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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to think that no matter what I do I will never have a home?

41 replies

Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 18:07

When i was a child we moved around a lot , lived in 20 odd different houses. As a teenager and 20 something DH and I tried to stay put but landlords keep selling up or wanting to move back in etc so still having to move plus the restrictions and uncertainty of renting .

Dh became ill 7 years ago and lost his job so we set up our own business which we have poured the last 6 years into working long hours and trying to save for a deposit. We saved £10,000 in 6 years which probably sounds pathetic to some people but it was all we could.

We did better in the business last year because of one fluke project (so not likely repeated this year) and a month or two ago we had a big tax Bill which we ended up transferring all of our savings to pay off. We probably should have seen it coming but we just didn't think it would be so big which I know is our fault.

So we tried to brush it off and decided ok we will save money on childcare etc if I don't work and I am a SAHM , we did have a nanny (because working hours were so long it wasn't covered by nursery). We just got a Bill for her unpaid holiday pay and I had to transfer all if the remaining money in my personal account to pay for that. I now have £3. No food apart from the dregs of the cupboard and we just heard our landlord is back in the country and may want the house back.

Seriously? I just want to have somewhere to live that is home , and I know loads of people will say oh where ever your family is ThAts home - not so great when you can't put things on the wall and might get notice to move at any point. It doesn't feel like home.

A hut in a field would do at this point but I don't think my £3 is going to get me even that....

Aibu to just give up.

OP posts:
woowoo22 · 14/04/2015 18:31

YANBU apart from the bit about your tax bill. Do you have accountants?

Purplepoodle · 14/04/2015 18:47

private renting can be a nightmare. Sounds like you had a tough time but honestly you have to pay your tax. You been self employed for 6 years so should know your way around tax system by now so that is a situation of your own making. Our you in the council housing list?

lalalonglegs · 14/04/2015 18:53

That sounds really tough. Does your self-employment allow you to relocate somewhere where there is vheaper housing?

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 18:54

We had an accountant who was supposedly keeping us up to date with what we owed etc we paid one tax Bill which we thought was for the right amount . Turns out our accountant hasn't put it through properly and we owed the extra 10,000. That accountant has vanished off the face of the earth now. We have a new accountant who helped us work out what we actually needed to pay.

It is our fault for being too trusting in what the original accountant was telling us.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 18:55

We are on the list yes and have been for years. We already live in the north west .

OP posts:
Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 18:59

Our income last year was about £22, 000 personally (half each) the company made about £65,000 but we have now with this extra 10,000 paid about £30,000 in various taxes. We had no idea it would be so high which is why what the original accountant was telling us seemed about right.

OP posts:
cleanmyhouse · 14/04/2015 19:22

Tax does sound very high. What does that figure include? Corporation tax? VAT? Income tax?

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:23

Corporation tax, vat and paye

OP posts:
Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:24

Our new accountant and Hmrc both say that it's right which is why we paid the extra. I know I'm being unreasonable it just seems like there's no point trying .

OP posts:
blue42 · 14/04/2015 19:31

VAT is not a tax on your profit, so that doesn't count. If you've got a CT liability, then the business made a profit which means there should be some dividend to pay out, unless you reinvested the profit? As for income tax and NI, that depends on your salary structure. But if the business made £65k and you had a £30k tax liability, then I think your accountant has got something wrong.

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:34

The business made a grand total of £1020 of profit last year. We tried not to spend it all at once Grin

OP posts:
blue42 · 14/04/2015 19:34

BTW, don't rely on HMRC telling you that it's correct. I'v had two or three incidences of multiple contradictory letters from Companies House about corporation tax liability in the space of 10 days.

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:36

When we started getting letters from Hmrc we went to the old accountant who promptly disappeared . We then went to this new accountant who redid it all and agreed with Hmrc. By this point Hmrc were threatening to come after us personally for the money so we just paid.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:37

We got an accountant as soon as we started the business because we are crap at that sort of thjbg and we wanted to do it right - turns out we are also crap at choosing accountants....

OP posts:
IAmAShitHotLawyer · 14/04/2015 19:42

£10,000 would be the required 5% deposit you would need to buy a £200k house under the governments "help to by scheme"

My friends just brought a 3 bed semi in the midlands doing this. Could you do similar?

shewept · 14/04/2015 19:42

Our accountant made a huge fuck up in our first year then did a bunk. We got a new accountant, who reviewed it all and wrote to the tax office to make sure it was all ok and he sorted it out. He also had to apply to get the accountant struck off as well to back up, what he was telling the tax office.

I don't know the ins and outs only that he sorted it.

So get a new accountant as soon as you can they may be able to help. As what you have put doesn't make sense to me. I think something is wrong somewhere.

Failing that, call the tax office yourself and tell them he has disappeared and you don't think its right. See what they say.

It must be shit, especially if the tax bill I wrong. But you must have known the nanny bill was coming soon.

I feel really bad for you as running your own business is hard and private renting is hard. Our ll wanted us to move out when I would have been 38 weeks pg. At the end of the first year he said would only give us another 6 months as he wanted to sell it then. when we told him no, we will move at the end of this years contract he got really shitty. But I wasn't moving 6 months later heavily pregnant. As it turns out, ds came early so he would have been born during the move.

Its not easy. We have got there now and bought our own house 3 years ago. So it is possible. Good luck.

IAmAShitHotLawyer · 14/04/2015 19:43

What about shared ownership, have you looked into that

shewept · 14/04/2015 19:44

You have paid 30k in taxes on 65k?

shewept · 14/04/2015 19:44

Just seen you posted about a new accountant.

blue42 · 14/04/2015 19:48

Ok, so maybe it's backdated liability, that would make more sense. Sorry to detract from your original question, I just couldn't work the figures out.

Yes, you'll have a home one day. You have the courage and belief to start and run a business, which has turned a profit, however small. That's no mean feat, and something you should be proud of.

From experience, my advice would be to take a very honest and cold look at the business to see if it is viable going forwards (since you say that this year's performance was down to one extraordinary project). Is it scaleable? How credit dependent is it? How will your market weather a downturn? Does it have the potential to make you far, far more money than you made this year?

If the answer to the last question is no, then I'd be quite hard about whether I wanted to continue at it (speaking as someone who threw waaaay too much money at my first business, which failed). You're taking the risks and stresses of running a business, it needs to have at least the potential to compensate for those.

Good luck, and keep that home in mind - you will get there, as long as you pick the right road to follow Smile

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:48

Iam - I no longer have £10,000 it took us 6 years to get the last lot!

Shewept- the new accountant did mention she could be struck off because she hadn't replied to him to transfer things or something ? Which made it even more difficult.

She wept yes we paid 30,000 on 65,000

OP posts:
Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:49

Blue42. We are actually talking about shutting down. The one stumbling block is alternatives! We are keen to avoid the situation which made Dh so ill before .

OP posts:
IAmAShitHotLawyer · 14/04/2015 19:50

Can I ask how hold you both are?

Original poster
Sothisishowitfeels · 14/04/2015 19:51

We are early thirties

OP posts:
IAmAShitHotLawyer · 14/04/2015 19:56

Get saving!!!!!! Really blitz it for 2 or 3 years. Eat basics food, no holidays no new clothes for adults and live in a one bedroom flat.

Yes i'm serious. If that is what it would take for me to save 10 grand then that it what I would do. A short term pain for a long term gain.

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