Why is there such a stigma about being a single parent on benefits

[starshaker]

Im trying to move house and its a nightmare. Anywhere i like they dont accept housing benefit. Its not my choice to be on benefit but with 3 young children its impossible for me to work.

Because it's mostly females.

Notice how there's no similar stigman on men who swan off and leave the financial support of their children to the state?

And the stigma against HB applies to everyone, not just lone parents.

A lot of homeowner's insurance providers will not allow the homeowner to rent to HB tenants.

look, I am a landlady, I would love to rent out to a single mum on benefit, just havent ever met one

im looking at edinburgh or aberdeen area. The 2 places that are perfect (big enclosed garden, plenty space inside and nice area) wouldnt even consider me. 1 was because of their mortgage and he appoligised (he didnt need to) but the other was because he doesn't like people on benefits. I know its different but if they put no black or Asian people allowed there would be a huge uproar but its ok to discriminate against people on benefits.

The two most expensive cities in Scotland. Gardens in Edinburgh ££££.

Why those two areas, they're hundreds of miles apart?

This is a people thing, not a lone parent thing, unfortunately.

Most places are 'no DSS' regardless of whether you're single with no kids, a couple, lone parent, etc.

Plenty of working poor qualify for HB and have the same problems.

It's very hard to find a private let that will take HB and more than one child.

We are working poor and got 'no children' a lot.

aberdeen is where my family are but dd1 dad is near glasgow so was thinking edinburgh as a compromise. Im not thinking city centre but on the outskirts really
this is the 1 that i really wanted

My friend is a single father, he's regarded amongst everyone I know as a complete hero. he's a single parent on benefits. No support from his ex. People bend over backwards to help him.

Now I think he he's a complete hero. But I think I'm a complete hero too. I think ALL my single parent friends are complete bloody heroes, regardless of their genital configeration. But nobody without a penis seems to get that bending-over-backwards-to-help thing from anyone else.

I'd go for the area where you have the most support.

Houses in the Edinburgh area are always going to fetch high rents because houses in Edinburgh are very scarce, so it can prove harder to get a landlord who will accept HB. Unemployment is lower there, too, so a LL has a greater chance of finding a tenant who doesn't need HB.

If you have family in Aberdeen, if they provide more support, I'd look there first, especially because with their help it might be easier to find work as, in 2012, you will be moved onto JSA once your youngest is 5.

It's not hard to get from Glasgow to Aberdeen via the motorway - we've made it in a bit over 2 hours.

If, on the other hand, your former partner provides more support, then I'd aim for the Glasgow area.

For one, it's most vast than Edinburgh, so your chances of finding a house where the LL will take HB greater, particularly if you also include Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire in your search.

My ex is an idiot, at the moment he lives 4 miles away and he moans about that. He doesnt drive (why should he when he enjoys everybody running after him) but hes quite happy to travel to all the football games.

Then don't bother compromising the family support you can get in Aberdeenshire.

I'd look around there esepcially because if you're from there you can tell better what's a good or a bad area andd be able to broaden your search more.

All I can say is it is worth persevering. I phoned letting agents and they all said they had nothing for someone on benefits but they would phone me if something came up. Then I went into the agents week after week after week and eventually one of them took pity on me and called the landlord of the house I really wanted to ask if he would consider making an exception for me. And lucky for me he did.

Unfortunately people hear benefits, they think scrounger/waster and think their house will get trashed.

OK, let me give you another perspective.

I used to let my mum's house out for her and know a few landlords personally. Some would perceive a single mum as the perfect tenant. Housing benefit if paid directly is practically guaranteed income.

However, the problem with accepting a tenant on housing benefit is that if the council pay you directly, there's many tenants who would blow all their money on ciggies, beer & going out then have no money to pay rent.

Now you'd think the ideal then would be to get HB to be paid directly to the landlord. Well that's could even be worse. What a couple of friends I know have been caught out with is where the council later decides that for whatever reason the tenant wasn't entitled to HB or not as much. The council then chases the landlord, not the tenant. Thus leaving the landlord out of pocket.

As a result a lot of landlords simply refuse to accept anyone on housing benefit, not just single parents.

My advice is to try to avoid letting agents and find landlords advertising directly. If you speak to them and can convince them that you will pay on time & that you won't trash the house then more often than not they will make an exception.

It pisses me off when single mothers are vilified. Most of us are single through no fault of our own, for instance, I am divorced after my ex had an affair. Other single mums have had their children's fathers walk away never to be seen again. It really galls me when you get a single dad, like coldtits says, who is a hero for caring for his own children, errr hang on, you're SUPPOSED to look after your own children!!! These misogynistic attitudes are ridiculous, and weirdly, some women will fall over themselves to get to a single dad, where men will give single mums a wide berth.

i dunno - i mean you going for "upmarket executive house" at 850 pcm - this one is siilar to the one my brother lives in in scotland and they two high earning people...

and if you on benefits you not exactly an executive are you? from landlords perspective...

maybe you have to look more downmarket to be realistic -- yes might be prejudice but if you got a house to rent to an "executive" then single mum 3 kids on HB doesnt really match up....however much you are an executive at heart.

and maybe you need some really good references from previous landlords saying you "executive " material and will treat the house really well - even if not working at the moment...

realistically your arent what they marketing at...

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being a landlord is all about reducing risk. If all tenants looked after the property and paid rent on time there would be no difficulty with HB. Unfortunately this is not the case.

If a tenant trashes the place and/or doesn't pay rent there is no point taking someone to court who has no job as you cannot do an attachment to earnings order. this is why we don't take HB (although we currently have a brilliant single mother who converted to HB part way through - but we know her so low risk)

i'm sorry this is bad for single mothers on low incomes, but we are trying to save for our retirement

also is scotland not cutting HB allowance? so you wont be able to rent at the "top of the market" on HB? or is different to england?

As Niceguy2 says - the clawback of rent from councils is ridiculous. There isn't even any time limit on it.

'also is scotland not cutting HB allowance? so you wont be able to rent at the "top of the market" on HB? or is different to england?'

it is likely to be cut when the budget is announced in the next few days because of course, their budget is much affected by cuts from Westminster.

exactly, earwiga, that is ridiculous.

if i were a landlord, which will never happen because we'll never own a home at all, it would put me off.

we're working poor ourselves, in a flat because it's what we can afford to rent, with three small children.

i do think cestlavie gives good advice, though.

HB cuts have already been announced - the LHA will be much lower because it is being judged on a lower percentile. I think this is coming in in April. Also further cuts are a reduction of 10% after a year of claiming JSA.

I'll never own property either, but also see this is very unfair on a lot of landlords (along with the clawback) as they aren't all greedy wankers. The rent pays mortgages etc.

OP - with 3 young children (I assume they are under 10) it is very unlikely that HB will pay rent for a 4 bedroomed property.

Starshaker you could be describing my life right now.

Found so many perfect properties & none take HB. You're right it is highly discriminatory - saying just because you receive benefits you may not pay or might mess the house up.

I'm a bit stuck on this. I don't know what to do - how to find a house! If you work out a way round it let me know! X

Agree with Niceguy2, your best bet would be to try to find a private landlord. I rent via a private landlord who responded to a post I put on Gumtree looking for houses in my area. I posted on there and on a local forum and had three people contact me with houses they had available. To be honest, I worked full time when I first advertised so my situation is a bit different to yours OP, but I went part time just under a year ago and now claim some housing benefit. When I told my LL he just said that was fine as long as I paid my rent on time as usual, which I have. At the moment I'm ok living here, but if I were to move I can imagine I'd be in the same situation as you, facing prejudice because I receive HB (although I'd hope my current landlord would give me a good reference which would no doubt help).

Do you have someone who can act as guarantor for your lease? My neighbour's agency accepted that when she was in receipt of HB.

And although you probably do not have the capital, the offer of a few months' rent in advance can deflect HB issues, if there's any way you can wangle it.

I would echo the poster who mentioned Gumtree. Put your own ad up and see who comes to you. (Beware scammers asking for deposit via Western Union, however!) Don't be too negative, there are many people renting properties out instead of selling at the moment, so there's a fair few options around. You have advantages as a tenant as a family is likely to be more long term than, say, students, or young couples who might want to upgrade within a year or two.

Check the LHA specifics though, you are unlikely to get funding to cover a 4-bed property, for HB purposes at least some of your kids will be expected to share.

You want to move away from the agents etc which will use rightmove (I stopped looking on rightmove, it was depressing) and look for private landlords - gumtree might be worth a look? Or just keep trawling local papers, not the property pages but the small ads.

Took me 3 months to find somewhere though and I kept looking afterwards out of habit and barely saw anything for the next few months either.

Even if you can find an agent willing to deal with HB they usually insist on guarantors who earn a ridiculous amount of money - like 3 times the rent or something. Unless you happen to have well-off family, how does that help? And then they have to consult the landlord as well so even if you get this far you can get your hopes up and be knocked down at the final hurdle.

The discrimination is stupid because it's not just people on benefits who are useless with money, and most people on benefits can manage their money perfectly fine anyway. It's just a damaging stereotype.

Thanks for the Gumtree idea, just put an ad on. Oh, and you're right about RightMove I look most days - the other day called about 10 houses - no of them took HB. Very depressing! X

The LHA allowance will be 3-bedroom, even if the children are over 10 because 2 children of the same sex over 10 are expected to share (and 2 children of any sex under 10 share too)

So one bedroom for mum, one for two of the three children to share, one for the last one.

It just determines the rate you will get though. You could claim the 3-bedroom HB rate (West Lothian is around £599 per month, Aberdeenshire £750) and rent a 4-bed house, paying the extra yourself.

The rates will be going down in April but there aren't any projected figures yet like there are for England.