private rent and single mum

[pinkkoala]

does anybody have erxperience of being a single mum and renting privately, do you get any help with rent or council tax, and what other things do you get help with, we are currently selling the joint house, i can't afford to keep it on my wages and won't be able to get another mortage so thought about renting, i only work part time and earn £450ish a month so not even sure if i could afford to private rent, i don'tget tax credits at the mo due to husbands salary.

Go onto the hmrc website and do the tax credit calculator. That will tell you of the TC you'll get on separation. Depending on the situation you may be eligible for it now.

The figure it gives you is what you'll get between now and the end of the tax year.

You may get housing and council tax benefits, but it depends on your TC award. You'll also get CSA maintenance.

You should get housing benefit and Council Tax benefit no problems. You certainly don't earn enough not to.

The problem is finding a private landlord willing to accept HB applicants, They are few and far between but you may have more luck since you are working. They seem to prefer working benefits ime.

I'd start looking now. You can advertise on gumtree but you will get a heap of scam replies so just be careful If it's written in bad English and has impossibly lovely pictures with stupidly low rents it's too good to be true! My personal favourite ones send pictures with visible American/European plugs in to which I reply ' I'm looking for a house in the UK so yours is no good to me '

Good Luck!

agree, we have a tennant who gets housing benefit as single mum on low income. could you increase your hours or look for other work?

you aren't an ideal tennant as most people will not want someone on housing benefit and they would prefer someone with previous landlord references - which i'm guessing you won't have. so i would start looking sooner rather than later.

ease of finding somewhere varies - husband is trying to rent somewhere in sussex and that is a nightmare with people almost queueing to visit places

Hi

im a single mum and rent privatly. Im working full time so get an element of childcare paid, some rent paid and discount on council tax. Thats about it really. the application is a bit lengthly but as long as you supply all the information they want i.e bank statements, child benefit claim details etc they process it pretty quickly.

I wasnt claiming anything when i started the tenancy agreement but split from my ex husband and my landlord was absolutly fine. he didnt care as long as the rent was being paid on time.

just bare in mind some changes are going to be taking place soon for privatly rented claims as they are capping how much you get each week but it wont affect me as i have never had the maximum amount anyway. hope this helps.

I was in the same boat as you in 2008 - living with my ex husband and our two children but our marriage was over. The house was up for sale and I had nowhere to go! I'm self employed but take a 0 wage from my business. I thought I was a complicated case but it still worked out.

Call the tax credits people - I found out that I could still make a claim while I was living with my ex-husband based on my own low earnings and I used that initial back payment from them to cover the cost of a deposit and two months rent to a private landlord... which gave me time to get in the claim for housing benefit. I've been living here for two and a half years now with my children and although money is tight - we manage!

I get working & child tax credits and about 3/4 of the rent paid plus council tax benefit.

go to CAB to get a benefits check.

If you have proceeds from a house sale it may make you ineligible for means-tested benefits like HB and CTB. But it doesnt effect tax credits.