If house hunting (for rented) WWYD?

[terramum]

1. Go for something lovely and spacious that you can afford? or 2)Settle for somewhere smaller & cheaper that would be covered by the LHA/HB should the worst happen & you lose your job and end up on benefits?

ERm... how likely is it you end up on benefits?

Usually once you are ina property, if you end up on benefits, the land lord will be understanding, as long as the rent is payed.

I'd go for something in the middle of the two.

Actually I did do just that.

I was already on benefits and had to move into rented. I found somewhere that was £60 a month more than the LHA rate that I was entitled to and topped it up.

I am renting while I save to add to my deposit.

I looked for something lovely and spacious.

LynetteScavo...sorry should have said as well:

..assuming the LHA for that area is well below what you can comfortably afford....so if you do end up on benefits you wouldn't be able to pay rent without going inot serious debt or starving.

Are you likely to end up on benefits though?

I would hope not flatcap....but 2 periods of long term unemployment have made me rather pessimistic. This recent one is forcing us to sell stuff to be able to afford the rent as the council wouldn't house us and we were forced to sign another 6 months here.

In that case I would go for 2.

I'd still go for something in the middle.

With a bit of budgeting it's still possible to have someone a little bigger (and nicer ) by topping up the LHA - but without going the full whack of what you can currently afford (if that makes sense?)