To have a knot in my stomach and be fearful for the future?

[AHardPlace]

I want to rent a bigger place so two of my children get a bedroom each. They're 12 and 10. The elder one has just started secondary. As it is my eldest child uses the front room as a bedroom in our current rental.
Extra bedroom-£200-£300 more on rent.
I plan to use money I have in an isa. I would be topping up my income by around £500 a month. I'm eligible for housing benefit but no local agents will accept you if you are receiving it. At that rate my isa money will not last me until my children leave home. I had hoped to keep it as a pension top up.
I been trying for better paid jobs with no luck. My current job is so poorly paid that even if I worked full time I'd be no better off. Sorry, just feeling panicked and trapped. What do other people do? How do people worse off than me survive, it's just so scary.

If you have a few thousand in your isa, could you think about buying?

I'm too old, I don't have enough and my wage is tiny.

im not 100% sure about this could be talking out my arse
but ive heard that landlords wont accept h/b because of how long it takes to come through and then the tennant could be refused but if you could pay the rent yourself out of your isa untill your h/b is sorted you could move into a bigger house from what ive been told the social now pay the h/b to the tennant not the landlord
you would get the backpay so you wont be out of pocket

Thanks puss. I am considering claiming once I get a place and not informing the agent. I have read threads on here though in which it was said that some agents have it in the lease that they will not accept it and that for some landlords it isn't allowable under the terms of their mortgage or insurance.
How would it feel to live in fear of being found out and told to leave-evicted, presumably without a good reference?

most L/L don't accept HB because statistically people are more likely to default on their rent, so you could get a rental using your own funds then once you have proved your rent is always paid on time for a few months discuss it with the L/L direct.

Very few L/L will evict a proven good tenant that pays on time and looks after a property.

oh i didnt know that about the mortgage
maybe if you was upfront with the landlord and told them you will be on h/b but you can afford to pay the rent yourself untill it comes through they might give you a chance
i really hope things work out for you

Another reason LL's won't accept those on HB is because if you want them to leave and they can't find another LL who will take them on, the council will advise them to stay put until the bailiffs arrive, so they have a better chance of getting a council house........

OP any letting agents will ask that you have sufficient income to rent a property...... So if you want to not tell a LL you're receiving HN, you will need to go down the non agency private rental route. Try Gumtree and cards in local shops. Private LL's who don't use agency's tend to be less stringent in their financial checks.

Do you have anyone who would be able to act as a rental guarantor? A bit of a long shot, but if so that would make things a bit easier.

Do you really need another bedroom right now? Do you have a DD and a DS? Your title seems a little extreme?

Can you not bide your time until the right property comes along with a LL who will accept you? Something will turn up eventually?

I have been looking for a rented place with private landlord but I cannot find anything in this area. I've checked gumtree, facebook, the local press and am registered on two websites.
I can try getting into a place and then approaching the landlord but there's the huge risk of them saying no and its out.
I have a guarantor.
I just got very stressed. I had telephoned an agent and asked if they accepted housing benefit claimants. She worded it 'I don't have any properties where the landlord accepts it at the moment' So I asked if she had ever had one. No.
We can carry on as we are, it's true but that's four of us in a two bed house. The 12yr old and 10yr old share a small room. Bunk beds. No privacy for the elder who has started her periods and wants to have friends over for sleepovers, needs to study and likes to put her music on and dance around her bedroom.

shared ownership? Is that something you would consider?

Thank you Blackberry Ive investigated it and did an online application. It came back that my income was not high enough.

That's a shame.

Who is the fourth person? Child or adult?

Give each child a bedroom and sleep in the lounge yourself until you get something?

I luckily have a HA house, but previous to that lived in 6 different houses as a lone parent, with a dog too which made things a challenge.

With some of them I was upfront about claiming HB, with others I kept it quiet. They never got told by the council, and never found out through any other way. I always paid my rent on time regardless, so there was never a reason for them to have a problem with me or start questioning things.

Me and three children. My eldest's bedroom is the front room. We don't use it as a lounge. There is a seperate dining room off the kitchen which we use as a lounge.
I talked to the children last year about me sleeping in the room we use as a lounge and they were not keen. They felt their friends would not be able to come over and watch films, that sort of thing. Tbh I wasn't terribly keen either as its a small room, nowhere to store clothes and the kitchen is off it and open to it. Anyone wanting a cuppa would have to wander through.

Littlefluffy we've got cats. How did you get your HA house?

Ahardplace - that was the one good thing to come out of a horribly abusive relationship. My DV advisor lady offered to put me at the top of the council list so I could be rehoused to another location, or give me and the kids new identities and move us somewhere secret in the middle of the night. I went for the first option!

Bit extreme, but it's bloody good to have a secure tenancy after so much moving over the years.

Ah Littlefluffy, I'm sorry you had to go through that but am glad you are secure now.
I've been awake an hour or so with head churning over what's best to do. Hopefully I've read myself sleepy now.

I'd keep on looking for a private rental. If you have a local pub/shop it might be worth asking in there or putting a sign up? My last three homes have been rented directly from the owners and it's great - no ridiculous fees and no deposit for the last two properties. For now it might be worth waiting a while and seeing what comes up? Good luck X

That has reminded me, can't believe I'd managed to forget it, my lease will be up for renewal in November and if I renew its for another year. That's good if you want the security but bad if you would like to move before then.
I asked last year if the landlord would do a six month renewal which would allow me to be looking in May for something new as November isn't a great time for properties to come up. He said no.
I've already told my letting agent I want to move although it's possible I could change my mind. Nothing has been formalised.

There is an issue with damp here which was another reason I didn't want us to spend another winter in this house. I don't mean to drip feed, sorry. I thought I would be leaving but yes, we might stay if I can't find something and if the letting agent let us. They've been pretty good so far. I don't admire the landlord though.

If it private rented the HB comes to the claimant, the landlord need never know as long as rent is paid on time until it comes through, although if you release your Isa your eligibility for HB might be affected .