Financial advice needed for when I move out

Shenron

I need some advice

Scenario

I have been living with my mother in our council home which we rent. The house has three bedrooms and it is just myself and my mother that live there. We have been tenants in this particular house for over 20 years, so I assume we are secure tenants.

Question

The issue is that I will soon be moving out of our home and I am worried that my mother will not be able to cope financially.

Is there anything that I should be aware of that could help lessen the blow? I assume when I move out, the rent won't get any lower eventhough it is just my mother staying there.

Ideally, I would hate for her to have to move to another house, so I am just wondering what help she could get or what options she could take?

Thank you all in advance!

fairy_lights

Maybe she will want to move somewhere smaller and cheaper anyway? She won't need a three bedroom house if she's living on her own so why not exchange it for something smaller and let someone who needs the extra bedrooms have it?

Pixie5740

You're correct. The rent is not connected the number of occupants.

Once you move out your mum would be entitled to a single persons discount (25%) on her council tax but I doubt that's anywhere near the amount you are contributing towards the rent (assuming you split the bills 50/50 at the moment).

If your mum cannot afford the rent on a 3 bedroom property by herself then she could approach the council about a property swap. That would enable her to downsize into a property that's more suited to her budget. She might even find that the council offer her a financial incentive to downsize.

Shenron

Thank you guys, your advice is really appreciated

scaredlady

Also if your mother cannot afford the rent on her own, and wishes to claim housing benefit, she would get less as not all the bedrooms would be used.
If she moved somewhere smaller (1 bedroom) and required housing benefit that would cover it ,as there would be no spare bedrooms.