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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider not taking this house

79 replies

Emerald31 · 26/02/2017 10:37

So, me and my DC live in a private rented house. We have been here for a few years and although we love it, the rent is becoming unaffordable. I registered with council housing a few years ago and I have finally been offered a house. I am really happy but my issue is that I thought that by moving with the council I'd be financially better off not having to pay a high private rent. I claim housing benefit and I was told by a few people that my HB would not go down if I moved to a cheaper home but I spoke with HB on Friday and they said that my HB will go down to reflect my drop in rent. Now I understand this in theory but how then is moving from private rented to council affordable? I worked out I would have been around £400 a month better off by moving but now I'll be a grand total of 7.23 a month better off. One of my friends is saying she wouldn't move as I'd be no better off financially but then another friend is saying think long term and that once I go back to work full time (I'm part time at the minute) I probably won't be entitled to any HB anyway but long term I'd have a low rent is read of a high one. I really want the house but I don't know what to do. AIBU here?

OP posts:
TreeTop7 · 26/02/2017 11:41

Another vote for longer term security from me. Take it.

Landlords who accept HB and let you rent the property from them for as long as you want to, are rare.

icelollycraving · 26/02/2017 11:42

Imagine you say no, decide to stay where you are,then landlord decides to sell up or put the rent up more than you can afford?
It's a no brainer. I was a bit baffled too why you thought get the extra cash at first!

DixieNormas · 26/02/2017 11:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EnormousTiger · 26/02/2017 11:56

I agree with DolDare. if the private rented place is in a lovely area I woudl stick with that. if the council housing is in a reatlly grotty part with drug dealer neighbours (it might not be of course) then stick with private rented. If there is no difference then may be do the move. Also if you refuse to do the move now when the council has offered it and it would save us (tax payers) some cost of the housing benefit do you actually have the right to turn down the council place anyway? Do check.

SilverDragonfly1 · 26/02/2017 12:00

I'm not at all sure the woman you spoke to was right. HB is a set amount depending on how many rooms you're judged to need and although it can be reduced based on changes in your income and household make-up it doesn't change because rent goes down (unless the rent goes below the set amount, in which case you only get the amount you need.)

Go to entitledto.com or similar and put in your details with the new rent to check. And take the house!

Pollyanna12345 · 26/02/2017 12:04

Are they nearby each other that won't mean disrupting kids school etc if you have children in that age range?
I privately rented for years before finally managing to buy as we had inheritance and I found it awful, we had 7 moves in 10 years with landlords selling / wanting property back due to break ups or putting the rent up to something we couldn't afford.
I worries constantly about how unsettling it would have been for children if they were older, so this would be a massive contender in my decision regardless of the money.

specialsubject · 26/02/2017 12:08

Find out if the council tenancy is for life, or a fixed term. With a council place your landord won't die, get sick, lose their job, have to sell up for other reasons or all the other real life things.

You could arrange a long tenancy with your current landlord, shelter are running a campaign for this but it is pointless because you can already do it!

Be careful if housing association, they can rent out real dumps and are apparently immune from the rules that govern private landlords.

DixieNormas · 26/02/2017 12:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dangermouseisace · 26/02/2017 12:10

I moved into a council house last year, having been evicted from a private rented house with my kids. I hadn't done anything wrong, but the landlord wanted to sell.

It was impossible to find anywhere privately that would take me on a single mum and it was an absolutely horrific period of my life as the landlord got extremely arsey.

If the council house is in an ok area I'd bite their hand off. With private you never know when the landlord is going to decide to kick you out- they only need to give 2 months notice to quit. I found that the council house is much better maintained e.g. recent boiler and my bills are much cheaper. I had to decorate as it was horrible inside, but it is lovely now. Also, I'm happy that when I go back to work I shall actually be able to afford the rent. After the stress of eviction there is really nothing quite like the knowledge that you don't have to move and that you are safe to make plans for the future in your home. If you stay there a year and decide that actually you'd rather live somewhere else there is a website where you can register to swap house- not just in your area, around the country. There are so many positives to having a council house- it's a bit like owning a house but with less stress! I would give it extremely serious consideration if I were you.

SaucyJack · 26/02/2017 12:14

"it doesn't change because rent goes down (unless the rent goes below the set amount, in which case you only get the amount you need.)"

But depending on where you are in the country, it's entirely possible that a council rent takes you well below the LHA.

Our council rent is roughly £100 less a week than the maximum LHA our council will pay for a 2-bed private rent. If we were in receipt of HB I can promise they would not pay the extra £100 a week for us to keep.

Goes without saying that LHAs and council rents vary remarkable from one region to the next.

DorcasthePuffin · 26/02/2017 12:34

OP, my heart is in my mouth waiting for you to assure us you will take the council house!

That's assuming it's in a decent house in a decent area, of course. If so, it's a complete no-brainer.

Original poster
Emerald31 · 26/02/2017 14:21

I'm going to take it. What you have all said makes a lot of sense and it'll provide more security for me and my kids.

OP posts:
Original poster
Emerald31 · 26/02/2017 14:21

It is in a decent area. It's literally a five minute walk from were I live now and a five minute walk in the oposite direction to my kids schools.

OP posts:
DixieNormas · 26/02/2017 14:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littlefrog3 · 26/02/2017 14:43

I am not sure what you are saying emerald.

Are you saying that your current (private let) rent is (for example) £800 a month, and you get £400 paid by housing benefit, and your (potential) new social housing house is £500, so you ONLY get £100 housing benefit?

If this is what you are saying, I have never heard such skewed logic!

And as many have said on here, social housing is permanent. Many people would sacrifice their first born for a long term secure tenancy with a social housing landlord.

And to refuse the house because you allegedly won't get as much in benefits is a hideous attitude!

Tell me this isn't what you're saying! Please!

AndNowItsSeven · 26/02/2017 15:28

Little frog sorry to disappoint but the op will receive exactly the same HB.

SilverDragonfly1 · 26/02/2017 15:30

saucy That's what I meant to put across- that you won't get more than the rent cost. I'm not sure why so many people have fixated on the idea that OP expects to get extra cash. I read the OP's 'better off' as meaning she'd have to top up much less rent, not that she was wanting to get the same amount of LHA and keep £200 of it for herself.

lougle · 26/02/2017 15:33

Oh well done! [Smile] It's just a case of getting your head around the difference between private renting and council housing.

Housing benefit always works by deciding how much money you need to live on (your applicable amount), how much income you have (after tax, national insurance and half of your pension contributions), and whether your income exceeds your applicable amount (this is called your EXCESS).

Once your excess is calculated, they calculate 65% of it. So, for example, if your applicable amount is £200 and your income is £300, your excess is £100, so you have to contribute £65 towards your rent.

So it doesn't matter if your rent is £500 or £800, your contribution is £65.

If your rent is £500, you'll get £435 HB and pay £65 rent.

If your rent is £800, you'll get £735 HB and pay £65 rent.

So you can see that you are no worse off, because your contribution is exactly the same. It's just that the total rent is less.

ClopySow · 26/02/2017 15:33

People would sacrifice their first born. Now you're just being silly littlefrog.

Northernlurker · 26/02/2017 16:02

It sounds great op. Glad you are taking it. The security will be fantastic.

Stripyhoglets · 26/02/2017 16:06

Private rent HB and social housing rent HB is calculated differently. Take the council property as there are changes coming soon that mean councils will no longer be able to offer lifetime tenancies but only 5-10 year fixed term tenancies. You'd be mad not to take it.

SaucyJack · 26/02/2017 16:35

"I read the OP's 'better off' as meaning she'd have to top up much less rent, not that she was wanting to get the same amount of LHA and keep £200 of it for herself."

I'm not sure how that doesn't amount to the same thing? AFAIA council tenants don't get a bigger proportion of their rent paid because the rent is cheaper. They'll calculate how much she can afford to pay, and then HB will top up the rest to the maximum of the LHA. She'll only start being able to save money via housing costs once she's working full-time, and then will hopefully be able to be free of housing benefit.

I appreciate this is probably petty semantics tho. Glad you're taking the house OP. Get thee to B&Q and start getting excited about paint colours that aren't white or magnolia.

dangermouseisace · 26/02/2017 17:32

5 minutes away from where you are now sounds absolutely fabulous! I had to move 5 miles away for mine but it was completely and utterly worth it. Sensible decision OP.

littlefrog3 · 26/02/2017 17:49

andnowitsseven

Little frog sorry to disappoint but the op will receive exactly the same HB.

No she won't. Not necessarily.

If (for example,) the rent is £700 a month in private let, then she gets £400 in HB, and pays £300 herself. If she moves to social housing and it's £350 rent, then she will still pay £300, and will get £50 housing benefit. The OP said clear in the original post that the council house rent is way cheaper than the private let one, so of course the HB will be less!

Clopesou

People would sacrifice their first born. Now you're just being silly littlefrog.

I assume you KNOW I am joking? No sensible, intelligent person would have taken that seriously.

Jojobythesea · 26/02/2017 17:55

Take the new place without doubt. Generally the whole rent will be covered by hb if need be (although you don't need it in full at the moment). Private rent will just keep going up and if you have more than two or three children and more bedrooms will just get harder and harder to cover. It's a no brainier.