Can I rent my house out if on benefits?

palomapicasso

I have just had a letter from DWP telling me once again the amount of Support for Mortgage Interest has decreased. This time it is £1.63 per week. When it was changed on 1st October 2010 it was decreased by £28.06 per week!!! I know this might not seem like a lot of money to some people but to me as a lone parent it is huge. I will have to alter what I pay towards my DMP, taking me even longer to reach my debt free status of which I thought was 2027 when in fact when I received my statement the other day it was actually Feb 2032! Can you believe it? Why has this not been covered by the media? I never even knew about the change last year until I received a letter from the mortgage lender stating I was in arrears. I have now got a 2nd account with a balance of £70 (£35 for a letter & £35 for being in arrears).
What I want to know is if I could rent out my home and move in with my parents would I be able to claim Income Support still as I would only want someone to pay what I am paying and not to make any money from it. I would work if someone could give me a job with working hours to suit my child's free nursery care 12.45-3.15 (allowing travel time to and from work and nursery) as prior to being made redundant at 42 years old I was never unemployed in my life. For the past 2 years I have attended college to learn a trade. My previous job was an Accounts/Office Manager. I should have known better than be a shop-a-holic but I never banked on becoming pregnant for the first and only time at my age and then again I never, ever thought for one minute I would be made redundant when my child was 10 weeks old! I am not looking for pity as the debt I got myself into but the depressing fact is that I am getting poorer and poorer all because I have a mortgage. If I was claiming Housing Benefit it would cost the government a vast amount more but I do not want to go down that road. My parents are elderly and have the space for us and would love for us to move there but I need to know if this would be allowed. Thank you to all who choose to read and reply.:A

neverdespairgirl

Why not sell up, use the money left over from the sale to pay off some of your debts, and move in with your parents then?

palomapicasso

I have had my house up for sale. 3 other people have had For Sale signs up for over 1 year now. Nothing is moving. Not one person has even contacted me about it.

AnxiousMum

Why would you rent it out to only cover your costs? Why not try and make money on it if you could - you could possibly (depending on the house, the area, your mortgage payments) cover the mortgage plus some, meaning you might not have to claim IS due to income from the rent. What about repairs to the property? As a landlord, you must carry these out when needed. If you're living in the home and little things go wrong, you might be able to let it go until you can afford to fix it - if you have a tenant, you have to have the funds to ensure those things get repaired. Would your mortgage lender allow you to rent the house out? Many mortgages do not allow you to do that. Insurance - have you looked into the insurance costs for renting your home out?
There's a whole lot more to think about renting your home out than just finding someone to move in and pay you each month.

AnxiousMum

If people do not feel that the house description lives up to the price being asked, then of course they will ask no further.
Houses that are priced right for the current market do move - more often it's a question of the seller being able to sell it the market price because they don't have enough equity in it to do that, or that they're making a big error on what the house is really worth on the market.

jamie11

The best answer for you is to take a lodger under the rent a room scheme, you can earn up to 4250 quid a year without paying tax, I don't know how it would impact on the benefits though. I doubt if it would put you over the limit.

silvercar

I would work if someone could give me a job with working hours to suit my child's free nursery care 12.45-3.15 (allowing travel time to and from work and nursery) as prior to being made redundant at 42 years old I was never unemployed in my life.

The answer is to use some paid childcare outside of these hours. You could then claim working tax credits, child tax credits and help with childcare costs (this latter one pays 70% of your childcare bill). You would then be much better off financially.

DannyboyMidlands

Sell the house. If it isn't moving that's simply because you are asking for too much. Drop the price and remove this millstone from around your neck.

ruggedtoast

As a taxpayer I am for one, furious, to hear that you have been given such poor service while I strain in my endeavours to pay your mortgage for you.

I am sure someone from the media will be along shortly to tackle this egregious wrong, and in the meantime I can only offer you my whole hearted support and good wishes in your endeavour to claim income support while you simultaneously earn hundreds of pounds in rental income from a tenant.

/salutes

palomapicasso

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit! Read the thread not just the Title. You are not paying anything for me - I have worked for 26 years as a higher rate taxpayer and as soon as my child goes to school I will be back to work. I am certainly not a "scrounger" far from it. Have some compassion! :A It's the people who are having their "rents" paid you should be doing something about. Why not make them pay towards their rents? Maybe you have a gripe due to not owning your own property and are jealous of people who are down in their luck. I can assure you it is not a nice place to be.

ruggedtoast

palomapicasso wrote: »

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit! Read the thread not just the Title. You are not paying anything for me - I have worked for 26 years as a higher rate taxpayer and as soon as my child goes to school I will be back to work. I am certainly not a "scrounger" far from it. Have some compassion! :A It's the people who are having their "rents" paid you should be doing something about. Why not make them pay towards their rents? Maybe you have a gripe due to not owning your own property and are jealous of people who are down in their luck. I can assure you it is not a nice place to be.

No, you cant rent your house out and claim income support as well, as the DSS will consider it to be income.