fed up!

mumof4littleones

Where shall I start, I have 4 children aged 3 5 7 and 9 and have seperated from a 15 year marriage. :(I work 12 hours a week and take home £14,000 a year. We have just sold our house to find myself and the kids a cheaper house to buy and pay off the outstanding debts. I cannot get a mortgage by myself so we have decided to buy my new house in joint names so I could get he mortgage but I will be 100% responsible for the mortgage and bills etc, hubby will rent somewhere. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, I have no family to help in any way so need some good advice.:(

zagfles

Make sure you're getting tax credits as a single parent - on that income you should get max CTC at about £177 a week (£196 from April).

mumof4littleones

Thanks for replying, this is all very new to me, I have always worked, all my friends work so I don't really have anyone to ask for advice..... I am so skint, this month I have had to pay the mortgage with the credit card

flutterby_lil

How come it goes up from April, I thought it would go down?

How can you roughly work out what you will get from April? Just out if interest for myself.

I work 35 hours per work, OH 48 hpw self employed. We have a 2 year old who currently costs £176 a week in childcare. These costs will go down from September to approx £100 but until then nothing will change.

Thanks

Indie_Kid

flutterby_lil wrote: »

How come it goes up from April, I thought it would go down?

Whilst the thresholds and the amount paid (70%) for childcare will go down, the amount of tax credits will go up for some.

zagfles

flutterby_lil wrote: »

How come it goes up from April, I thought it would go down?

How can you roughly work out what you will get from April? Just out if interest for myself.

In fact it's a bit more than I quoted for the OP as I'd forgotten the family element - about £10 a week more so £187 now and £206 from April.

Rates are here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/taxcredits.htm

As the OP earns under £15860 she'll get max CTC, with 4 kids 4*2300+545 this year, 4*2555+545 next year.

With all the media obsession with cuts and austerity it's often overlooked that some people will be better off, particularly larger families on low incomes.

flutterby_lil wrote: »

I work 35 hours per work, OH 48 hpw self employed. We have a 2 year old who currently costs £176 a week in childcare. These costs will go down from September to approx £100 but until then nothing will change.

Thanks

The withdrawal rate is going up so if you earn over about £30k with 2 kids you'll be worse off, plus the childcare % is being reduced. You may be better off with vouchers for childcare if your employer does them - the HMRC site has a calculator.

DX2

As the OP only works 12 hours per week, she will only be entitled to child tax credits not working tax credits or childcare costs.

zagfles

DX2 wrote: »

As the OP only works 12 hours per week, she will only be entitled to child tax credits not working tax credits or childcare costs.

Yes - the second part of my PP was aimed at flutteryby not the OP.

Jowo_2

Did you seek legal advice about the settlement before the drastic decision to sell? Many single parents come to an arrangement, either mutually or through the courts, where the resident parent remains in the family home until the youngest turns 18 and the non resident parent pays towards the mortgage either directly or by way of child support.

The problem with a joint mortgage is that the other owner has the right to occupy it and your ex-partner will struggle to get a mortgage for their own place if they want to buy in the future.

Plus you'd need to seek legal advice about how you prevent your ex-partner from benefitting if the property is sold in the future and there is equity in it.

Perhaps you are better off renting until you can actually afford to buy a property independently as this is less risky than what you propose. For your mortgage payment problems, see the Shelter website which has a section to help homeowners and a helpline dedicated for those struggling with their mortgage.

They can also help you with your potential homelessness.

mumof4littleones

We owe about £25,000.00 in total with 2 loans and some on the credit card. If we never had the debt, I would be able to stay in the house and pay the mortgage but I cannot afford to pay half the debt AND the mortgage, I agreed to sell so we could both have a fresh start. Would a solicitor be able to draw up an agreement stating my ex wouldn't be entitled to anything from the new house.

Jowo_2

mumof4littleones wrote: »

Would a solicitor be able to draw up an agreement stating my ex wouldn't be entitled to anything from the new house.

I don't know, perhaps someone on the housing forum will know or perhaps you can find a community legal forum. But you'd also need to address the other owners right to take up occupancy and again I'm not aware if you can get any legal agreement that gives a person that owns a property the right never to be able to live in it.

Your ex-partner would also be liable for any arrears that you rack up, I don't know what the position is for any future loan secured on the property. That, and the fact that your ex is unlikely to ever be able to buy a place of his own might make him have cold feet about your proposal. If your partner was primarily responsible for the debts, you'd also need to consider if he can get any future loans secured on the property or whether as it's jointly owned, you'd have to agree to this and would be informed and therefore there's no risk of this happening.

In that case, do you have a plan B?

Why are you so averse to renting a property? The LHA direct website will indicate your maximum LHA and you can identify the impact of your salary on this, plus find out your benefit entitlements on the Turn2us online benefit calculator. As a tenant, you can get help with paying the rent with Local Housing allowance, as an owner you will only be able to get mortgage support for the interest part of it if you lose your employment income, and then only 3 months. So you might be better off renting.

Have you looked into getting advice from Shelter about your alternative options than to take on a mortgage that you clearly can't afford after you have previously wracked up debts?

I get your logic about selling up because you are both broke and splitting up but I don't get any sense that you sought legal or expert advice about your options before you sold and before you buy a new place. For example, the govt runs a scheme where a social housing landlord buys the property and then gives the previous owner a secure social housing tenancy. Were you aware of this option before you sold the property?

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession/mortgage_arrears/government_mortgage_rescue_scheme

The reason I am being pessimistic in tone and trying to emphasise the risks, among many reasons, is the number of threads I see on this forum by parents with childrens whose partners come up with many strategies, including promises and charm, to encourage them to move out of the family home and then renege on them, and where the person who is responsible for incurring debts involve the other one in paying them off.

Also, the sort of crisis that you are going through doesn't always leave the person able to make the best long term decisions.

Finally, I'm a bit baffled as to how you are going to pay the mortgage on presumably a 3 or 4 bedroom property on a salary of 14k. I'm aware you'll get a council tax discount, some tax credits and child benefit, perhaps some child support and equity, so we don't have the complete picture of its affordability but clearly the lenders are averse to it, based on your income.

Also, you'd need to provide MSE members with details of the loans/debts to understand whether you could unwittingly put yourself in the position of being considered to have deprived yourself of capital which could impact your ability to claim means tested benefits in the future. There's a big if and a lot of mays in this as its a complex area but the DWP and HMRC can react negatively when benefit claimants have paid off debts and loans early where there is no legal imperative to do so, such as a court order. I understand why you would want a clean sheet, it's a really big complex area, the onus is on the authorities to prove that a person has done this intentionally, and you haven't provided enough info for anyone to make a judgement on this anyway. It's just something else to look into before making huge decisions.

Was the property that has just sold jointly owned?