grants for a pensioner who owns home

rotoguys

Thanks, I have had a look at the Houseproud scheme and it sounds very good. I will contact them and get more info.
I have since also found out from AgeUK that they, with the council run a handyman scheme. They do all sorts of work free if you get Pension Credit!!
They also mentioned a 'Home Improvement Scheme' run by the council for over 60's on a means tested benefit.

I never knew these things existed!!
Just as I didn't know about Pension Credit

See - it does pay to ask and be cheeky sometimes.

Thanks everyone

Dollardog

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

The above tells me that you either bought or live in a house that you cannot afford. Saying that isn't being nasty - it's being truthful!

It doesn't help people asking questions on this forum if people answering them aren't truthful in their replies for the sake of being 'nice'.

If you see my previous post, you will see that I lived with my father to look after him for a number of years, and the house was left to me. I wouldn't have chosen to buy it and because I had to give up a decent job used my savings to take care of my father I am in a position where I have no money to spend on it. I certainly wouldn't have chosen to buy this house but would be unable to sell it for anything like enough money to enable me to buy anything decent as it needs too much doing to it. Added to that, I wouldn't want to go into a property where I was renting either, again, because I claim no benefits and would not be able to afford the rent, I would not want to rely on the proceeds from the sale of the house to pay the rent as it wouldn't sell for much in its present state.
You are quite right in saying that I am living in a house I can't afford to keep, but whatever state it is in, it is my house, not rented so I don't have to find that cost.

I am not on here looking for grants, I just noticed the thread and popped in to have a look, some people have been very helpful but it just seemed to me that the first lot of posters were being quite nasty and not helping the OP but offering the advice they had come on here to seek.

dodger1

Dollardog wrote: »

Well this sounds pretty nasty to me, I'm just saying that not everyone is in a position to be able to afford to do repairs.
My central heating broke down about 4/5 years ago but I have not been able to afford to have it repaired, I have a hole in my kitchen ceiling where water came through when the hot water tank started leaking, a hole in the bathroom ceiling where I lost some slates and the rain came in, my hot water tap in the kitchen does not work, not that that matters anyway as there is no hot water anyway unless I put the immersion heater on, the house hasn't been decorated either inside or out for years, the window frames are all rotten and let the draught in, the list goes on.
Those that can afford to put money aside and do the repairs are lucky, because some of us, although wanting to do things, just haven't got the money

When purchasing a property, maintenance costs should be taken into account. If these costs can't be put aside each month for future problems then the property shouldn't be bought in the first place. Many flat owners have to pay these costs every year to the freeholder and house buyers should do the same. Nobody is being nasty here just asking very obvious questions.

Oldernotwiser

minx_101 wrote: »

He probably would have been better of staying as a tenant as he would have had a bit of help fromthe council. As where family are concerned, he doesnt really have anyone else only me (his niece).I try to help him whenI can as he doesn't know how to lookintothese things himself, thats whyI am on this forum looking for a bit of advice.I have my own houseand family to look after, butI would really like to help him.

Is there a scheme in your area where the council/HA will buy back the house? Alternatively, equity release would seem to be the best idea, particularly as he doesn't have any close relatives.

clemmatis

Dollardog wrote: »

If you see my previous post, you will see that I lived with my father to look after him for a number of years, and the house was left to me. I wouldn't have chosen to buy it and because I had to give up a decent job used my savings to take care of my father I am in a position where I have no money to spend on it. I certainly wouldn't have chosen to buy this house but would be unable to sell it for anything like enough money to enable me to buy anything decent as it needs too much doing to it. Added to that, I wouldn't want to go into a property where I was renting either, again, because I claim no benefits and would not be able to afford the rent, I would not want to rely on the proceeds from the sale of the house to pay the rent as it wouldn't sell for much in its present state.
You are quite right in saying that I am living in a house I can't afford to keep, but whatever state it is in, it is my house, not rented so I don't have to find that cost.

I am not on here looking for grants, I just noticed the thread and popped in to have a look, some people have been very helpful but it just seemed to me that the first lot of posters were being quite nasty and not helping the OP but offering the advice they had come on here to seek.

I have a similar problem, dollardog, though I'd already had to take early ill-health retirement when I became my mother's carer. I can't afford to keep the house up properly but as it's subsiding, can't easily sell it. There are a lot of attacks on people who live in houses that are too big for them/that they can't afford to maintain, but some of us are more or less stuck.

krisskross

rotoguys wrote: »

.
We've already been shafted out of over £120,000 of Pension Credit payments that we never knew we could have had over the past 6 years!!

Blimey does pension credit pay £20,000 a year? Wish we hadn't paid into those private pensions as we don't get anything approaching £20K a year from them:rotfl:

BigAunty

Might be worth checking if there are any relevant grants on the Turn2us website. I know as well as benefit calculations, there is some kind of grant checker.

I wonder if it's also worth putting on a 'wanted' ad for kitchen units, worktops, sinks, etc, on sites like Gumtree freebies, freecycle, freegle or similar so he can replace his with decent second hand ones. I don't know if there is much donation of this kind of thing but might be worth further investigation.

kingfisherblue

My council has a Care and Repair scheme for home owners who are unable to do small maintenance jobs for themselves - OAPs, pensioners, etc. however, they are not jobs such as kitchen repalcement or building a conservatory. They are things like unblocking toilets, changing leaking taps, putting up shelves, etc.

They also advise on reliable local tradesmen. I rang last year to ask about which company to use for putting up a shower rail that had come away from the wall. My son is disabled and I couldn't shower him without the curtain stopping the water going all over the bathroom. A Care and Repair tradesman came out and fixed it for me (it took him less than 5 minutes - a plastic bracket had broken and he replaced it with a metal one). Although I expected to pay, the workman said it was such a small job it wasn't worth charging me.

[Deleted User]

minx_101 wrote: »

Hi, I would like to find out about this also, but don't really know who would have information about this sort of thing or who deals with it. My uncle has owned the house for 10 years, and it is quite run down, he also doesn't have any savings. I would like for him to live a bit more comfortably. He would need a new bath/ toilet etc also and possibly a toilet downstairs There are also draughts coming in through the windows and doors etc. As he lives on his own and doesnt have an extractor fan over his cooker I get quite worried sometimes, but this would all need rewiring etc

ye gods and little fishes;we lived for 30 years without an extractor fan until we bought a new property last year,and we not only managed we survived all that time
as mentioned somewhere above equity release will be the best way to self finance this work,or a begging letter to the cabinet full of millionaires

Dollardog

clemmatis wrote: »

I have a similar problem, dollardog, though I'd already had to take early ill-health retirement when I became my mother's carer. I can't afford to keep the house up properly but as it's subsiding, can't easily sell it. There are a lot of attacks on people who live in houses that are too big for them/that they can't afford to maintain, but some of us are more or less stuck.

Exactly the point I was trying to make. People say to me "Well why don't you move?" The answer is because I can't, I am of an age that I wouldn't get a mortgage, don't earn enough to pay a mortgage, don't want to comit to having to pay £x number of pounds in rent which I know I wouldn't be able to pay and wouldn't get enough from the sale of the property to be able to buy anything in any better condition.
I live on my own apart from my dog and have no one that I can even call on to help do odd jobs. As I can't afford to pay labour charges of tradesmen, the jobs don't get done.
Its not a situation I want to be in, I never invite anyone in because I hate the house and it needs so much doing that I am ashamed of it.
Its just a situation that I have found myself in and I'm stuck with it.
I didn't ask to have a house I can't afford to maintain although I would sooner have a house that is mine, even though it needs a lot doing to it, than go into rented accomodation that I also couldn't afford and end up homeless because I couldn't pay the rent.