Renting for the first time?

Aruffell

Hi all,

Short summary is that me and my brother both have a hereditary ilness with our spines and are due to this, signed off work on employment and support allowance.

I am in the process of waiting for a DLA decision and my brother will be applying for DLA very soon too.

We are both living at home with parents (I'm 23 and he is 31 with a 13 year old daughter)

We both want to move our due to our dad being epileptic and our 3 bedroom family home just isn't big enough for us all, and it's getting our parents down causing stress which doesn't help any of us, especially my dad.

So instead of us moving out seperately and getting the government to pay for 2 places for us, we thought about moving in together.

What would be the maximum amount we would get for housing benefit in Medway, Kent, South East England so we can start looking for places and what kind of prices should we pay for utilities?

Am i right in saying that due to the ESA and DLA, we won't be liable to pay council tax?

Do these prices seem reasonable to what i've worked out:


TV License - £12.12
Internet - £38
Gas - £40
Electric - £40
Water - £30

Total £160.12

Have i missed anything off? Never done any of this before so need some guidance.

Thanks,

Andy

McKneff

you get benefits on the amount of household income, not on whatactual benefits you receive.
LDA is disregarded in the calculations.

BitterAndTwisted

Get onto your Local Authority's website and check what their LHA is (Local Housing Allowance). As one of you is under 25 I believe that the maximum they will pay for someone of that age is a flat or house-share rate. Once you know what you can claim the difficulty will be finding a landlord to accept tenants claiming benefits, which will be not be easy.

As far as I am aware claiming the benefits you quoted does not mean you won't be liable for Council Tax so you might have to add on a bout £100 a month for that onto your budget. You haven't factored in any mobile phone or landline costs or contents insurance.

Also, what's wrong with four people living in a three-bedroomed property? I don't see what the problem is, really. You're not overcrowded by a long chalk

McKneff

There are 5 people in the house

Mum, dad, OP, brother and 13 year old.

How do your mum and dad feel about it, mother probably needs your support apart from the financial support you and brother give her.

Aruffell

There is 5 of us.

I thought we could get housing benefit and council tax benefit?

Didn't factor in mobile phones as brother is on pay as you go and hardly uses anything and mine is paid for the next 9 months due to past dealings with network provider.

Just looking into contents insurance, but landline is not needed.

Mum and dad are stressed because money is tight and everyone is on top of each other in the house, hence us wanting to give us all space.

Andy

BitterAndTwisted

I have a feeling that once you are paying for two separate households and all of their associated costs none of you will be better off financially.

Jowo_2

Download the budget planner on the free tools section of this website as it will remind you of other household expenses.

The entitled to (turn 2 us) online benefits calculator will help you understand your benefit entitlements.

Have a look at the LHA direct website which will indicate your maximum LHA allowance. Note that the budget this year has proposed some caps, a change from LHA being calculated by the bottom third of local rents instead of the average (change from 50th percentile to 30th) and a 10% cut in LHA for those on jobseekers allowance over a year.

Many landlords will not accept benefit claimants as tenants. Some that do will require the tenants to provide a guarantor as a condition of the tenancy. Is there anyone who can do this for you, should you be asked?

Typically you will need to pay a deposit of between a month and 6 weeks rent, plus the first months rent in advance, plus perhaps a couple of hundred in admin fees for a letting agent, plus some moving costs, so you really need to have savings equivalent to around two to two and a half months rent. Some councils offer deposit guarantee schemes to those on low income.

neverdespairgirl

Aruffell wrote: »

There is 5 of us.

I thought we could get housing benefit and council tax benefit?

You can, but the rate is different for those over 25 and under 25. What local authority area do you live in?