Having problems downsizing.

starrystarry

gayleanne wrote: »

Council Tax non payment is the only debt you can be taken to court for by the authorities, the courts are going to find themselves full up with women and OAP's waiting to be tried for non payment of the TV license and council tax. Now they are going to be busy. It makes you sick .

Why just women and OAPs? Are men exempt?

MissPiggy50

oliveoil99 wrote: »

At present I am receiving LHA for 1 bedroom as I am in 2 bedroom making the shortfall up, if I move into a room with shared facilities will I still get the 1 bedroomed rate of LHA or the shared rate? Yes I am over 35 infact 60, didn't want this but cann't find a landlord who will take housing benefit claimants but just this week found 2 that will accept for shared accommodation and I'm getting desperate.

Canyou not askd landlord for sum work for some rent off, do whatever it takes, start a massage Parler from your room or somat no excuses

oliveoil99

MissPiggy50 wrote: »

Canyou not askd landlord for sum work for some rent off, do whatever it takes, start a massage Parler from your room or somat no excuses

Lol Miss Piggy my landlord would be first in the queue, this is a respectable area the red-light would be to much of a giveaway.

SandraScarlett

oliveoil99 wrote: »

Lol Miss Piggy my landlord would be first in the queue, this is a respectable area the red-light would be to much of a giveaway.

:rotfl:Hi OO, do you like the place you have and the area you live in? If so, could your adult children not help you out, perhaps a fiver or tenner each, as I'm sure you've done the same for them on many occasions.

I'm not surprised your friends are against the idea of you having a room in a house with strange men, and I don't care if this sounds sexist either!

xx

oliveoil99

SandraScarlett wrote: »

:rotfl:Hi OO, do you like the place you have and the area you live in? If so, could your adult children not help you out, perhaps a fiver or tenner each, as I'm sure you've done the same for them on many occasions.

I'm not surprised your friends are against the idea of you having a room in a house with strange men, and I don't care if this sounds sexist either!

xx

I love where I live have been here 5yrs now. The shortfall in my rent is not a few pounds it's £41 a week my LHA is £68. and some pence and my rent is £109 a week £475 monthly. My son has just had his hours cut and my daughter only works P/Time they have been helping but not monetary but with shopping which is only once a month - my problem is long term and my rent in to high for my means, maybe when I get my state-pension in 18 months but there is no guarantee I will be getting that according to the pension service.

eadieb

You could ask your council for an application form for a discretionary housing benefit payment. The individual local councils have their own rules for who they give these to and you usually have to provide an income and expenditure breakdown and explain why you are in a property which is too big for you but it is worth a try. At best, they agree to make an extra payment for a limited period of time until you find somewhere else. not sure if your local discretionary budget is close to being spent but sometimes its worth holding off till april when the departments get their new budget.

I would support the advice about your local housing lettings system. their will be somewhere on their system that details their lengthy policy document. In our area you get a 'banding' according to your need and then the winner of a property is the person with the highest banding and longest date. Double check what banding you are and why and double check that they are using the correct date, and that you are using the correct bidding reference number. I spend a lot of time in my job helping people appeal their bandings and sorting out simple mess ups in the system which are causing problems for people getting the best chance of bidding. In our local system, the people who get the highest banding have to show that their current home is causing a high risk to their health, physical or mental, or they are downsizing in a social housing property, escaping violence, or the condition of their current property is deemed to have cat 1 hazards by housing standards. However, our local council has just voted to bring in an extra boost up the banding, if the applicants do voluntary work or are employed! In our area there are plenty of 'over 50's' self contained flats being advertised, and these seem to be easier to win than the family homes. Also properties in more rural areas tend to have fewer bidders. You could also contact your local council and find out if there are separate lists operated by the local housing associations or council for 'Sheltered housing'. These are frequently one bed properties in flats with a warden on site during office hours. they are not care homes and mostly take people from age 55/60 up. They are usually let to people lower down in the bandings.

As regards to private renting in shared properties, in our area, the places that accept housing benefit and no deposit, are usually the last resort of the desperate. they are frequently run down, in disrepair, with many transient, vulnerable people living in them. cleaning of communal areas doesn't happen. leaving the main entrance front door open all the time for constant visitors does. Plenty of noise nuisance and drug dealing. If you are considering a shared property then spend some time researching the area it is in. Ask in the local shop about the reputation of the road. find out how long the people in the house have lived there. Does the house have a high turn over, does it have any rules for living there? How do the residents pay bills, what is included in the rent? sometimes residents of these places are forced to buy expensive electricity credits from the private landlord and the saving on the rent might not be so great. I am afraid that due to my job and the area I work in, I have a negative view of the many private rented shared properties that people are now forced to live in. I would ask about how many of these type of properties your prospective landlord owns and perhaps pop into your local council housing advice department and find out if they are aware of that landlord.

princessdon

Just wanted to say op is not an oap. They are of working age and under the age of both my parents who work.

Not distracting from their claim - but they are not of oap age just yet so age concern etc wont get involved.

Dunroamin

oliveoil99 wrote: »

I love where I live have been here 5yrs now. The shortfall in my rent is not a few pounds it's £41 a week my LHA is £68. and some pence and my rent is £109 a week £475 monthly. My son has just had his hours cut and my daughter only works P/Time they have been helping but not monetary but with shopping which is only once a month - my problem is long term and my rent in to high for my means, maybe when I get my state-pension in 18 months but there is no guarantee I will be getting that according to the pension service.

Why is there a question mark over receiving your state pension - I'm sure you said you've worked for well over 30 years?

oliveoil99

Dunroamin wrote: »

Why is there a question mark over receiving your state pension - I'm sure you said you've worked for well over 30 years?

The reason there is a ? over pension is when I rang for a forecast in which I have well over 30yrs contribution is the adviser over the phone said you will only receive your pension when you get notification not before as government can change pension policies and move the goal-posts further apart or altogether that's why.

Dunroamin

oliveoil99 wrote: »

The reason there is a ? over pension is when I rang for a forecast in which I have well over 30yrs contribution is the adviser over the phone said you will only receive your pension when you get notification not before as government can change pension policies and move the goal-posts further apart or altogether that's why.

With only eighteen months to go, I would budget to get your pension as expected/ changes aren't made to pensions at that short notice, even by this government.