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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

fuming for friend = Housing benefit V morgage payments

252 replies

thekidsrule · 06/02/2012 16:36

Hi,this does not effect me but a very close friend of mine

will try to keep brief and to the point

friend has 4dcs,age 3,5,8 and 13,she has been with her partner 16yrs,has worked,bought a home together etc etc

she has found out the last week that he has been having an affair on/off for last 5months,she had suspisions and finally admitted it only when other women rang her (nice) hes said all the normal he dosent want OW,its over,everybody does it (do they) blah blah blah

anyway she has kicked him out,kids devastated,she is but says no way can she take him back,anyway ive been helping her get benefits sorted,buying some shopping (left her overdrawn) generally trying to help

spoke to income support and that wont be a problem,but because she has a morgage and he is on the morgage

1, they say she will have to wait 13wks before they help

2, they will only pay £100 when her morgage is £400,her parner is supposed to make up rest

3, her partner hardly works so cant see that happening as his work has slowed alot due to recession,and if he went onto JSA there no way he could pay it,NO income payment protection

but if she rented they would pay upto approx 750 / 800 pcm for here straight away,its madness they wont really help with her housing because its a morgage but if she rents they will and straight away

I think its disgusting,it wasnt her kids or her fault her partner is a twat,where is the logic in these decisions they make,so now not only has her relationship failed,kids in bits,the only home theyve known could be lost

am i unreasonable to be so cross about this

and hopefully people that think benefits come easy please take note,they dont

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 06/02/2012 16:40

Yabu

It's not ip to the state to assist with BUYING a property!!!

She will have to do what the rest if us do.... and move somewhere cheaper

lisaro · 06/02/2012 16:42

If they will only pay A quarter then part of the mortgage payment will be repayment, if you look at their calculations (roughly). There is no way they will pay any of the original loan, and no reason they should. Do agree the waiting seems unfair, though.

lesley33 · 06/02/2012 16:42

No I have always thought this is unfair. I think they should pay interest, but obviously not capital.

If you are made redundant it can be worse. Single friend made redundant didn't get help for 9 months. Because she got contributory jsa for 6 months and as was single wasn't entitled to anything else. You can't get help with mortgage unless you are getting an income rewlated benefit. So she had to wait 6 months for contributory jsa to end, went on to ordinary jsa and waited another 13 weeks.

GypsyMoth · 06/02/2012 16:43

She will get

Income support
Council tax benefit
Free school meals
Child benefit
Child tax credits
Free prescriptions
Free glasses
Free dental care
Some housing benefit eventually
Child maintenance
Cold weather payment
Depending on area, school uniform grant
Heavily subsidised music lessons
Heavily subsidised school residential trips

lesley33 · 06/02/2012 16:44

lisaro - They only pay interest on up to a 100k mortgage. If her mortgage is larger than that she won't get help with any interest above this. You don't need to buying a fancy property to have a mortgage over 100k.

Original poster
thekidsrule · 06/02/2012 16:44

i thought £400 was cheaper than £800 Tiff

That 800 is cheap (south)

OP posts:
IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 06/02/2012 16:44

YABVU!

Why should the state buy her house for her? That is not the same at all as paying rent.

squeakytoy · 06/02/2012 16:45

How was the mortgage being paid until now?

I can sort of see the logic in a way. A mortgage is a loan, and once that loan is paid off, the house belongs to the person on that mortgage. So if the benefits agency were to pay a mortgage off, with people getting a house to sell at the end of it, everyone would be at it...

She needs to speak to her mortgage company, they may be able to deferr or reduce the payments.

Original poster
thekidsrule · 06/02/2012 16:45

i love tiffany,hardly her choice though

OP posts:
bejeezus · 06/02/2012 16:46

I'm in this position. My mortgage interest payments are a quarter of rent I would pay. They won't pay, therefore it is likely I will have to sell and rent and claim HB. va

rowaboat · 06/02/2012 16:46

i was in this situation too - got £100 help for mortgage that was £300ish. it does seem really unfair when you think of other people you know getting much more help with rent. also getting all repairs for home etc through housing association when i had bills and bills to pay - but at the end of the day if i were to sell my home i would have some cash - but hardly ideal when you're trying to keep a roof over your head. just hope she can find a part time job like i did and get working tax to cover bills.

GypsyMoth · 06/02/2012 16:46

Yes but that £400 would go towards paying HIS mortgage....and he is working!

lesley33 · 06/02/2012 16:47

But surely they should pay interest only from week 1? This would just put a roof over her head but wouldn't actually pay any of the mortgage off.

OffMeTrolley · 06/02/2012 16:47

I don't want to fork out for her, I doubt she would pay back any profit she made from sale of a house paid for by the taxpayer

annh · 06/02/2012 16:49

You say her partner hardly works, but how are they paying the mortgage now?

Original poster
thekidsrule · 06/02/2012 16:51

yeah paying the intrest is fine,i told her that much,she knew she would make some up

but surley if they said a 2yr period of paying then that was it ,it would give time to plan

and it costs the goverement more to pay rent than her morgage,not much sense there

OP posts:
Dee03 · 06/02/2012 16:51

If her partners name is on mortgage then it's down to him to pay towards it too surely

sensuallettuce · 06/02/2012 16:52

Not sure where I stand on this. I am a working single parent with a mortgage and have never had any help with my housing costs. I have a friend in a similar situation who rents but gets the majority of her rent paid by HB 9I now earn too much to claim).

I think its unfair just because I have a (interest only Hmm) mortgage I am not treated the same as someone who rents as I still need to house my kids. I am not paying off any of the capital of my mortgage so I am effectively renting my house from the bank.

I could sell my house and move into the house next door and rent and get help (historically).

But I should not be capitalising on my investments by state benfits which I would be if I maintained my interest only payments - protecting my mortgage - until I was in a position to repay.

Never going to be an easy answer to this.

squeakytoy · 06/02/2012 16:52

She cant actually kick him out either by law. If he wants to, he can walk back in at any time.

GypsyMoth · 06/02/2012 16:53

Plenty of us end up in similiar situations though op. We don't ask for it but we have to deal with it

GypsyMoth · 06/02/2012 16:54

She's a lone parent now....this is the first hurdle she faces, there will be many many more! But she will be fine Smile

pinkappleby · 06/02/2012 16:54

YABU, the state should not buy her a house for free. The delay in payments is probably because it would take that long to repossess her so she wouldn't be homeless in that time.

She needs to speak to the mortgage company asap to see if they can extend the term/give a holiday/switch to repayment then she needs to get it on the market.

One thing I don't understand, if her partner hardly works how was she paying the mortgage before? Is she jobseeking?

Original poster
thekidsrule · 06/02/2012 16:54

works really tailed of,there upto date,but him not there now no work is left to her to sort out

OP posts:
sunshineandbooks · 06/02/2012 16:54

I feel for your friend, but it's not the state's job to help someone buy a property (even though MPs do this on expenses Wink), although I do feel that it would be good for HB to cover mortgages for a maximum of 6 months. Often that's all the time needed for people to find a new job and re-establish their financial footing, which makes far more sense than making someone homeless and then having to support them long-term on state benefits, ultimately costing the state far more

However, your friend has to deal with the situation as it is, and there's a lot she can do here to stay in her own home.

Get her down to the CAB who will give better advice, but basically she needs to contact her mortgage provider and take a payment holiday while she sorts this out. As long as she does this straight away and doesn't wait until she's defaulted, they will be happy to do this. In this current climate they would rather help people than have the entire mortgage defaulted on.

Then she needs to switch to an interest-only mortgage only until such time she can pay the whole lot of a repayment mortgage. The HB will cover that element and she could possibly start saving as much as she can to pay off a lump sum in the future or even make over-payments on the capital element.

If her youngest is 3 she may be able to consider working in another 12-18 months and find that she can afford the mortgage payments without HB or any help from her X. A lot can change, so she only needs to worry bout the immediate future.

I wish her luck.

usualsuspect · 06/02/2012 16:55

The thing is if she moves to rented and gets hb , the housing benefit will more than likely pay her landlords mortgage