Some tips & help would be much appreciated!

CHARL0TTE_2

I'll try and keep this as simple as I can.

Basically, when I was 16, I was at college, but after the first year had to leave to move to France because of my dad's job. I have been here 3 years now, I'm nearly 20, and have decided to go back to college this year (September) because I desperately need to do something with my life.

Obviously this will require me getting my own place back in England, (specifically Bournemouth/Poole) and also I will need to find a job.

My dad has agreed to help with rent (he has agreed to send me £300 a month if he can get it together) until I can properly fend for myself.

I'm not sure if I'm just being stupid, but I am really struggling to find flats back home. Am I looking for the wrong thing? Would I be better off renting or buying with 'shared ownership'?

I have been looking on sites such as RightMove and Zoopla, and all I can seem to find is shared houses, or bedsits, which I REALLY don't fancy living in. I'd rather have my own little space where I can do my coursework & assignments, without having to share a kitchen/bathroom with complete strangers.

Rent seems to be approx £450-£600 a month, with the 2 or 3 nonshared flats I managed to find.

Also, benefits. Would the government help with rent for, let's say, the first couple of months somehow, until I have found a secure job? I am not looking to live off of benefits, just something that would help for a couple of months until I have a job and can pay the rent for myself.

As much as I'd like to join this year, should I wait and join college September 2013? As I really only have a couple of months to be able to sort out a flat/job/college.

Sorry for the essay, but I really do need some help!

Thanks, Charlotte.

Fuzzyness

for 300 quid a month it looks like you'll have to take a room in a shared house. bournemouth is a university town so there must be student type lets around. living with other students also means no council tax so one less expense.

BitterAndTwisted

I think the rents you mentioned are about average for the area your seem to be looking at. Bournemouth is a holiday town so it's unlikely to be cheap unless it's a dump. I think you're being a bit picky expecting to be able to afford to live on your own. Unfortunately, when people have little money, and students rarely have much, you need to expect to have to cut your cloth etcetera.

I can't advise on benefits as I have little knowledge about what young people may be entitled to, but a word of warning: as you presumably have no credit-history you are unlikely to find a landlord willing to take you on as a tenant without a guarantor. One living and earning in France is not likely to be acceptable.

Have you looked into the possibility of Halls of Residence for your first year? Looked into getting a student loan to pay towards your accommodation and living costs as well as tuition fees?

RAS

Hi

You are unlikely to be eligible for any state funding for your course fees or to help with your living costs.

If you are able to claim as unemployed at any time, you will only be able to claim the local housing allowance (LHA) towards accomodation. This is set at the 30 percentile and under 35 year olds can only have the amount for a room in a shared house.

So you would be most unwise to rent anything other than a shared house. The other option is that you get lodgings with someone who wants to rent a room out - this might be quieter.

Do you have to move back to one of the more expensive parts of the UK? Could you do the same course somewhere cheaper? The LHA will be lower but you dad's money will go further.

You probably need to come over now and get work, then look for accomodation.

Clearlier

Contact the students union (SU) in Bournemouth university. They will have somebody who is responsible for organising accommodation for students.

There may be halls of residence which typically means your own lockable room in a building full of students but not own kitchen/bathroom unless standards have improved considerably since my time. After the first year you will have made some friends and hopefully have a reasonable idea of whom you could live with and possible arrange a house/flat share with people that you know (N.B. not all friends are suitable to live with!) for subsequent years. The SU should also be able to give you a pretty good guide to the overall cost of living in Bournemouth so that you can put a budget together for yourself.

P.S. You can get cheaper than what you're seeing in rightmove but most of the rental properties that make it that far are over-priced and a lot of the cheaper ones wouldn't be the first place I would guide a student to. The SU on the other hand will be well accustomed to dealing with people in your situation.

P.P.S. If you're a resident in France which I guess you must be after this time you should find out if the French government will offer any support.

whitewing

Can you speak fluent French now? If so, and perhaps even if not, could you register with an au pair or agency and become an au pair in England for a year. I don't know if this is possible as you are English though but an agency could advise.

You would have some food provided plus accommodation, and a small wage. You could possibly do some kind of college course too but that would have to be negotiated with an employer, plus you may not get on with the family etc etc.

I was not specifically thinking of you doing your main college course this academic year, just being in England and sussing it all out and giving yourself time to grow, decide what exactly you want to do, and how you are going to fund it.

CHARL0TTE_2

@Bitterandtwisted, no I haven't had a look at student loans as I thought they only applied for University students! And yes I agree I am being picky, but it's only because many of my friends have lived in shared houses/bedsits, and their rooms broken into by other residents, laptops stolen, money stolen, rooms wrecked... I know not every single SH would be like that, but it really puts me off.

@RAS It's my home town, I guess I wouldn't have to move back there, but the college is the nearest down south that does my course. The only other I could find was towards London. And if I came over to look for work, then look for accommodation, where would I live for the time being?

@Clearlier, ty I will look into the SU

@Whitewing, unfortunately I do not speak fluent french considering I have been here for nearly 3 years, but as my dads job involves working with Brits, we have never really had to deal with the French. I guess it's time like these I wish I had learnt more of the language!

TallGirl

You could always try to get a job as a care assistant PA to a disabled person they often come with live in and board that would give you time to find your feet and see where you like the look off. I did this for a year when I first came to live in the UK.

Agree with the other you have chosen an expensive area. Do you drive could you live just outside those towns.

My advice would be come over and checkit out first see if you like it before you commit to a course, tenancy etc.

PS the chap I worked for in Hampshire is often looking for PA's PM me if you want more details. You would be working as one of two PAs so ineffect tow days on two days off plenty of time to do a course.

RAS

Hi

You are correct, loans only apply to University students not to college students.

With respect to moving over, you have to do very much what I did when I needed to move from one end of the UK to the other.

I stayed with friends for a few days and sussed out cheap short-term lodgings and employment options. As it happened the only thing I could get when I wanted to move was the YWCA hostel.

I moved up on Wednesday, booked myself into every employment agency I could find. Next day I transferred my JSA claim and carried on chasing the agencies and had a go at the Job Centre. And started house hunting. Had an interview for a shared house on the Friday night. By that stage I had a job for Monday morning for 8 weeks. Was asked to move in and one of the housemates very kindly picked me and my gear up from the hostel after work (shifts) on the Saturday.

RAS

The other option might be CSV?

Mr_Thrifty

CHARL0TTE wrote: »

I have been looking on sites such as RightMove and Zoopla, and all I can seem to find is shared houses, or bedsits, which I REALLY don't fancy living in.

Well, that's what happens when the baby boomers buy all the houses, using the proceeds from the sale of the north sea oil and the nationalised industries (distributed to them in the form of lower tax) and their artificially high levels of income (given to them in the form of the national debt they saddled the rest of us with). Now, there's nothing left for the rest of us, who are left to pick up the tab. And so prices go up, and the young 'uns end up living in tiny little bedsit hovels while little old grannies live on their own in 5 bed detached houses with 2 acre gardens (which they "paid for all their lives!", they'll have you know).