My parents worked hard to have their own home, in 2009, due to their worsening health, alongside a couple of other bills and housekeeping money, I started paying the monthly mortgage payment on the house as I was still at home and, with rents in my home city being expensive, I couldn't afford to move out. My mum sadly passed away in 2012 from lung cancer, by which time I was paying half the bills due to Mum's illness and Dad's worsening health forcing him to cut down to part time hours. By the following year, Dad had been forced to retire after a number of falls at work which he didn't tell me about as he didn't want me worrying about him.He insisted on still paying the water and putting something towards the food. As his health continued to worsen, he had carers come in while I was at work who helped him have a shower in the morning and sorted his breakfast, I would come home during my lunch break to make him a sandwich and then the carers would come back to give him his tea before I got home. Despite the exhaustion caused by Dad refusing to go to bed earlier than 3AM meaning I often got no more than 3-4 hours sleep a night, I managed to last until he went into hospital after another fall in late 2014. At this point, Dad decided to go into a care home, recognizing that I wouldn't be able to cope much longer before my health gave way. I was still living at home and the council informed me that the house would need to be sold to pay for his care as he had no other assets. His pensions would cover so much, but the rest would be charged against the property. As I already knew I couldn't afford to rent privately, I signed up for housing. I was told that, despite what the council were telling me, I had somewhere to live and that, while it would need to be sold, the council couldn't force me out and so I wouldn't be a priority for somewhere to live.
Sadly, in February, Dad passed away. The council reiterated that I would need to sell the house. I asked for a couple of years as, I'm going through uni and, while between my new job (I lost my previous job due to the stress caused by being a carer for dad while trying to work full time) and the maintenance loan, I'm just managing to pay the bills each month, I don't have much left, so can't afford to move out. I was told this was fine. I contacted the HA to find out whether my priority could be changed and was given a vague answer about how, despite everything, I wasn't a priority. I decided to try and concentrate on my exams for uni. Recently, I was contacted by the council again, the house needs to be sold to pay the costs. I explained my situation and was told that it wasn't their problem and I had agreed to selling the house when Dad went into care. I asked what I was supposed to do about somewhere to live as I don't have enough to pay rent privately and the HA don't consider me a priority. I was told to stop being awkward and just get on with selling the house. I don't even have the money to put the house into my name so I can sell it.
I know a lot of people will say this is about inheritance. It isn't. I just want somewhere to live that isn't the street. The HA won't change my priority, the council are refusing to set up a meeting to give me clarity about how much exactly is against the house and so I can explain that, once I finish uni, I am happy to sell the house, I just want some stability while I'm studying, so I can concentrate on getting the best result I can.
Is it really so bad to just want somewhere to live?