Elderly lady - no heating -help please!

Edinburghlass_2

Had hubby been a Mason? as they would help.

Savvy_Sue

Were she or hubby in a profession or job that had a membership body, or were either of them in a union for any length of time? Does she go to church? - if so then there may be church charities which could be approached, eg the Vicar's Relief Fund (and I don't think you have to be CofE to apply for that, but can't make a personal application, has to go through someone).

Also there's an article and discussion somewhere about grants for individuals, may be worth taking a look at that and I will point to it tomorrow if no-one else gets there first. I am sure there is a charity for Distressed Gentlewomen too, but not finding that either.

Having said all that, is staying in her own property the right thing to do in the medium to long term? Is she otherwise fit and healthy and able to take care of herself? Because if the lack of heating is only the tip of an iceberg (sorry!), then it really is worth considering the alternatives.

hermum

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/grant-grabbing
there may be something useful here.
Check out your council, ours do have loans available for owner occupiers, as Savvy Sue said are there other problems with the house?
This is from our LA website, yours probably has something similar.
Services for home owners

Loans may be available to owner occupiers living throughout the city, qualifying benefits are:

• Income Support
• Council Tax Benefit
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
• War Disablement Pension
• Pension Credit
• Working Tax Credit (WTC) providing the recipient has a relevant household income of less than £ 15,460* plus either a disability element of WTC, Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance
• Child tax credit providing the recipient has a relevant household income of less than £15,460

*Subject to change by Government
Loans may be available to anyone qualifying on any of the above conditions to bring your home up to the Decent Homes Standard. The following are common examples of works that can be funded:

• roof repairs
• damp proofing
• new window or doors
• energy efficiency measures
• structural defects

Savvy_Sue

Thanks hermum, that was the link I was looking for.

tiamaria

Well thanks for all the replies, there's a lot for me to look through there.

She looks after herself very well and is fit and healthy as much as an octogenarian can be?

There WERE problems with the house, the roof caved in, that's where her savings went, the insurance wouldn't pay as they claimed the roof was asbestos but it's just the heating problem at the moment.

Farway

You could also contact the Veterans Agency as hubby was in forces

http://www.veterans-uk.info/

themull1

Or Citizens advice, does she not have any family?

Savvy_Sue

tiamaria wrote: »

She looks after herself very well and is fit and healthy as much as an octogenarian can be?

There WERE problems with the house, the roof caved in, that's where her savings went, the insurance wouldn't pay as they claimed the roof was asbestos but it's just the heating problem at the moment.

There are two elements here, as I see it: 'her' and 'the house'.

1. HER: so she is fit and healthy atm, but is the house 'sensible' if something even semi-catastrophic happens? My parents bought a quite ridiculous house, far too large, would be absolutely impossible to get a wheelchair in and out without major adaptations (because both front and back door require a turn the minute you're in), floors between rooms have little 'steps', and so on. Mum knows she has to stay mobile (because she doesn't want to move!) and there are good local services she can access. They had a stair lift put in, too. What can be done fairly easily has been done: grab rails, for example.
2. OTOH the house is in reasonable repair, and now Dad's died we're doing our best to make sure it stays that way! So the roof doesn't leak (although some of the gutters need attention) and the windows are sound (and don't need repainting!) and the electrics are safe and the plumbing 'works'.

Now, you say 'the roof caved in' and 'the insurance wouldn't pay as they claimed the roof was asbestos': that doesn't make sense to me. What the roof was made of was immaterial: the insurance might not have paid out because it was 'wear and tear' rather than a high wind damaging an otherwise sound roof. Or they might not have paid out because she was badly under-insured.

So I just wonder if this lady doesn't really understand how things work, and in that case I'd question whether she wants to get to grips with this, or whether she'd rather not. I'd also question how long the windows are going to last, and what state the electrics and plumbing are in.

In other words, if the boiler is just the next thing in a long list of things to go wrong and need sorting out, and if she's not in a position to cope with sorting things out, then is it the time to gently suggest that she looks into sheltered housing? She'd retain her independence, BUT there would be help on hand if she needed it, AND someone else would sort out all the little and not so little niggles with her home.

Just a thought!

indi22

Tell her to contact SALRC - they help single ladies of any age. Some of whom have their own homes and some even have savings!

Sorry, I'm not allowed to post links! but it's salrc . org

tiamaria

The house is a small cottage, 1 bedroom and a box room, a stair lift is fitted (bought with house) although unused as yet. Her sister sold her home to move into sheltered housing and regretted it every day so she would be unlikely to want to go down this route.

She's independant with all faculties intact and surely it's a good thing for a person to maintain their independance for as long as they can & she does have some family who help her a lot, they just don't have enough cash to buy her a boiler!

The roof business was due to bad weather/storm damage, the insurance company came round to assess, they paid for the damage caused by the incident (carpets etc) but they said the roof was asbestos and they wouldn't cover it. After the incident they even cancelled her insurance full stop before the end of the term despite knowing that the roof had been fixed. This was a couple of years ago and she's now got some insurance with Saga afaik.

Anyway, back to the boiler, - another plumber is coming to have a look, the previous plumber said if it was fixed it wouldn't last long and she should get a new one - it's hard to know who's telling the truth and who's out to make a few bucks,however her elderly friend recommended this new plumber who's coming to have a look, he's sure he can fix it so fingers crossed.