I’m not missing something here am I? Universal credit, renting and saving for a deposit.

[tiredconfusedhungry]

Keeping it a bit vague. I’m separated, STBXH and I were looking at figures last night and we’re not going to come out with much to put towards a deposit. We’re looking at around £15k each, I’d need a deposit of around £60k - £70k and that’s to buy a 2 bed house.

We’re in the South East and house prices here are high, rent is high. We’re already in the ‘cheaper’ part, moving further away from where we are puts us in prime commuting land and would be more expensive.

Anyway, it’s likely I will end up renting and saving for a bigger deposit. I did a calculation on entitled to (based on no savings) and I could get some help with rent, which is great. It means I could save some money each month and then hopefully buy after about 4 years.

But now I’ve looked into it further, if you have more than £16k in savings you aren’t entitled to any help. Which I do understand, but it then means that after all essential bills and costs are covered, I’d have about £200 left a month. Which doesn’t go far with 2 kids and certainly wouldn’t leave me anything to save.

So essentially I’m never going to be able to save a deposit am I?

Well, the UK version of it.

But it’s ok for me to potentially claim UC for the rest of my life to pay rent once I have no savings left? How does that make sense?

it just didn’t make sense to me that’s all.

No it doesn't make sense but that's how it is so work within the limitations to get the best result for yourself.

The plan I outlined is a pretty good one, I think.

And for context where I live rent on a 2 bed flat, the cheapest I’ve found is £1200.

There aren’t many 2 bed flats or houses for sale (most are in over 60’s complexes). But one near me is on for £240,000 (and it needs work). I earn £27,000 a year. Based on some (not all) mortgage companies lending 5x your salary I’d need a deposit of over £100,000.

You might be a le to look at shared ownership where 15k might cover the deposit on a 25% share

So you want to buy a house for around £600k on a net income of £2000 pm? That seems ambitious. What are the job opportunities like for you if you moved to a cheaper area?

No, the cheapest house I’ve seen is £240k. And yes you only need a 10% deposit, but on my salary i wouldn’t be approved for a £180k mortgage. Hence needing a bigger deposit.

Not with tax payers money anyway .

OP don’t lose hope , circumstances can change as time goes on .

Sorry, it would be a £216k mortgage, not £180k.

The money can be disregarded but only for 6 months. With the difference in figures you are talking about though I’d honestly be looking at alternative careers. 27k isn’t a great salary to support a household, even where we live that would be tight and we don’t live in an expensive part of the country.

@tiredconfusedhungry , when it was income support, savings earmarked for house purchases were disregarded. I think this may still be the case IF it is held in a LISA.

Why should the taxpayer help you save a deposit?

Because otherwise the taxpayer (including myself) will be paying my rent for the rest of my life! I get that it sounds ludicrous what I’m talking about, but the alternative is it would cost the taxpayer £12k a year to pay my rent. For life. I could save up for 4 years and get myself back on the property ladder.

They have to have some kind of savings limit/ cut off with means tested benefits, although that didn't seem to be the case with the old tax credit system, you could own second homes etc and still claim as long as earnings were low !

UC exists because most rents are unaffordable and most employers don't pay employees enough money to live on.

I hate that even after working my arse off to postgraduate level where I qualified in a profession that is much needed by society, I have to rely on UC to get by. I work full time! When I was spending all those years studying, the whole point was to never have to claim benefits ever again and to be able to provide for myself and my child. I earn over the national average wage, what more can I do?! I've given up trying now. Even as I progress in my career, I won't be any better off, I'll still be on UC because the landlords will just keep increasing the rent.

Give up, OP. Treat yourself to a new iPhone, new furniture, designer clothes and a holiday or two. I never thought I'd say that! The system is set up against us. The only way you're buying a house is if you get a new husband. Unless you uproot your child to the arse end of nowhere, far away from school, family, work, friends, etc.

Could you look at a shared ownership property with a lower deposit?

Those with a mortgage instead of rent don’t get UC

if you’re saving for a deposit and using UC to help then why shouldn’t those with a mortgage get help with living costs too?

UC is suppose to help in the short term

I agree. But unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of being able to leave my job to retrain. I have only been separated for 4 months so I’m still looking into things, but with 2 young children and bills to pay it’s not as easy as just going back to uni. I’m at the top of my pay grade at work (social services) and to go any further would be a 4 year degree. In a job I don’t particularly want to do. If I was going to retrain in anything it wouldn’t be social work.

It doesn't make financial sense really. If someone rents all their life on UC they gey money towards rent and likely to get free care when they're older. If they set up some scheme for people to be able to buy a home there would be huge savings on the housing element no longer being paid and a possible saving on care costs.

I agree, essentially what the OP is asking for/hoping for, is that the tax payer enables her to save enough for a house deposit.

I don’t say that to bash or antagonise, but it does seem unreasonable. I sympathise with her predicament however.

Sorry but on your salary of £27k you just don’t earn enough to buy a property of that value. It’ll take you ages to save the amount needed and Uc won’t allow you to save it (understandably). If you want to buy you’re going to have to move somewhere cheaper. Have a look a places where a 2 bed flat is around £150k.

Do work contribute/pay for your car expenses if it’s needed for your job?

so you are in your own home now that you are selling - don't sell but live there and buy out son to be ex later, or pay him the £200 a month for 75 months/6 years

@Miley23i have looked at some near me, but the rent and mortgage combined is still £1200 - £1300. Admittedly I haven’t looked at them in depth, they are just the template figures given on their websites. So there might be some cheaper options I could look into.

I’d say look at shared ownership but you’ve already owned a house so you probably wouldn’t be eligible for that.

It suck’s really doesn’t it.
Have you got a relative you trust, who would look after savings for you?