in need oh housing/benifit help please.

single_mother_needs_help

hi there. was suggested to post this here.

im a single mother on benifits (at the moment,) my son is 9months old.

im in a basement flat at the moment with my dog. and its 1bed.

i need a 2bed place so my son can have his own bedroom.

the housing benifit has a new system, and they say that they only pay for a 2bed place for me, which would be fine, but i have finaly found someone who will rent there house to me, but it is a 3bed.

ive been searching for ages for a 2bed place, but no one wants to rent to someone like me here (devon)

is there anything i can do?

the council wont help me, as im not facing homelessness.

getting really dis-heartened

many thanks

mitchaa

You can move to the 3 bed no problem, but LHA will only cover the rent of a 2bed so you will need to fund the extra yourself.

single_mother_needs_help

thats the problem. i dont think at the moment, that i can afford to. as i think it would be quite alot

pinkshoes

Your child is only 9 months old, so at the moment you want a 2 bed property, rather than need one.

I would stay put for now, and keep looking for a 2 bed one, or find some way of raising the extra cash to pay the excess on the 3 bed one.

Could you not get yourself a part time job? there's an "entitled to" web page somewhere that will see how many working tax credits and child tax credits you would get, so your child could go to a child minder while you worked.

50plusabit

you really need to find out, how much the council will pay for a 2 bed, and how much the 3 bed rent is, you may find out you can afford it, and maybe not, dont forget to add the cost of heating etc for a bigger house.

single_mother_needs_help

pinkshoes wrote: »

Your child is only 9 months old, so at the moment you want a 2 bed property, rather than need one.

I would stay put for now, and keep looking for a 2 bed one, or find some way of raising the extra cash to pay the excess on the 3 bed one.

Could you not get yourself a part time job? there's an "entitled to" web page somewhere that will see how many working tax credits and child tax credits you would get, so your child could go to a child minder while you worked.

no, i need one, as we keep waking each other sharing. hes at the age now where he will need his own room soon.

i am considering getting a part time job. but its complicated, as i want my mom to look after my son, and she works random days, so need to figure something out.

i think they will pay about £510 for a 2bed, and 3beds are £650

lil_me

Depends where abouts you live. Putting the postcode you're moving into on the LHA website will help

https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/Secure/LHARateSearch.aspx?SearchType=LA

That will tell you the max you will be paid no matter what size property you move into, you need to click on for 2 bedroom as that is what your entitlement is, anything over that you would need to pay towards it.

bestpud

Could you perhaps sleep in your sitting room for now, while you keep looking, and maybe saving? If you are looking to start work sometime soon, you may find yourself in a very different situation, financially, over the next year.

What are you doing to wake each other up?

Could you perhaps divide the room with furniture, to solve the problem of noise and/or light?

If you can't do anything about where you are now then you have no option but to keep looking for a 2 bedroom house, or pay the difference in the rent on a three bed.

mouseymousey99

Hi - Just had a quick look at the net and I found this:-
http://www.oneparentfamilies.org.uk/factsheets
its from the Gingerbread site and apologies if you already have it - they are a one parent organisation - maybe you call them & see if anyone could help locally? Just a thought but maybe if you shared with another mum in the same situation??
Best wishes