Could I get a crisis loan?

wardie2437

Our RENT BOND is up for renewal next month, however our tenancy agreement has another year to run.
The local council who bonded us are now being awkward indicating they "may" not bond us for a further year.
My wife is disabled (on DLA) and I'm her carer so we're basically living from benefits, therefore saving the money ourselves has been almost impossible.

Could or would I be eligible for a crisis loan to pay for the deposit on our property. I dont want to go through the official channels until I can get some sound advice. This would enable us to remain here rather than having to be shipped out somehwere we dont really want to be.

Many thanks in anticipation.

pcombo

It would be a budgeting loan you would get for rent advances etc, Not a crisis.

Sam____2

A crisis loan definately wouldn't cover this, when you do get awaraded a crisis loan it's for food, gas, electric, and the most you usually get is about £60 ish. You'd be better trying for a budgeting loan as long as you don't already owe them £1500

see this link for more info

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018905

wardie2437

great - Just looked at the DWP page for Budgeting Loans - I'll get the ball rolling ASAP - Many thanks

sunnyone

Why do you need to pay a bond, I thought you paid a bond before you move in and not an annual event because they will still have the origional bond on deposit?

Ive never rented though my daughter does and i paid the bond and it was put into a bond deposit scheme to keep it safe if it was a yearly thing we certainly couldnt come up with an extra £1k pa onto of the rent.

wardie2437

The COUNCIL set up a rent bond for us. However they have decided not to "bond" the £500 we need to remain in this place. They deem it "correct" to let the landlord evict us, make us homeless, put our posessions in storage, and put us in a crappy B&B for god knows how long, rather than let us pay a bond back monthly.
Oh plus my wife is disabled as well. So we have a really forward thinking council here !!!
The council dont actually pay any money - but they said "it comes off the budget".

MissMoneypenny

Are you saying that that the landlord is asking for an additional deposit of £500? On top of the deposit he was already given when you moved in?

wardie2437

No no, I think you misunderstand - we had to move our of our previous property quickly due to repossession. We had no deposit, so the local council "Bonded" us for £630, instead of us having to put down a deposit. All we then had to do was pay the rent - which we've done okay for nearly two years.
During that time, I was made redundant and took the opportunity to look after my disabled wife and we've only been able to save £100 of the £630 deposit.
We like it here and the lease is up for renewal, also its very difficult for my wife to move now so we offered to pay them back over a period of months so we didn't have to bother with this bond again, but they refuse to, they say we have to "go down the homeless route so they can help us"

MissMoneypenny

I'm not sure how this council bonding the deposit works. Did the council guarantee your deposit of £630 for 2 years only? And during those 2 years, you were meant to save £6 a week for your own £630 deposit, ready for when the councils deposit guarantee, expired?

wardie2437

What happened is we got a lease for 2 years and the council only bonded us for a year. They made no indication they would not bond us for the second year, they said we should "try and save towards it" - we have only managed £100. We technically still have a year to run on the lease but the bond (I assume its like a guarantee) runs out in a month.

pmlindyloo

I think it is fairly common for councils only to guarantee rent deposit bonds for the first 6 months and then sometimes another 6 months. It is then expected the tenant and landlord to come to some 'arrangement.'

I think you are right to try for a budgeting loan where the payments will be taken from your benefits.

If this is not successful then have you tried speaking to your landlord and seeing if you can pay for the deposit on a monthly basis? (If it is a long term let he may let you pay it back over a longer period than you would be paying back the budgeting loan - sorry, I can't remember over what period you need to pay this back)

If all fails I would go,back to the council and ask if there are any discretionary funds to help you out. Seems a crazy system!

Good luck!