To sell my house and try and get a council house? To think I'm too poor to own?

[RedFence]

I don't want to rub people up the wrong way, I know its not easy to get a council house, I've never had one before, but I am at breaking point.

I've posted a few times about my house; I bought using a government scheme which means I have 60% equity. I am a single parent to 2 sons, 9&13, 9 yo is SEN. I work PT around their school as youngest cannot attend wrap around.

I bought the house whilst we were homeless, 3 of us in my mums tiny and damp spare room.

The house had so many issues not on the home report and because I'm stupid and didn't 'see' the issues. I had to get a new bathroom due to leaking, insulation, roof repair, raw sewage coming up through pipes into bathroom, it's been awful. I am in debt. And then last night, I come downstairs to a large area of the wall wet and dripping because the roof is leaking again. I can't afford it, it'll be another debt.

I have £9 in my account. I behind on my council tax, every month just seems to be a new repair. It's unsustainable. I skip meals, I haven't had my hair cut for 9 months, I wear trainers with holes in them. I don't mind if the alternative my sons miss out, I just want them to be okay. We have moved three times in just over a year, I feel so guilty.

I feel I was never in a position to be a home owner, inevitably I bought a house with issues because that's what I could afford, but I can afford the repairs, or the upgrades.

I don't know who I can talk to about this. I don't know what to do. Private rents are rare and ridiculously expensive, we also have a 5year old dog. I am breaking.

I think you're seeing everything as terrible because you're so exhausted. But look, OP, you've got a job with decent part-time income, and you bought your own house, and your kids sound like they get a lovely life. Stick in there with the house. Can you see where the drip is coming from? We had a leak a few months ago when the rain was thundering down and it turned out to be at the edge of one of those tiny roof skylights in the loft. Used some expandable foam on it and the leak stopped.

What are your monthly outgoings? Mortgage, debt, bills etc?

If I were you I would call my mortgage provider and ask for a 6 month mortgage holiday. Explain your circumstances.

Some banks will allow this. It means the interest will still build up during those 6 months but you don’t have to pay any mortgage payment.

It’s in the banks interest to do this because repossession is much more expensive than non payment for 6 months.

that should give you some breathing space.

when your mortgage term comes up for renewal I would speak to a broker to get your payments low by any means necessary- you could add to the term for example.

In the interim if you need to borrow money for the roof then do it. Make sure you get three quotes from reputable roofers to make sure you’re not getting ripped off. Do you know someone who is handy who could help for free?

Looks like you could qualify due to being unable to fund repairs. Check with your LA

It's overwhelming weight on your shoulders, with debt hanging over you and worrying how to get repairs done or paid for. But there is help out there as others have mentioned through Citizens' Advice, Shelter etc. And there are things you can do yourself, so do not panic and throw in the towel. With a bit of help and reassurance you can get through the worst of this.

Your local council is a good place to start looking - for lots of different things: help with council tax, finding local voluntary or community schemes, grants for home repairs, volunteers who help with domestic jobs or home maintenance, info about access to community kitchens that give out food or finding befrienders or volunteers to support families under stress. Check out the website or go to the town hall.

Apply to the Council under the Household Support Fund - a government scheme to help struggling families with the cost of living - not related to state benefits or income but based on need. Information here: https://www.gov.uk/cost-living-help-local-council

To recap - as already mentioned by posters:

Claim for repairs under house insurance
Extend term of mortgage or ask for mortgage holiday
Check out benefit entitlements with Citizens' Advice
Take in a student lodger - won't affect single person discount on council tax
Get community free food, clothing etc.
Get budgeting help from reputable debt charities
Get financial and /or practical help with repairs from family or father of children
Read up on cutting bills on money saving expert website
Increase income from working from home, online etc or part-time bank staff e.g. for answering calls to the NHS or local surgery.

I’m sorry OP, but you really need to look at your priorities. I know you want to treat your dc’s, but it is far more important that you have a safe and liveable house, than trips to the beach and ice creams. Your friend is correct, you need to go through your banking app (or preferably get help from Citizens Advice, to do this), to see where your money is going and what you can cut out. I know what it is like to be counting every penny and it’s hard, but this is what you really need to do.

I am really surprised that you actually got a mortgage on your house. Mortgage lenders normally insist on any major issues being put right, before they will loan you the money, or at least that’s what happens in Scotland.

OP this sounds very overwhelming. As you say you have hardly anything left if repairs were done I would rather sell and then rent privately and wait on a council house list. UC would too up whatever you need and you will no longer be struggling like this. I worry as I have been on a downward debt spiral in the past and it is really an awful position to be in.

I hope there are better solutions for you from
others but please have the peace of mind that if it is all too much you can do what I said and end this struggle and build yourself up again.

CDP? Do you have a child with additional needs?

Sounds grim and no surprise that you are feeling so desperate but my advice is to do everything you can to keep your mortgage payments up and stay in your house. Someone suggested getting a lodger and that's very good advice especially if said lodger was a handyman and could help you out with some repair work. Also maybe there are local charities that might help with the repairs needed? Or an appeal on your local facebook group? There are some lovely kind community minded people out there. I wish you lots of luck and hope you find solutions. I remember being young and struggling to pay my mortgage and I am glad I kept going. It will get easier so please hang in there xxx

could you sell, use your equity to buy a shared ownership and potentially qualify for housing benefit for the bit you don't own

Your Council should have a Housing Advice Team (may be called something else eg Homelessness Prevention Team, Housing Options). Make an appointment and talk to them as your first step. You can also try Shelter for advice.

You would have to sell the house, rent privately and live on the money from that until you run out, wait to be evicted and only then would be eligible to join the list. From there you would be lowest priority as you had a house and intentionally made yourself homeless. You would then likely go into temp accommodation which, take it from me, is grim.

I joined when I was 18 and didn't get anywhere until I was 34 and even then it wasn't council, it was housing association which is only slightly less expensive than private rent.

Do not do this. Most councils will count this as making yourself intentionally homeless.

council tax is an absolute priority, sadly if you default they can take it directly from your salary at a ridiculously high percentage, you can look on your local council website under attachment of earnings. It is the same across the country though, set by central government. The argument is why would the council settle for a payment arrangement you could default on when they know they will get a guaranteed amount in through your salary. It might have changed since the cost of living crisis but please even you cannot make the full payment make some payment and ring them. They are honestly there to help you, I used to work in ctax and we would bend over backwards to help people but there are limits as to how far we can stretch it due to government parameters. It is a tax, just collected locally.

Talk to your lender and any other institutions you may be in debt to. It’s always better to face them. Your lender may agree to interest only payments for a few months and you can arrange to pay debts in instalments. Your lender may know if other schemes that might help. Get some quotes for repairs so you know what you’re dealing with. See a debt counselling organisation. It’s hard- I was a single parent with 2 kids one SEN but if you seek advice there will be a way out. Councils will class you as intentionally homeless if your house is repossessed or you sell and make yourself homeless

I’m so sorry that you are feeling so desperate, OP.

Whatever you do, do not sell your house. It is an asset. Do not give up a long term asset for short term gains. Even if it is absolutely driving you nuts. That £5k you’ll get from the sale will soon disappear and you will have a lifetime of housing instability if you can’t get a council house.

If I were you I would start learning any skill I could to repair and maintain the house. Prioritise fixing up the house. We moved into an absolute pit 2 years ago and had to accept very quickly that fixing it up would be long haul because we have to save for each individual job. There’s no pot of money ready to do lots of work at once. It’s totally liveable now and we’ll get it to where we’d like it to be in about 15 years. We too have a wet wall and a leaking roof. We’re also not sure how the roof is held on.

Make a list of repairs and categorise into dangerous now, will be dangerous in 2-5 years and cosmetic. Focus on ‘dangerous now’ and any time you have some spare money throw in a small cosmetic job to slowly make the house feel nice. You will be ok.

Can your ex do anything at all to help seeing as it’s his DC’s primary home? Not necessarily money, but can he come and help with DIY?

In terms of the not eating. Get some budgeting support. Drop brands, cook from scratch, food banks, etc.

Good luck.

Keep your house for now. Better than renting or living an a BnB. You are going to build equity. That’s important.

Get a repair guy for the roof…letting it leak causes more problems. It probably is not a total roof repair—slipped tile, clogged gutter more likely. Whilst the bathroom stuff was not great, it doesn't mean the whole house is like that. You tube is great for learning about basic home repair.

Budget and do some reading about financial health…there is an app called Libby for the local libraries that allow free borrowing of books. Although she is American, Suze Orman is very good about learning to take charge of your money, particularly for women…really an attitude mindset. She said something once that blew my mind. If at age 25, instead of buying a daily cup of coffee, you put that amount in a retirement account which averaged 12% return, you would have a million dollars in there when you were 65.

Shelter is awesome and worth checking out for resources. If you are lower income, you can also get gov’t grants to make your house energy efficient (windows, solar, heat pump). Something to think about when you have saved a bit more cash.

the BBC good food site has some good recipes for smaller budgets, and you can batch cook and freeze portions for lunch/dinner. No shame in using a food bank if you have to.

You can buy a 6-pack of ice creams for what you are paying for 1-2 at the beach. Bring a picnic and snacks.

And, yup pay your council tax. My elderly mum in law forgot a payment (she was losing memory) and after 30 years in her house and paying faithfully, they were immediately ready to take her to court. It took us a while to sort that one out. After paying council tax, utilities, pay off the high interest loans first, and work out a payment plan for the lower interest ones.

Lodger idea is a good un. Loads of postgrads looking for a decent room to rent. If you have a local university, put an ad in their housing office.

I’ve been where you are…student debt, scraping on by, and after learning how more to make money work for me and applying the lesson for a few decades, I just took early retirement. Good luck with everything.

Your local council should have some kind of home ownership grants and/loans. It can be quite a decent amount, so if you are eligible, this could be the answer.

I waited 11.5 years to be offered a council house.. single parent, two kids, one with life limiting disability and points for homelessness… Private rent in my area is now £950 for small basic three bed.
I know it’s really tough and the roof leaks but it is still a roof over your kids heads.
can you contact citizens advice/christians against poverty/similar and see what they say.
I know what it’s like to have no clothes, no haircuts, miss meals… I have spent years digging myself out of debt and have finally nearly got there. You can do this, it’s overwhelming and hard to ask for help/advice but I did find them lovely and they got me on the right track. I wish the same for you

I haven't read the thread except the first page.
Op, if you claim DLA for your son and carers allowence you can apply for a DFG grant depending on the area you live it may be called something else.

You need to talk to your sons school and ask for a referral to a parent carers assessment, get the local authority OT to come and see what they can do to the house to make it suitable, there is a general 30K limit but there are other funds available they can look for you.

In all honesty, in your situation with no equity, I would get into debt to sort the house then go on a self made DMP or even go bankrupt if I had to, no equity means they won’t take the house.

There is another, last resort option. Stop paying the mortgage and let it be reposessed or whatever the HA do when it’s shared ownership.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/possession_and_eviction/shared_ownership_arrears_and_possession

I also wish people would learn to read threads before commenting.

We are In Scotland, so maybe different?
my sister Is a homeowner, she’s on a low income, but dosent qualify for any benefits. She has no kids either. She visited citizens advice and she was told there are a number of grants available for homeowners. She managed to get a new heating system put in from her energy company. She’s also been told she can get new windows at a later date. So worth a visit to your local advice shop

@RedFence caaaalm. Deep breaths. Your overwhelm is crying out of this post - you say you have kids with additional needs, are any of those ASD? If so, perhaps you may also have it? Just mentioning it as something to consider, which may help you flip the narrative in your head to ‘look at how much I’ve achieved entirely on my own’.

Anyway - I’m also in renovation land, been there for a while, private message me, I’ve got lots of resources for you, things that will really help. very best of luck.

I think you'd be very ill advised to do this. It can take decades to get to the top of the council list. Where would you live until then? Rent would probably be more than your mortgage.

A mate of mine did something similar to free up equity for her business. She ended up homeless at 60 yo. Her and her DH sofa surfed round her children's houses until a friend who is a private renter let them gave a property. That was over 10 years ago and despite being nearly 70 and registered disabled she still hasn't been offered a council property. She has had to pay rent for all that time whereas if she'd kept her house the mortgage would have paid off by now.

I’ve only skimmed but lots of good advice.

Where I live there are several community food schemes, where you can buy food very cheaply. Like 10 items for £2. Also there is a local environmental charity which would help with repairs and grants.

Id start with your mortgage company for a break, citizens advise and ask on a local Facebook page (you can usually ask anonymously) to see what is available locally to you. So much is dependent on where you are.

Personally I’d try and keep the house if you can, much better in the long run.