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?

You don't have to spend all your savings. You can keep a large percentage of it while working on earning more

It doesn't really sound as if you can afford to divorce!
In all seriousness, it is a double bind. I sympathise with you but can you imagine the headlines if the government allowed you to hoard money while being on UC. No government would do it.

Nope! Not really. Shame my STBXH didn’t think of that though before having an affair, but here we are 😂

If he did that, then he needs to make it right. He should be paying more than his share.

Have you looked into shared ownership? You need a much smaller deposit and universal credit will pay the rent for the half you don’t own.

Agree. I was also coming on to say this.

We have a monthly household income of less than 2K. That would qualify us for UC.
An inheritance of 25K, put in trust for the children, means we don't qualify.

@tiredconfusedhungry do you have close family (mom/dad) who are sympathetic and willing to help? they could hold the money for you (and if there is any tax implications you could pay that portion) all the while saving as much as you can.

The thing with 'social housing' is that it carries the unfortunate stigma of being solely for those on the lowest incomes and/or homeless for whatever reason and have to be housed. And that usually they get the rent paid anyway. Council houses were for anybody who wanted one. They were built, owned and rented out by the local council itself, not by a housing association. You went on the waiting list and gradually moved up the list until you got to the top of the list and that was that.

A few people have mentioned shared ownership to you. Have you considered this?

Good post

You lost the money? As in, your bank account randomly decreased and the money vanished?

The problem is there obviously does have to be a limit to savings you can have while claiming benefits, but £16k isn’t a huge sum and it obviously impacts your ability to better your circumstances through saving. But I think that’s part of the design.

I dont get why LISA's are classed as capital for UC as they are locked away. I mean yes ok they can be accessed but they meant as either pension savings or house deposit savings.

It will cost the tax payer more to insist that someone cashes in (at a cost) those savings and then rent because when the savings run out they will be entitled to housing benefit etc. Better by far to ring fence those as for retirement of buying ones first house and only have the counted if they are cashed in for any other reason.

In the longer term you need to reduce your housing costs, while increasing your earnings. So in your position I would consider:

Applying for social housing

It might take a few years to get anywhere near the top of the list but once you get a place, you'll have cheaper rent and so more able to save. If you're in the process of splitting from your partner and you have kids, this is a good time to apply. If you can only afford a smaller place than you need, you'll be classed as overcrowded and that would give you more points for your application. Maybe speak to a housing officer, and look at your situation to see what points you might get. Social housing is in high demand everywhere, but it's worth looking into.

Additional Training

Either do the social work degree PT while you work, or retrain in a different field. Find out if there's any financial support available from your employer for training and career development. This would increase your future earnings which will enable you to save.

Consider moving to a cheaper area

Do you have any contacts / family / friends in any cheaper areas of the country? Is there a demand for your skills / experience in other areas of the country where housing is more affordable? Once you've lived somewhere for a year, or if you have a job there, you can apply for social housing in that area. Again, you might have to get through a couple of years in too small, unaffordable private rented accommodation while you wait on the list, but this would be easier in a more affordable area - plus if it's an area where housing demand is lower, you'd have more chance of getting social housing.

Is anything like this available in your area, OP?

It might be worth making enquiries with your local council, particularly given your job and the fact that your children are at school there.

If you are saying you and EX will be 50:50 do you need to rent a 2 bedroom can you make do with a 1 bedroom and you sleep on a pull out couch / daybed when your kids are with you. It may allow you to save more faster. Short term pain long term gain.

Not as much as you would if you rented instead

if you put in to a calculator exactly the same income with one person renting and another with a mortgage - the person renting is entitled to more help

You can earn more before they start deducting it though than a renter.

Grim.

O.M.G. The UK really is screwed.

By the time OP gets to pension age, there won't be any net contributors left, since it won't be worth their while working only to fund people like OP. So who will pay the OP's pension and rent and other benefits then?

Have you looked at shared ownership?

I had to go down that route when I separated, as even though i could afford the monthly payments on our old house, my salary was too low for me to get the mortgage and buy my ex out. I also couldn't afford to rent anything other than a room (another South East resident but a different area and more expensive) as like you, rent in my area is ridiculous.

If I could buy a property outright I would but when you can't you have to do what you need to do.

I did rent for 6 months (I didn't want to go any longer as I didn't want to use anymore of my savings/house deposit) until the right place came up.

Shared ownership is the only way. You wiii get 6mths grace with your £15k while looking for a place. I like the one linked above

then claim via uc for the part rent and you pay the mortgage part from wages

That's part of having children, unfortunately the children need a home more than the NRP getting their assets out of the former family home. As for just getting social housing - thats not easy and especially if you are presently in an owned home, you will be further down the pecking order for getting accommodation.

No lost the the top up benefit. We still have to inheritance money. Well most of it, as its now used for small treats. Before we had a bit of tax credits.