Would this work?

need_an_answer

Buzyizzy wrote: »

I've already discussed it with my daughter who is the elder child and she is happy for me to live in rental. I don't qualify for retirement accommodation as I am not old enough, but I am approaching that time.

Have you or she viewed any yet?

What experience do either of you have of the rental sector?

What type of rental property are you thinking of. Housing benefit have rather clear guidelines on the top up payments they will give to claimants and in a lot of cases they are not "keeping up " with the cost of private rentals of good or even fair quality.

Being a single occupant of a rental property will mean the minimum HB would be applicable and if you were living in for example a 2 bed property for space you would still get no more than the 1 bed allowance and be expected to make the top up yourself if you wished to stay there.

In the area in which I live I believe the current maximum HB allowance is approx. £450 for a single person in a 1 bed rentals of a studio flat in the area are currently £500 and if you want your own front door in a 1 bed flat its likely to cost you a minimum of £550 for fair accommodation £650 for good.
i'm not even in the south east of England but would expect things to be proportionate.


This will only get worse as years go on and when you factor in that you may be looking at one of the most expensive areas to be renting in (southeast?) the choice becomes even more limited.


What are typical rental prices in the area you are hoping to move to?

My advice is go and look at the cheapest ones listed with your daughter and see the reaction!

Don't rely on pictures you see on places like rightmove or rental websites,these could have bee taken years ago,you need to physically see these places then decide...

but as a person who currently sees this from the other side ie as the LL I wouldn't be putting my parents in the private rental sector.

tlc678910

Hi,
This might be worth a read. Shared ownership for older people
https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/scheme/opso/
Tlc

marliepanda

Gifting 10k a year would be seen as deprivation of capital.

The only possible way it could NOT be seen as that would be if you routinely gave your children 5k a year and that was normal going back many yearts. Im assuming that is not the case.

it is not the same as paying rent or expenses, it is very clearly DOC.

xylophone

I will also gift £5000 to each child every year. I know from experience that once my savings drop below £12.5k (this figure may have changed) I will qualify for assistance with rent.
It seems to me to be the only way I can safeguard their inheritance

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/savings


http://thcan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/The-Effect-of-Savings-and-Capital-on-Benefits.pdf


If a claimant is thought to have deliberately deprived themselves of capital in order to get or keep benefit, they can be treated as if they still had that capital.

teneighty

How about using the proceeds of the sale to build a granny annex on one of your children's homes or pool resources to buy a larger home to share?

SG27

teneighty wrote: »

How about using the proceeds of the sale to build a granny annex on one of your children's homes or pool resources to buy a larger home to share?

Or give them enough to buy a flat to rent out to you?

A_Nice_Englishman

teneighty wrote: »

How about using the proceeds of the sale to build a granny annex on one of your children's homes or pool resources to buy a larger home to share?

Seconded. That seems a good solution.

[Deleted User]

I think giving them 5k a year each wouldn't actually make much difference to their lives, except to get used to an income above their earnings. I can only really see this as encouraging bad spending habits.

Buy somewhere for yourself closer to your children by all means but please please don't take a daughter's ok to live in a private rental as anything but to your detriment. Its not a good idea. Please listen to the advice from people on here. They are unbiased, many are private rental LL's.

You don't currently know what its like to have a LL say they want to sell, you have two months to leave and no idea how to raise the money for a new deposit and month's rent in advance. Then you currently have to pay admin fees to agencies, risk problems getting your deposit back every time. Your money could soon disappear down a rental led black hole. This could happen every six months. You will be lucky if you manage three years in the same place. It was hard to move for me, much harder for a person in later years (as you will eventually be). Council's nowadays are reluctant to help single people unless they are disabled in some way.

You could be walking into a nightmare.

ACG

I am with the others who have raised the point about why your kids are happy for you to rent.

You have security at the minute and the same if you were to buy elsewhere. As a tenant you can be given an eviction notice more or less at any time. You may not worry about that at the moment, but imagine being say 75 and having to pack up your home to move. IT is bad enough being told to move anyway, but when you are older and more reliant on people it could be a difficult time.

My granddad is in his 80s and more and more is having to ask us to do things around the house and he hates it - we are talking about changing a light bulb for instance. And it is nothing, it is not a job, it is a favour at most. You could potentially need people to help you pack, move and unpack.

I am shocked that your kids are happy for you to put yourself in that position compared to where you are now. Do they understand the drawbacks for you?

ACG

It sounds like you may not be old enough just yet, but even equity release could be a better option. You put down your equity as a deposit, you get an equity relelase mortgage for the difference and at least then you have your home until you pass or go in to a home.

The downside there however is that if you live a while you may find there is no inheritance for your kids. But at least you have a home for life more or less..