Confused about housing benefits-please help!

[wooga]

Hi,I split with h late last year-his refusal to collect dd from cm after he moved out led to me leaving my job-was juggling childcare as it was.

We have sold the house(fingers crossed these ones won't pull out)as there's no way I can keep running it.

The idea was to clear our debts and split what's left and for me to use the money to rent somewhere privately for me,ds and dd to live.

At the moment I don't get any benefits(except 25%reduction for council tax)as my ex is keeping mortgage and utilities going till sale goes through-temp arrangement as he's living at his mum's.I am putting food shopping on credit card which will be paid off after house sale-as I have no wage.

I had been feeling quite optimistic (well,you need to don't you?)about getting a new job sorted soon and managing to get by-am doing an evening course to help with my qualifcations in Sep-thanks to my Mum babysitting once a week.

So far no joy with jobs.

Today, my friend told me that when I do work, I won't get any help with my rent costs after I've used up the house money - I will only get help if I'm out of work.
I thought that I'd be eligible for help if on a low income and I'm not going to be renting out a mansion-just something for me and the dcs that's easy to care for.

I'm feeling quite down now-have a meeting at council housing place tomorrow-although I know I have no chance of a council place,I wanted to know what my options are -if any.

Does anyone know how housing benefits work?am really confused and looking for a glimmer of hope-and a wink of sleep without worrying.

you should get something, my sister and her dh are on £15k a year and get about £80 per month towards their rent.
If oyu know what sort of wage oyu would be earning and roughly how much the type of house per month is you could have a look on entitledto.com

That sounds more hopeful-thanks!

I was a TA before which fitted in great with my ds (ASD) as I could drop him off and collect him from school-was just harder with getting cm for my dd as she's younger,but have sorted it now.

Rents are high round here but then so was the mortgage on our ex council 2bed house!

Will get some figures together and give it a go on the site.

If you have money left over from the sale, this will be taken into account for HB purposes so you need to look at this aspect too.

You need to check if you require a pre tenancy agreement as HB have a set criteria re rooms/rent etc but your local council website should give the basic details.

If you find a place to rent privately, have less than £6000 in savings and aren't working, or are earning a low income you will get housing benefit. If you have more than £6000 in savings you should still get some help, but they reduce it depending on how much you have. This guide explains it well.

I have just returned to work - childminding (great for a single mum as they only take one third of your earnings into account, the other two thirds are classed as business expenses). I don't earn much but I get Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and still get all of my rent and council tax paid for me. I was starting to struggle on Income Support but things are looking much better now. I'm sure you'll find things will work out ok for you

Thank you HappyMummyOfOne and chickenmama,gives me a lot more hope-I know things won't be easy-but I can plan things more now I know where I stand.

My experience is a little out of date but a certain amount of savings is allowed before it is taken into consideration and yes your income is taken into account but you may still get HB. If you have a decent amount of savings it may be worth upgrading to a newer/more economical car to save you money in the long run etc

Yes-I am going to get a newer car-a couple of years old.Will be a really big thing to get a nice car for me and dcs.
Also will get a sofa-mine's really big (no good for moving around different places),falling apart and dcs have had so many accidents/illnesses over it in the past(sorry-probably TMI!)it never feels properly clean now-bit skanky!
Otherwise,money will go on rent etc and will be able to do NVQ that was too much money before-help me with job prospects.

You will have to account for every penny that you made from the house sale (and there is the possibiilty that you might have to show/prove that any purchases were necessary).

As for the savings - whilst you are (supposedly) allowed a certain amount in the bank beforeyou become eligible for HB - they will take whatever you have into account as capital when working out your entitlement and you will have no choice but to pay from whatever is in the bank. Additionally, they do a bank check to see what accounts are linked to your names and you have to provide evidence of what is where (IYSWIM).

That's kind of like when my step-dad lost his job years ago(just after he'd started dating my mum)-he would have had to have lived off all his redundancy money before he got help-and would have to show where the money went.Was also unlucky enough to have put his home on the market during the recession-not a good time for him.

I can understand why they do it-I suppose they wouldn't want me blowing the money on say,a cruise,then expecting help.
I'm going to be very careful, but the money won't keep me going forever-not with the rental costs round here.

We went through this recently and had to get receipts for absolutely every penny that had been spent. In addition, they may also refuse to take all the rent paid to a private landlord into account. They ignore £125 per month of our rent and work out our claim based on the remaining £500 (even hought the rent officer clearly stated that our rent is very low for the area and for the services we have). Yet they take the entire £875 per month of a friends rent into account when working hers out - even though ours is a far better house (she has no central heating, no drive, no garden, etc.
So although they are supposed to follow rules and guidelines - I am convinced that they do what the hell they want.

if you have more than £16000 after the house is sold you won't be eligible to claim at all

BTW - we are on a very low income £12,500 yearly), rent is currently £625 a month and we get a grand total of £40.44 HB every four weeks.

There is a maximum allowable rent (per no of bedrooms) and they will only allow for the full rent provided that you need all the bedrooms you have and it is below the maximum allowable rent.

If your dc are very young (and diff sexes) they could argue that they can share a bedroom.

Yes rent HB is worked out according to the number of rooms they deem it necessary for you to use - but they wil not take all the rent into account if they think it is too high. It depends on the area (right down to the street - not town) and other minutae.

I remember being really surprised that they took the full amount for my 2 bed flat, but this is Surrey and you can imagine how much private rent is around here - 8 years ago £725 per month for a 2 bed (1 a small single) maisonette, currently the council charge £75 pw for a 3 bed house!!!!!!!!!!

Ours is very small 3 bedroomed house - 1 double (theoretically), one single and one supposed single that has a junior bed in as a normal single doesn't fit - very standard house for this area though.

What ages do dcs of different sexes have to be to be able to have sep rooms?
I will share with my dd if I have to-my ds is autistic and getting more aggressive with dd the older he gets-he needs his own space.
They share at the moment, ds is nearly 7 and dd is 3.

I think each borough may set it's own limit but around 9/10, perhaps go for a 2 bed place with a huge room you and dd can share and then later on move to a 3 bed place, or go for a 3 bed place now and accept a couple of years where you may (they may take SN into account) be considered over accommodated and not get it all allowed.

You really need to see if you can get the up to date info from your HB department.

you'll need to check with your council regarding the number of bedrooms - they may take the fact that your son needs his own bedroom into account but in my area at least under 10s are expected to share

although they may only give you the 2 bedroom rate, it doesn't stop you renting a three bed and paying something towards the rent yourself if you can

In this area, If they are the same sex - then they share unless there is a 12 year gap between them.

Different sexes have to have a 10 year gap - although i do know of one family who have been placed locally where the todler has to share with the parents and will not be reconsidered until the child is 10.

I know Joash it's awful, I have a small open plan 3 bed terrace - it's cosy with four dc, however the upstairs maisonettes opposite has bedrooms so small that once you have a single bed in them no other furniture will fit in but the council can/does/would house a couple and 5 dc in one of them - not sure they could fit a dining table and sofas big enough in the lounge for them all to sat at and on!

I certainly don't think social housing is a good option!

The housing people can't help me yet because of the money I will have-I have a form to hand back (housing list) where I have ticked the part-buy part-rent option,but there was one like that in my area recently-v.small 2-bed house-25% share £135,000 - way out of my league

I will just private rent and live carefully for the time being-as long as this buyer doesn't mess us around.

Social Housing in this area are much bigger than the private options. Our problem is that whilst we are on the list (due to having a 5 year old), we will not reach the top of the list for around 15 years - which by that time will not happen as we will actually no longer be eligible due to the little 'un then being 20.