .... but you need to be aware of the LHA they'd pay you in your area for your circumstances.

hermum

You could do with seeking advice from shelter, if your ll's sell up & give you notice & you are unable to find accommodation, as long as you have a local connection, haven't made yourself intentionally homeless & are in a priority group, with kids you obviously would be a priority. Your LA would have a duty to house you, council housing is generally in short supply, so it could be that you would have temp accommodation until such time as a permanent house was available. B&B can only be used for short term & for a family of 7 it would be too costly to the council so they would want you moved on asap. (This is how it was 3 years ago) everyone who is homeless or threatened with homelessness within 28 days is entitled to make a homeless application to their council. IF you are given correct notice then your family will be a priority. Again if you're given notice, take it asap to the local council, housing advice section, they can check on the validity if it & explain your rights.

ivan_the_not-so-terrible

Hi,

I was told last time round that to recieve housing benefit, the house you rent has to meet the requirement of need. Which in our case was a min of four bedrooms (or three and one that can be used as such). Yes, the max amount they will pay is based on family size and local rental rates (which are high here). In fact the house we rent is a couple of hundred below the max but is still £1400/month! We don't get the full amount because of my earnings, but we certainly couldn't afford it without the top up! That's why I wondered how others managed? ... This house is hardly opulent! (four beds in a nice...ish but not posh cul-de-sac, on the outskirts of the town).

Hermum, We got very near to what you describe when I lost the house and job 16 months ago. The local housing officer was bl:mad::mad:dy useless though! Couldn't offer us anything even when we were top priority. Apart from the fact it wouldn't have happened over my dead body, he said we'd have to be split into two groups (groups?) as the only sheltered accomodation they had available at the time were two seperate hostels with rooms for a max of four.

I'm not that desperate as I could virtually walk into another farm managers job with a house and good salary. However, the kids are all settled in schools ect here, and I am working ... We're just worried about this housing issue. Worst comes to worse, we will have to move

My question really was how do others on a working man's income, manage? As far as I can see, in this area there is NO affordable housing for those with larger families on anything less than around £30k Those on less have no choice but to claim HB ... but where are the private landlords who accept it? Daft thing is, HB is pretty much a gaurentee that you can pay your rent?

Maggie Thatcher ... You have a lot to answer for! :mad: