moving home (downsizing) on benefits any help with removal services

mnl231

I'm not sure if I have this in the right section but I will ask anyway.

I've agreed with someone else to do an exchange due to the changes in benefits next year and the bedroom tax and am downsixing from a 2 bed to a 1 bed. Only problem is I am on JSA and after bills I have around £30 left having phoned up some removal services they want around £300 to move my stuff, as you can imagine it would take some time for me to save up the £300.

I don't know anyone with a car big enough to fit my stuff in like cooker, fridge, tv, etc .

And my family have essentially disowned me due to personal reasons I won't go into here so they won't help.

Is there any help I can recieve with the costs? I used up all 3 of the Social fund allowances for a one year period in February this year.

ilikewatch

I don't know where you can get help with moving costs, however it should be possible to reduce the costs...
You don't say how far you are moving, but would it be possible for you to rent a van and either drive it yourself, or rope a friend into driving it for you? - you should be able to rent a mid sized van for £40 for 24 hours.
Alternatively, how about using a taxi van or a "man with a van" service to move the bulky items rather than a proper removal service - I recently needed to move a cooker, fridge freezer and a few large items of furniture about 20 miles, a local man with a van did it for £30 cash on the condition that I arranged to load/unload the items.

spikeripley

Ask the people you are swapping with to pay/share the cost after all they are benefitting most from this exchange.

spikeripley

When the new rule comes in people in bigger properties will have the pick of the crop when it comes to down sizing.
Existing tenants who need bigger homes will have to persuade them why they should swap with them because that's probably the only way you will get a bigger home.

All the properties that will eventually (I say eventually because it can take a long time to repossess a property off a tenant) become available will be offered to the homeless first as they are a priority when it comes to allocation. Anyone who is already housed would be daft to think they will get a bigger house even if they qualify as the homeless are always top of the list. And there are a lot of homeless people out there.

Edinburgh65

If you are renting from a housing association, have you asked your landlord if they have a downsizing assistance fund?

Some housing associations give tenants a one off payment to downsize, which can assist with things like removals. In the case of my own employer, a payment of £500 if all of the circumstances are suitable.

Even if you are with a housing association which is not quite as generous as my employer, if you explain your circumstances, perhaps they could provide a housing association van and staff to assist you, if removal costs are the only barrier to you downsizing.

Whilst in theory a downsizing payment might seem overly generous, my own employer realises that giving financial help to people who need to move to properties which will be more affordable after the benefit reforms come into play, will most probably reduce future rent arrears which will be beneficial to both parties, so they are very keen to work with our tenants.

You don't have anything to lose by asking for a bit of extra help.

zoominatorone

Ring up your nearest Storage Centre(or similar) and ask them for some numbers of van drivers/ man with a van.

We got a 3 bed house packed into a man with van for £100, put into storage and then moved to new place for another £100. So should only cost you £100

londonbabe73

I would speak to your exchange partner whilst they have no obligation to pay your removals if their desperate they might foot the bill . I doubt very much if the HA will financially assist as they are strapped for cash these days due to funding cuts . Also maybe if you get your van from the same place as your swap partner they might do you a deal ? Good luck with your move !!

t0rt0ise

Just be aware that money changing hands is illegal so do be careful. If you are caught, in theory, you both could be homeless.

londonbabe73

it is illegal for them to pay the swapper / swapee but if they want to pay for the removals directly that is between the parties BUT if they Change their mind it is not enforceable by the other party it's more of a goodwill gesture .

Edinburgh65

The Housing Manager from my HA is planning to give a talk to other HAs over the next few days, trying to encourage them to adopt a spend to save mentality, be that to do with spending money on energy saving adaptations, or to give encouragement to tenants to downsize via compensation payments. He is hoping to encourage other HAs to be more open minded and to see the bigger picture. Even though HAs are as cash strapped as everyone else these days, there is nothing to be lost by asking and reminding a housing association that such an agreement might bring mutually satisfactory benefits in the long term. Someone who remains in too large a property which they can no longer afford, is only going to stack up large unsustainable debts.

To be clear, my own employer does not hand out such cash incentives where there are debts (rent and non-rent debts), and there are probably not enough small properties for everyone who wants to downsize to move to, but it is still worth asking about anyway.

Even if your HA says no, it would be worth you pointing out that such incentives might help then to reduce future rent arrears. Ultimately if a tenant cannot afford to pay their rent due to a reduction in housing benefit, that is going to result in a very prolonged situation, where court fees etc are incurred due to insufficient rental income being received. If those things are offset against a one-off downsizing assistance payment, then there is probably a financial benefit to the HA in going down the incentive payment route, plus the tenant is not going to be at risk of becoming homeless, so it is a win win situation for all concerned.

londonbabe73

My current employer a HA in surrey gives £2500 if your giving up 1 room £4,000 for 2 or more bedrooms BUT we have already used up our budget for this year as we have been inundated with people wanting to downsize
So there is no more cas til April people can still downsize but there's no cash incentive.