Is a mortgage a realistic option?

sgthammer

There's a whole saga behind this which I won't bore you with, but:

I'm the sole carer for my elderly mum (84), who currently has the use of a relative's holiday flat after returning to the UK. She has no formal tenancy – this was only supposed to be a stopgap arrangement while we applied to housing associations, but it's been a year and we're no further forward with being offered anything that actually meets her needs. And now the relative is running out of patience and wants her out in order to sell the flat.

I have my own HA flat, but it's a third-floor walkup so no good. We're looking for ground floor access, a walk-in shower, a second bedroom so I don't have to sleep on the sofa, and an enclosed yard where we can let the dog out. But the combination is just not available through social housing, or at least we don't fit the family profile to get it. 

However...

Occasionally ex-council houses come up for sale locally in the £80-100k range. A ground floor quarter-villa like the one I grew up in would tick all the boxes – even if we had to modify the bathroom, we'd be free to do so if we actually owned the place.

Between us we have about £40k in savings (mostly hers) and the best part of £3k a month income (combination of her pensions, Attendance Allowance plus my Carer's Allowance and UC – excluding the housing element which I'd obviously lose). I ran a mortgage calculator and we could easily service a £60k loan paid off over 5 years at £1100/month... IF, and it seems a big if, we could qualify for one at all.

I chose five years due to Mum's age. The obvious risk from a lending point of view is if she doesn't make it to 90. But in those circumstances I'd be able to take a paying job again, or get in a lodger, or both.

Is this something I should even be considering? What are the chances?

ACG

This isnt my bag, realistically I doubt any mortgage broker has a back book of similar applications so you might find it a slow process but...
Mums age - can be overcome. 
Pension income - can be accepted by some lenders. 
Benefit income - can be accepted by some lenders. 

The issue will be everything combined. But with your deposit I would like to think there is a way. You might find that interest rates are a little higher than the high street though. 

Tricky. I think there will be a way but its going to take some time to research, definitely one for an experienced broker I think. But I would like to think some building society somewhere would be open to it.