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Lone parents

Use our Single Parent forum to speak to other parents raising a child alone.

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Original poster

Housing Benefit for Private lettings

25 replies

lifesteeth · 29/05/2007 22:40

I know it varies from person to person and council to council but I wondered if anyone knew roughly how this would work out...

At the moment I'm a single parent of TWO BOYS living in a 3 bedroomed council house. The rent is £53 a week and I get 100% of it paid for by housing benefit, I don't currently work.

New situation - I am about to start work, just 20 hours a week which I will earn around £100 a week for. I also want/need to move house...the house I am looking at is £475 a month, it is a 3 bedroomed house in a lovely area, hence the price (which is expensive for Hull).

My question is, would housing benefit help me out with the huge rent increase if I was working 20 hrs a week? if so how much would they be likely to give me towards the rent?

OP posts:

EllieK · 29/05/2007 22:42

don't know about the amounts but have you checked the landlord will accept HB? in our area it is written into the contracts that they will not keep you on as a tenant should you require HB

sparklygothkat · 29/05/2007 22:44

I would seriously think about giving up your council house, could you not exchange with someone rather than private rent?

NuttyMuffins · 29/05/2007 22:45

Try www.entitledto.co.uk , if you put in all of the details it should give you an idea of how much HB you'll get.

MiaWallace · 29/05/2007 22:51

I'm also looking to rent a private house but can't find anyone who will accept HB.

I'm a lone parent who will be starting university in October. I wouldn't get a council house in the area earlier enough to start uni and I can't find anyone who will accept HB

AMAZINWOMAN · 30/05/2007 11:13

I think it varies from coucil to council. In my area they will only pay £350 per month for a 2 bedroomed house. As i have two boys they say they can share a room until they are 16 so they won't even pay for a 3 bed house

£350 is a ridiculous figure-the cheapest i have ever seen is £425 which is what i pay. Even that is cheap as most are £500 for 2 bed flats.

i work so pay the £75 shortfall myself-so after paying travel, rent, council tax-my income is the same as income support. It drives me mad!!!

check with the local council-see what they say as it may be different area to area

preggerspoppet · 30/05/2007 11:36

we have a tennant who gets £700 per month for her rent which is £700 per month, it is three bedrooms and she has two children (although different sex) her daughter is about to move out and she is told that she will still get the full £700.
that is in southampton.

Tinkerbel5 · 30/05/2007 19:10

lifesteeth definately use the entitled website, on a £100 per week wage and tax credits you will probaly have around half of the rent paid by housing benefit, and no council tax benefit.

agnesnitt · 03/06/2007 23:16

There's a form, I think attached to the Housing Benefit form, that you can use to determine how much the council will pay towards your rent in Hull. Be warned though, when speaking to landlords and tenants in Hull I've been told the council will rarely pay more than £60 per week for private rental. Plus, because you have two boys they will calculate your benefit based on the prices for a two bedroomed property, not a three.

To be honest, I think you're barking to be thinking of giving up a three bedroomed council house in Hull. If you're in a reasonable area you have a good chance with an exchange.

Agnes

Twinklemegan · 03/06/2007 23:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

elkiedee · 04/06/2007 00:35

Lots of councils won't pay market rents for HB and I think both the fact that rents are so high and that they don't get paid are unfair.

But I would also say it would be a mistake to give up a council tenancy for a private one. Your council tenancy would normally be a much more secure one, private sector tenancies give you far less legal rights, and current rent is less than you earn. I don't know about whether you'd be entitled to HB on the level of wages in your new job, but I don't think you'd necessarily qualify for HB just by moving to somewhere at twice the rent. Before they look at your rent level I think they'd consider your eligibility for it on whatever income you're on. There might even be an issue of having give up a 3 bedroom property to move there.

Don't forget to find out about other benefits/ tax credits available to you when you start working, and check that you're getting your due, other than HB.

Tinkerbel5 · 04/06/2007 11:27

lifesteeth I dont want to put your off privately renting, but my friend is a loneparent with 2 children and she in in her 6th rental in 3 years cause the landlords keep selling the houses, I seriously wouldnt give up social housing to rent, can you not put in for an exchange ?

mogs0 · 04/06/2007 22:04

It took me a year to find a landlord that would accept HB. They were very cautious (because of the HB) and insisted I have someone as guarantor. I was able to do a pre-tenancy valuation before I signed the lease so I knew beforehand how much hb I'd get.

Where I live, I'd never get a council property, so I agree with the others about thinking hard about giving yours up. And also agree with the suggestion of trying to do an exchange.

Good Luck!!

Twinklemegan · 04/06/2007 22:28

Also lifesteeth, do bear in mind that if you give up your council house and move into a privately rented place, that is one less place available to rent for someone who can't afford a house and is ineligible for a council house.

Original poster

lifesteeth · 05/06/2007 15:44

I just don't know what to do, I know it seems stupid to give up this house...I agree in a way, I'm in two minds about it as the area isnt that bad, its a bad area don't get me wrong but there are many worse areas in Hull and we've never had no trouble here (touch wood) touches wood

It's just that I hate living on a council estate, I wasn't brought up in areas like this and I think its sad that my childen are being, the schools around here are horrible, the catchment area secondry school is one in which I would point blank refuse to allow my kids to go to...

It just seems to me that life would be so much nicer in a private rented house where there are no joyriders bombing up and down the street every 5 minutes, no fishwives shoutng and balling at their kids every 2 seconds, good schools...I don't know, I'm really in 2 minds completely.

It would be very difficult to get a transfer, a house came up in a worse area than mine a few weeks ago and there were 50 bids on it!!! I won't even get that many points as there is no real urgency that I move so I'd have no chance.

OP posts:

Twinklemegan · 05/06/2007 21:13

Lifesteeth, you're not in Orchard Park or Bransholme are you? If so I really do sympathise with you and I guess in that case being eligible for a council house isn't that great really. I suppose rents must have gone up quite a lot - when we were in Hull we rented a 3 bedroom house near the university for £375 a month if I remember correctly.

Is there any chance of you moving out of Hull to one of the villages? The rents can often be cheaper, but unless you've got a car transport would be difficult I suppose.

Original poster

lifesteeth · 05/06/2007 22:02

Near to Orchard Park, we live on North Hull estate I would love to move to Cottingham and have been keeping an eye out there...would be a bonus with the schools too.

All the rent I've seen are around £370-£390 a month which is pretty reasonable compared to the national average but at the moment I pay £52 a week so its a big difference lol

OP posts:

Twinklemegan · 05/06/2007 22:32

Good luck with it then Lifesteeth. Where I lived was quite close enough to Orchard Park for me - would have hated to be any closer. I hope you find what you want.

Indith · 05/06/2007 22:40

Oh lifesteeth I can certainly understand wanting to move to Cott from the estates! I'm from Cott myself. Your best bet is to go into the council offices and stalk them until they talk to you. Ask lots of questions and find out what you would be entitled to as it is (as I'm sure you know) a minefield.

I have just started getting housing benefit on a private let. They sent a rent officer round who decided what a fair rent to pay on the property would be and then they calculated a contribution from that (my rent is £650 a month, they decided £500 was a fair rent).

Good luck with it all

agnesnitt · 05/06/2007 23:38

There's no area of Hull that is truly any good, and to be fair most of the villages are spiralling as well due to the exodus of people trying to escape the city. It's a no-win situation. Private lets in Hull range from £375 upwards, and for those blessed few nice areas, £450+ seems the norm. If you want to get into the villages add another hundred at least.

Best of luck with your search.

Twinklemegan: You must've lived near the uni a long time before all the private landlords stepped in. It's nigh impossible to get anywhere about there these days unless you're after one room or paying for an entire student house:/

Agnes

Twinklemegan · 05/06/2007 23:42

I wasn't living there as a student Agnes. And it was maybe 5 years ago?

I quite like Hull actually. The Newland Avenue area's fine, so's The Avenues, for example.

Original poster

lifesteeth · 05/06/2007 23:56

I really want to live around Bricknell Avenue, I've seen a few houses to let around there ranging from around £370 to £480.

My boys dad lives near Newland, its all full of Students, bars and takeaways now but the houses around there are huge, proper victorian type.

OP posts:

agnesnitt · 06/06/2007 23:01

Twinklemegan, for the most part it's student lets now. There's very little left in private sector letting that isn't absurdly priced. Between Head Leasing, the private landlords and the accommodation agencies it's very hard to find anything about Newland these days. Even the few council houses in the area are being bought up through 'right to buy'.

lifesteeth, the Avenues area isn't too bad if you avoid Newland itself. Chants is lovely, and there's a couple of good schools, there's Bricknell if you go top end, or Thoresby is you go low end. However, again there's not a great deal to rent about there these days.

Personally, I want out completely, but I need to save up some cash before I can escape the damn city:s

Agnes

Original poster

lifesteeth · 07/06/2007 13:07

What about Cottingham? for what you pay to live in the decent areas of Hull you can rent a 3 bedroomed house in Cottingham...

OP posts:

agnesnitt · 07/06/2007 22:35

I'm not sure how the ER calculate their housing benefit. It's all so bloomin' complicated. You'd think there'd be a national set system, but noooo, each authority has to be different. Swines.

I'm not sure what the Cottingham primary schools are like, but I've heard mumbles about the senior school. Some think it's fabulous while others think it's great. By all accounts Hessle is the better of the high schools if you're after the West villages. I like Cottingham as a place though.

As I said in an earlier post, the only problem you may have is that if you go for a three bed, they may only pay enough for a two bed. Technically, as far as most councils are concerned, you don't actually need that third room.

Agnes

Original poster

lifesteeth · 08/06/2007 00:07

As long as they pay about half of the overall rent I'll be happy...hessle would be nice (near my grandad but a bit far out from the rest of the family.

OP posts:

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