Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

MrsTinks

hart - it was I think near Malaga - or at least within a couple of hours of Malaga... my Spanish geography is VERY vague!
I doubt very much they are in a position to repay the arrears in the next few days to be honest... They do literately have the cash in their hands from the MILs pension that they transferred to my hubbys account and he drew out for her today. Till the 18th that is all they have!
They have filled out all the forms relating to pension credits and housing allowance and what have you today, I think they have one more form to fill in but basically the council are paying for FIL to travel to the nearest large town on wednesday for a meeting about returning to work. I don't know if MIL is better off returning or not - ie pension credits etc might get affected (honestly don't know...)
But they have been warned that the housing allowance application can take up to 21 days or less in more urgent cases. Goodness only knows what this is classed as then...
If your solicitor in Spain covers this area then I'd be more than happy to pass on her details... obviously she'd need paying but if they have an ounce of common sense left in them they will not question this!

As for intentionally homeless... agreed that if this was a UK reposession they would 99% be classed as intentionally homeless... then again I think if they'd honestly realised that they would loose their home they would have done something to fix this... I can't believe that they missed a full 3 payments and didn't think it might happen... How much is lack of understanding of another country's systems and how much is purposely burying of heads in sand... *sigh*

pineapple I will certainly look into this!

Savvy - I find myself torn... I DO think that the council has SOME duty, but on the other hand I only think they have a duty to give them emergency shelter to be honest... at least until their housing claim has been processed...
I appreciate I am hugely ignorant of all matters benefit... I've been fortunate enough to never need to claim them but it does irritate a little when someone needs a short term assistance and probably can't get it, yet other people in this country live comfortably on benefits *sigh*

Thank you all for taking the time to answer me Honestly it's helpful even when the answers are not what I would like to hear

MrsTinks

OK looking into the intentionally homeless angle more... it could be argued that it was not intentional as they didn't refuse to pay, they were unable to due to financial difficulties... ofcourse that still only applies really to a UK reposession but it's a start

Savvy_Sue

pineapple wrote: »

At their age they should be eligible for a flat in a sheltered housing complex. Have a look at what is available in the area.

Seriously, I question the 'should'. It is often easier to get sheltered housing than other social housing, because the turnover is higher and there is less competition.

But there is no automatic legal requirement for the local council to offer accommodation to returning ex-pats. If you read SDW's post on the Habitual Residency Test, you'll see that 'entitlement' isn't automatic, AND you can't just stick a pin in a map and decide "I want to live there so I'll apply for council housing there".

Since the only 'local connection' that the outlaws seem to have with MrsT's area is that the son of one of them lives there, that 'local connection' is pretty tenuous, especially as have had only limited contact, and it doesn't sound as if MrsT or her DH are going to be falling over themselves to confirm to the LA that the outlaws need support which they are planning to be involved in.

seven-day-weekend

If they pass the Habitual Residence Test, then they will be eligible for benefits and will be able to privately rent and have their rent paid, up to the amount of Local Housing Allowance. They will be able to have any size house they wish, but rent will only be paid for the one-bedroom rate as that is all they need. They should also get their council Tax paid.

So.... they need to apply pdq and get the HRT out of the way.

donny-gal

MrsT
I do not understand how they could be considered for "Sheltered Accommodation" they are not ill are they, and certainly SFIL is well young enough to work. Sorry folks we have retired early but we know we won't get a penny, and budgetted and planned accordingly.

To me they want to play both ends to the middle, if they have been living out in Spain for 5 years, by now they would have got their Residencia, to get free health care (at least for Mum) out in Spain (depending on region I know). Living 700€ a month in Spain is do-able. For all house costs, legal cover, banking costs, rates, community charge, electric and water, including a telephone line and BBand and cheap calls home, I have just by chance worked it out for us at around 1600€ per year (Electric is only 6 months usage, but water hardly differs being there or not). Then there is food, which is cheaper than the UK, unless you want to buy branded British Goods, far cheaper than France.

Many ex-pats have come back thinking that prices were as they were when they left, and also that they could get a "hand-out" which they could not get in Spain.

Sorry for the rant but these idiots (sorry Mrs T) need to get back on a plane and talk to a Solicitor about what is going to happen next, and how much will be left for them if the Bank sells, and how to get it? There are even get money based on selling when you die, crap rates as we all know but it could get them out of the mire.

Why on earth should we bail them out, we do it too easily.
DG

MrsTinks

donny-gal - I hear you - oh boy do I!
At the moment we're getting more wrung out of them as each hour goes by... the original loan was for 6000Euro... apparently the bank is now saying they owe 16000 Euro... I'm unsure how long this problem has been going on for this to be the case, at what APR the original loan was and what insane fines and penalties there are on the original loan...
What little we can wrestle from them then the car they bought with the original loan wasn't insured (they didn't drive it at the time... yes I'm confused too...) and whilst parked outside their house the day someone local asked them to sell it to them for about 10% of it's value it was smashed up beyond repair outside their house... no insurance equals no car AND no money...
As for them returning to Spain... SFIL has no passport, I'm not paying for him to get one, we already paid for his emergency travel documents and I doubt we'll get that money back! As for flights... again we're NOT paying for them to fly back, we paid for their flights to the UK...
I honestly have no idea what their day to day budgeting has been out there... I suspect I know where some of the money went but after that - pass... They had no electric or heating for a long time I know that much but I'm utterly stumped about how things have gotten to this point... I really just don't grasp it.
We've encouraged them again today to at least find a solicitor in the UK, ideally one with knowledge of Spanish property and debt things, or contact their friends in Spain and get recommendations on another solicitor out there. I HAVE found out that it was Castillo de Locub!n in Andalucia they lived in...

hartcjhart

MrsT i have sent you a PM with the solicitors contact details,she is well known as a very good HONEST solicitor which can be rare in Spain, she is in the Costa Almeria area so in Andalucia region,she speaks very good english and hope she can help, BUT contact with her is a matter of urgency if your ILs are to stand a chance of getting anything sorted

hartcjhart

forgot to say you will need the exact bank details,branch/acc numbers/etc and hopefully they will have some documentation with a contact name for the bank,
I wish you luck

Savvy_Sue

donny-gal wrote: »

MrsT
I do not understand how they could be considered for "Sheltered Accommodation" they are not ill are they, and certainly SFIL is well young enough to work. Sorry folks we have retired early but we know we won't get a penny, and budgetted and planned accordingly.

You don't have to be ill to get sheltered accommodation, although sometimes it helps.

I have a very fit and mobile friend, still working, who's been renting a sheltered flat for the last few years. They met the criteria because they were over 60 (but that can be lower for some properties), they don't have and never have had their own property, and they don't have a lot of savings. They had been privately renting but that arrangement had broken down, so it was a bit of a crisis at the time: I'm not sure they would have considered this otherwise. But it's been a very good option, and they should be able to stay there forever, unless they completely lose the plot!

donny-gal

Yes, some people may be worthy, but some can lie. Our ex next door neighbour in Spain went back to the UK, stayed with her daughter claimed either marriage break up (or they were not married) and as she was over 60 got given a Sheltered Flat in Kensington. Came back to Spain THEY sold the house, so would have good savings, and then moved back to the Sheltered Accommodation. Thank goodness they went as we have a great Dutch couple in there now.