How to help unemployed single mum onto the housing ladder?

roswell

off topic but IT isnt a good industry at the moment plumming / electrical / trade etx would bring in a much better income than 90 % of IT juobs unless you live in the london area / can commute to london / surrounding areas.

Fran

ABN wrote:

I was working and the wife stayed home to look after the children.

This was a different situation as you didn't have to leave the work situation so your career continued.

As to whether your sister is a skiving from my experience in life and on behalf of all the working single parents who can’t be here because of their circumstances, but who’s tax from their HARD EARNED money you would be using for your own gain, I can say YES she is.

She has probably worked before and will again, I can't see why you would begrudge people help when they need it.

richgirl

Fran wrote:

This was a different situation as you didn't have to leave the work situation so your career continued.

She has probably worked before and will again, I can't see why you would begrudge people help when they need it.

help is paying housing benefit as a temporary measure whilst the person is unemployed, help is not paying a mortgage for the next 25 years !

its this sort of free cash , i.e. printing of money that is making housing unaffordable.

jakehamble

ABN wrote:

When the children were 4 and 6 respectively the wife left ...l leaving me as a single WORKING father bringing up 2 young kids.

ABN, please don't judge based entirely on your situation. For a start, when 2 of the 3 children are pre-school (1 and 2) then working is much harder. And as Fran points out, work is a little easier to continue when you have it in the first place.

As to whether your defrauding the benefit system or not. I don’t know enough about it to say if you are legally defrauding them but from a moral standpoint I can say YES you are.

But I haven't done anything yet! She's renting, ordinarily, from a useless private landlord. I'm just looking for a way to help her.

As to whether your sister is a skiving from my experience in life and on behalf of all the working single parents who can’t be here because of their circumstances, but who’s tax from their HARD EARNED money you would be using for your own gain, I can say YES she is.

I don't follow the logic at all here. Because she has a brother who cares about her means that therefore she is a skiver?

Let me reiterate once more: I'm not trying to find a way to abuse the system. I'm trying to find a way to help her out of the system so that she becomes less of a strain on the taxpayer in future. I fail to see how this is offensive, but I suppose some people just choose to be offended. I'm sorry you feel that way.

natwill_3

jakehamble wrote:

Thanks black-saturn.

One of the main issues is about how to make it affordable to pay the balance. If she can only get £500 and the mortgage payments are £1000, the obvious answer is it can't be done.

I'm hoping someone exceedingly clever here can help with that predicament. A bit of lateral thinking is probably required!

Jake

This is what people may take exception to......

jakehamble

Natwill - where in that post is the suggestion that I'm trying to defraud the system?

natwill_3

jakehamble wrote:

Natwill - where in that post is the suggestion that I'm trying to defraud the system?

I am tired of saying this, if she can't afford the mortage, who is going to pay it? You are looking for clever ideas to get round HB rules

Surely better to leave her as is until she is able to buy with a salary?.

Over and out

jakehamble

natwill wrote:

You are looking for clever ideas to get round HB rules

Not what I had in mind by 'lateral thinking'. Sorry if I've given that impression.

black-saturn

You will have to make sure you are charging her a fair rent. So you have to make sure that the rent is the same or similar to other rents for the same kind of properties in the same area. So if your charging way over what other houses in the area are charging the HB won't pay the excess. But there is not reason why you can't rent to her and she claim HB.

jakehamble

I've come to the conclusion that there is no way to do this at the moment. I will talk to her about hte possibility of helping her move and rent a more suitable place with a more amenable landlord, and how I can assist with her education.

I was hoping there would be some magic answer that I hadn't considered, such as some kind of shared ownership idea or other plan to make it affordable, but sadly that seems not to be the case.

I am one of four siblings. Three of us have jobs and our own house/mortgage. Circumstance has put my sister in a less fortunate position. I would just like to help her as best I can.