mortgage on benefit

CFC

I'd be really cautious Twinkle if I were you. The point that other posters make about YOU having to pay if something goes wrong, instead of the council, is really true. Plus you also have to budget for buildings insurance. It's easy to think, well the house won't need repairs, then the water starts leaking, the drains stop up, the central heating goes up the creek, and a tile blows off the roof in a storm. No first time buyer really understands the expense and worry of owning (well the bank owns it, but you know what I mean!) a home till they do it.

That's apart from the fact that I think if your rent is currently paid through housing benefit, only the interest is paid and not the capital. This means you'll have to find more extra money each month in order to meet the capital repayments.

You'll still have the right to buy in a couple of years. Why not wait until your financial circumstances are better?

seven-day-weekend

For those who are discussing the ethics of having a mortgage whilst on benefits, please remember Martin's words....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=365935

TOBRUK

twinklestar, I do not know how it would work for you ... you say you have organised a mortgage and if you went ahead are there any charges you will have to pay i.e. solicitors fees, survey etc? Another thing is, I really do not know how housing benefit works, because in my circumstances they do not pay my mortgage, they only pay part interest.

I became ill and had to leave work 7 years ago - I was extremely worried because I had a mortgage - endownment. I did not receive any help whatsoever for the first year which was such a struggle, but when I did get help it wasn't much. Two years ago the problems with shortfall of the mortgage I was forced to change the mortgage to part repayment, and from then I was paying more!

The amount they pay in total is £184.00 a month - I pay the rest. I live alone, and I can tell you that if I had a child to support I would not manage. I could not afford to feed another let alone the expense of clothing etc. After paying all the bills, I have £40 left to break even - and from that comes food, petrol, clothes, birthday money, and anything else you might need.

I have a two bedroom house, and a house like mine here costs £450 to rent, now if I was renting, I wonder how much they would help with the rent - I am sure it would be more than £184.00 a month!

Think very carefully what to do. Personally, if I had been renting at the time of having to leave work and receive benefit it would not cross my mind to buy a house.

krisskross

seven-day-weekend wrote:

Don't know whether this is any help, but my late MIL was granted a mortgage from the Council when she was on State Retirement Pension. That was also to buy a Council property.

She wasn't on any benefits other than Council Tax Benefit though, but I don't think it affected this.

This is usually organised by the families to benefit them rather than the person buying the property. Apologies if this was not the case but I can think of very few pensioners who want to take on a mortgage.