Getting a mortgage on benefits

freespirit1

Hi, i would like to remortgage my house for an extension and would like some advice. I care for my son who is 19 and severely disabled. I am therefore on carers allowance which is about £200 a month, and income support which is around £1,200 a month. I also get DLA higher rate and mobility for my son which is around £550 a month and family allowance totalling £200 a month. My property is valued at £200,000 and i have a small mortgage on it of £6,000 which is due to finish in a year with barclays. I would like to extend to make the downstairs more wheelchair friendly for my son now he needs the space. What is the liklihood of being able to borrow £60,000 to enable me to carry out the works on the house. I have an excellent credit history and never missed a mortgage repayment with Barclays the last 15 years, any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks

ACG

Is the DLA your income or your sons?

I have a client at the minute, i found it quite difficult to find a lender prepared to accept benefits as the only form of income. I am about to submit an application with Woolwich (Which is Barlcays) today but i had to spend a fair bit of time checking what benefits are acceptable.

The ones you have mentioned are different to what i have been looking for, but it might be worth speaking to them.

Alternatively it could be worth a chat with a mortgage advisor and let them do the work for you?

lemontart

And a lot of benefits are changing in April - just had letter from council about council tax relief changes meaning I am going to have to pay around £50 per month more each month if not more ...........No idea where that money is going to come from with petrol now costing me around 15-20 a month more to get to work and no hope of salary going up at all having not had a raise in now 5 yrs

Dave_Ham

I would fancy getting this mortgage through, subject to the details of the case.

Biggest barrier is likely to be your age, as the mortgage is highly like to need to be a repayment mortgage and this may make it unaffordable if you are 50+

All the best

exarmydreamer

There is a disabled facilities grant which he may qualify for. He would have got it without means testing if he was under 19 but over 19 and it is means tested on what he receives as an income/has in savings. Does not take into account anything you have, just his income. He would have to stay there and not sell the house for 5 yrs after the work is completed, this is the only clause.

This can be used to provide an extra bedroom or disabled facilities to make the home more accommodating. The amount available is different depending on where you live in the UK. Try to speak to your local council about this facility, they don't highlight it because of budgets but it is there. I think it is about £30K grant in England and £36K in Wales, don't know about Scotland or NI. I hope this helps you, as my son is about to have this grant for a loft room.

freespirit1

many thanks for your ideas....i had the facilities grant 10 years ago to put a downstairs bedroom on the side but unfortunately due to all equipment needed you can't swing a cat in it let alone turn a electric wheelchair around in it and there is a 5 year wait with the local council......not to mention the rest of the downstairs as at the minute it is inaccessible to my son, he'd love to go in the kitchen for example and make himself a drink......

I am 45 years old and i have no other income and cannot ever see myself being able to work as my son requires 24 hour care..... any more ideas of different companies which may be able to help would be welcomed.....i think i might apply to my mortgage company, the woolwich, and see if they are able to assist....

exarmydreamer

Depending on his disability can you get any help from charities, also if there is further help needed can't you push 'a further need to change the structure of the house', towards the council.

If not would it be possible to move to a more suitable house, I understand that you may not want to move but I am aware of how difficult it may be for you to find a mortgage. Good luck.

somethingcorporate

freespirit1 wrote: »

many thanks for your ideas....i had the facilities grant 10 years ago to put a downstairs bedroom on the side but unfortunately due to all equipment needed you can't swing a cat in it let alone turn a electric wheelchair around in it and there is a 5 year wait with the local council......not to mention the rest of the downstairs as at the minute it is inaccessible to my son, he'd love to go in the kitchen for example and make himself a drink......

I am 45 years old and i have no other income and cannot ever see myself being able to work as my son requires 24 hour care..... any more ideas of different companies which may be able to help would be welcomed.....i think i might apply to my mortgage company, the woolwich, and see if they are able to assist....

Your best bet is really to go via a broker, they can work closely with you to understand your best options.

Absolutely no point in wasting applications that stand no chance of being granted.

Ask friends for recommendations of independent whole of market brokers or try https://www.unbiased.co.uk