fuming for friend = Housing benefit V morgage payments

[thekidsrule]

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

YANBU, it's totally unfair to pay rent (lining pockets of private landlords) but not adequately making sure a mortgage holder keeps their roof over their heads in hard times. A mortgage should be automatically covered from day 1 for a certain period of time as should renting.

I agree. In terms of yields/ROI, being a landlord isn't a great investment of your cash - it only becomes so when you factor in house price inflation (which has now become non existent). A great many landlords have only gone into it hoping to flip the house a few years later and make a profit.

Those who got into it in the late nineties to early 2000's have made huge profits, those from 2007 onwards have had much more of a struggle. This will get worse as housing benefit has been inflating the rental market, and the new caps & HB calculations could push rents down quite hard in some areas. I suspect many landlords may be forced to sell in the next 5 years or so.

Whether it's mortgage or rent, really it's the banks that are really advantaged by the situation. But that's another topic.