How do I pay my rent?

[sayitaintsooooo]

Hi I'm currently in a 2 bed house through a housing association.
I work part time (25 hours )and receive UC as I have 2 young children
When they start school I will be going back to my full time hours.
I have been offered a 3 bed house through the same housing association.
I get uc 28 th of every month
I should get keys in the next two weeks
It says rent paid weekly in advance
Will they understand I get UC and wait till I get that or will they expect me to pay the rent in advance.
It's the same housing association I'm with now.

No I pay the rent the day I receive universal credit
The 29th

This is what is what I was goi g to suggest. Also people are often giving things away / selling them cheaply on local Fb notice boards and marketplace. Friend got a massive rug for £20 that way, and I got one for a relative for free.

Can you re-use any of your existing floor coverings?

Or if it's floor boards, can you paint them, get a rug when you can.

Do you have friends or family who could give you a hand with moving? Ive helped friends move house, much quicker with more people.

I am going to measure up once I get the keys
I've only had my carpets 2 years and they are brand new
My living room In this house is a odd shape but my large bedroom is basically a square so that potentially can be used.
The new house as flooring down in bathroom /kitchen but it's just basic vinyl
Rest of rooms are floorboards

People on full Hb actually do need to find the money upfront,I've recently moved from private 2 bed to housing association 3 bed,had a 3 week crossover.hb pays in arrears but stops the day you move so you actually lose a month's rent when you move,I had to find £900 myself for the rents.

Brand new -it's a shame to leave it for h/a to rip up

Different world.

That looks lovely, definitely try to take it. Can the living room carpet go in a smaller bedroom as well as using your bedroom carpet?

I would definitely prioritise rent over carpets.

I had an 18 month old son and pregnant when I moved in to a new house which had no carpets. It took me 6 months to find the money to carpet the house. Rent comes first, it is the number one priority.

Rey more important. We moved into a HA house with no carpets but did the living room first. A month of so after we moved in we did the kids rooms. Been in a few years and stair and landing still has no carpet as we are removing woodchip and decorating. No carpets etc is not the end of the world and can wait

Thanks everyone for all your tips and advice
Have a lovely Sunday x

Yes unfortunately they don’t care where you get the money from but you do have to pay it. If I was you I’d take the carpets from your current property and make do as best you can until you can get carpets, the rent needs to be paid otherwise the savings you have for carpets become pointless as you won’t have a property to put them in

I've worked for a few HAs and some are more sympathetic then others. Hopefully you'll get sorted; might be worth speaking to their benefit and money advisors if they have that service to see if they can find any support for decorating or carpets.

You do what people do when they are skint. I didn't use a removal firm until I was in my 40s. You ask friends or family to help you with a move and you rent a van for the day.

If you can't afford carpets for the first month or two you improvise until you can. That might include looking for rugs in a charity shop or cheaply on line:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9309458

Your rent and council tax always have to come first. It's the only way you keep a roof over your head. Big question is, why do you need three bedrooms when you have two young children?

Try a man and van service, I paid £240 for a 2 bed local house move (Bristol) 2 trips. It was basically £180 for a single trip then £60 each additional for a move of 1 mile

@sayitaintsooooo

Could you rally together some friends neighbours that you know well enough to help with the move?

That's how we moved years ago.

We moved from a 2 bed to a 3 bed and did it over a weekend so we had a couple of full days to get everything shifted and then we spent the next few weeks unpacking and sorting.

We couldn't have afforded removals or man and van. We also couldn't afford carpets so we took rugs and carpets from our old house temporarily and just built it up from there.

Pull up your carpets and take them with you. You'll have to make do for a little while until you're settled. That's all I did when I moved. Carpets aren't a priority.

What a nasty, spiteful bunch some people on here are, reflective I suppose of the race to the bottom and nasty country we are becoming.

Anyway, congratulations on your new home OP, I'd speak to the HA and to the council regarding housing benefit as it can vary between authorities- sadly though often its tough luck and people are left scrambling for money. I would take what you can of your current carpets, they'll only be ripped up anyway. It's very well for people to say they're not a priority but what a sad state of affairs that people just accept that's normal and fine. I've been to visit lots of vulnerable people in their social housing via my job and whilst some floorboards are in decent nick, some are left with nails pointing out and damaged- of course the HA says its fine.

It’s very normal to have to pay rent in advance. It was your choice to upgrade to a bigger house, you could have made do with the 2 bed, so of course you’re expected to have saved for this and pay it yourself. You could go without carpets at first and removal van and then you could afford it out of your savings.

If your with the same social landlord they will be on the Landlords portal. Put a note in you UC journal asking to speak with your Case Manager about the situation.

The process of transferring the housing element to another house is usually quite straightforward and as long as you're not in rent arrears the week in advance you paid on your current place would be carried over.
You can also ask for an advance from UC this will be deducted from your monthly payments for an agreed period of time.

I have to add there is no such thing as housing benefit anymore ( except for emergency short term accommodation) Universal Credit help with the cost of rent if your earnings fall below the threshold for your household.