Housing benefits loop of doom! – Anyone have any good ideas on how to house my mum (80)

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I’ll try to keep this short.

My mum is 80, lives alone, and is currently in a private rental. She’s about to run out of savings and will soon be eligible to claim housing support and pension credit.

Her current landlord has said they won’t accept tenants on benefits, apparently due to insurance reasons, so she’ll need to move out.

We’ve looked at helping her ourselves by buying a small buy-to-let property and moving her in, but the council has told us they won’t pay housing benefit if she’s renting from family, even with a proper tenancy in place.

We also looked into shared ownership and part-buy schemes, but again, we’re being told she can’t live in a property as shes not the leaseholder, but they won't sell to her.

She can't get a mortgage.

So where is she meant to go?

There’s no social housing available in our area at the moment and we’re doing everything we can to give her some stability, but we keep hitting walls.

If anyone knows of a way through this or any schemes we’ve missed, I’d really appreciate it!

We’ve looked at helping her ourselves by buying a small buy-to-let property and moving her in, but the council has told us they won’t pay housing benefit if she’s renting from family, even with a proper tenancy in place.

I would call someone like Shelter to ask advice about this as I think they do (nd must) pay if it is a proper tenancy.

But then you have all the expense of premium mortgage costs for BtL, higher rate stamp duty, her rent to you taxed etc etc. So it could be very expensive.

Have a look at Anchor, and if there's somewhere close by, get your Mum on the waiting list. They take benefits, so that's not an issue and the rents are usually lower than a standard private rent. My husband's Uncle went on the list in January last year, when it was found he'd need to move due to the landlord selling, and he'd moved into his Anchor flat by the end of May. It can take time for a property to become a available, so the quicker she's on the list the better!

In our area you register on Homelink which is a platform for all social housing so you don’t have to go round each one individually. Anyone can apply for social housing it’s just that you might not get selected. I’d advise that you help her to apply through whatever platform is in your area and you may find that properties do come up. In fact I bet they do.

Fairly certain the landlord cant do this.

Has he put it in writing that this will be the reason he evicts her?

Can she really? I was under the impression she had to be below a threshold to be able to start getting help. She has about 25k at the moment, from a previous house sale many years ago.

If there’s literally no housing close to you then she may be housed out of area I’m afraid.

In the case of my family, my mum was placed in a sheltered housing area which was lovely but it was 2 hrs away from me. It was tough.

Any chance she lives in any of these areas with almshouses that have current vacancies? https://www.almshouses.org/resident-vacancies/

the landlord does not need to know she is in receipt of HB

I can’t take on tenants on HB as my insurance doesn’t allow this how they pay once renting is a different matter as I will not necessarily have reason to know

We’ve just moved her to be closer to us she was 2.5 hours away, so would have to put a lodge or something in the garden if it came to that. She has no other family and the distance wasn’t good as we couldn’t visit.

We don’t have enough bedrooms to house her, but we have plan C build a granny annex.

Ok that’s good to know as well.

Arhh what a shame these look great, but we are about 1-2 hours away from London.

it’s via an agent who has it in their terms and online.

Look at over 55 / sheltered housing
you will be surprised at how quick you can get one to rent as the tenants are always dieing off 😂

I know several people who have got one within a month of applying

It’s it’s not outing OP where are you based
I live in the southwest and honestly there is loads of over 50 /55 housing available

I’m looking at is as a pension, we won’t make money from my mum, just cover costs so may not make any profit, we can pop down a good deposit and run it interest only for 15 years as see what life brings. It’s a bit of a pain on the higher stamp duty but we will be looking at flats or small houses round £250k mark if we can.

Yeh I can’t buy outright.. would be a great plan if I could, we are looking at £250-£300 around here for flats and small houses, that may need some work. We can put £80-100k down from other investments without damaging our own retirement and plans. Would just be a bit nightmare if interest rates shot up.. short term.

We are in Hampshire rural.

The problem is that you won’t know until you buy one. Its a massive risk. You definitely need to get her on the housing list ASAP. Ideally she wants social rent and housing benefit may not cover a full private rent.

And check what the cut off is for any help with rent and council tax as she may get some when her savings are below £16k?

Like others have said apply to the council for sheltered housing. Get her on the list while you think about your other options.

Also, it is illegal not to accept tenants on benefits. The HB would be paid directly to your mum so the landlord wouldn’t know but do check the local LHA rate for a 1bed as that is all she would be entitled to. However if she was on the council list and nothing had come up she could apply for Discretionary HB to top her up until she can be suitably housed.

Look for housing associations near by and get on some waiting lists.
It will be better and more secure than a private tenancy and housing benefit will cover the rent.
https://www.housing21.org.uk/schemes/hart-court/
https://www.housing21.org.uk/schemes/charles-ley-court/

Ok thanks, does anyone know if I can put her on the list even when she has her savings? To see what comes up?

You are all amazing, can I ask she has a dog, will that cause major issues? So she currently rents a place with a garden.

We can take the dog in to ours if needed, but wondered if it’s something that will hinder her?

He won’t know she’s on benefits unless she tells him and I’m pretty sure he can’t enforce this.

For a housing association? I think it will probably depend on the individual scheme and whether it's a yorkie or a husky.

I know for Anchor properties, pets are allowed.