renting advice

tomdickharry

hi,
i'm looking at moving to a more affordable & economical home,
been searching on rightmove and seen a decent place.
reading the description it states terms to the agreement,
i assumed passing the credit check & paying the bond/rent would suffice, but this states a MAX income of £22500 which i'm under anyway but says
"To apply you will need to complete the low cost home ownership application form"
this is on the rental site and i do wish buy, and states nothing else, just rental. so that puzzled me,

also, if i were to get the house, what happens if i meet someone in the future?
happy at the moment but don't want to bat on my own forever,
would their income added to mine mean i would no longer be eligible to live there

home seems ideal, never knew renting became so complicated

G_M

Is this a HA property to let? or Council?

Is it a Part ownership scheme?

More info needed.

tomdickharry

i've looked on their own website and its an "Affordable Rent property"
To qualify for the scheme you must:

Be employed;
Be able to pass a credit reference check;
Have the ability to pay:
One months rent in advance,
security deposit bond, administration fee, credit reference fee;
Be financially unable to rent a property on the open market;
Have a household income no more than the average earnings for the area.

i can (just) afford my current rent which is slightly more, its the running costs that hit me, its now too big for what i need and takes some warming,
also what happens if you go above the max income,
i do have chance of regular overtime and there maybe a chance of getting my minimum hours upped which could take me over it.

tomdickharry

No, it's a maximum of £22500 per year
I'm guessing it's for low income workers as it's a new home and rent set below our areas average
Just can't find any info on changes of circumstances, I know very little about this scheme
Hardly worth earning an extra £100 p/m if then your rent goes up to the current market rate?

Voyager2002

Apply if you are eligible. The maximum income is set according to the average for the area, so if your income increases then probably that figure will as well. As for perhaps meeting someone, you can resolve the issues when that happens.

tomdickharry

I am eligible as now, but there's the possibility of increased hours next year which probably would take me over, not sure if once you're in you can stay regardless or they put up your rent accordingly
I'm guessing the local authority subsidises the rent for the owner, these are not council owned

Propertyauthor

There are some properties which are given special subsidies or help if they allow affordable rent, or it's a Housing Association property. They will be able to tell you what happens if your circumstances change and although others might have their own experience, it will be different rules for different schemes, so you must check with them.

One thing to check for, in the private rental sector, most landlords don't increase their rent that often (average is around 1% per year). Social landlords tend to increase annually in line with inflation ie 3% per year, plus another 1 or 2%, so do check for this, so you know to budget for annual increases.

The good news is, more of these schemes are coming across England, so it will be much easier to rent quality properties for the long term.

Hope that helps.

tomdickharry

Propertyauthor wrote: »

One thing to check for, in the private rental sector, most landlords don't increase their rent that often (average is around 1% per year). Social landlords tend to increase annually in line with inflation ie 3% per year, plus another 1 or 2%, so do check for this, so you know to budget for annual increases.
Hope that helps.

cheers,
i know rents increase more, my ex gf and i both had flats a couple of years ago, hers was H.A and set off around £15 p/m cheaper than mine, a year later it was £10 more!

these rentals seem to go very quick, virtually brand new build with kitchen appliances £50 p/m less than my current & must be ££s cheaper to run,
just don't want to have to move if my circumstances change