How much housing benefit would i be entitled to for house with 2 dc (differennt sexes)?

[allgonebellyup]

Following on from my other thread about buying a flat due to split from ex, i am thinking about renting, but can only do this if i can get housing benefit..(i dont really work properly,only now have maintenance and tax credits as income).

All the 3 bed houses available are around £1200 a month where we live! but i could pay around £300 of that myself and also ex will pay me around £200-300. So would i be entitled to the remaining £700 in housing benefit?????

Have done the online calculator but it makes no sense to me!!

(Around 6yrs ago i received £520 a month for a 2-bed flat, just me and dd.)

thank you all so much for your suggestions!!

no my mum won't help out, she did help us with a house a few years ago(bought it for us and we paid her the rent), and my sister went mad with jealousy and didnt talk to me for 3yrs. My mum fears it will split the family up again if she helps me, even though i know she really wants to.

I don't think renting is "throwing money away" at all atm. Some of us with mortgages are seriously considering doing this right now because house prices are falling. I'd find a way to rent (2 bed flat and a sofa bed in living room for you to sleep on?) for a couple of years. Surely the interest on the £80,000 could pay some of the rent? I was told £1400 per month interest on capital of £300,000. So on £80,000 perhaps you might get £350? (I can't do the sums, sorry!). If prices drop by the predicted 30% in the next few years then you will be able to buy a lot more easily.

i work as a nanny by the way, and the family cant afford to pay the tax on top of what i earn.

Hmmm, might be worth having a look at entitled to and seeing if a drop in income could leave you better off in terms of what you would get from tax credits (so that the family still pay what they give you now including the tax). Not that I know how much that would be but maybe worth checking out?

Do you claim CTC at all? You don't have to be working to claim them.

Oh and ICICI have a great rate of interest on their savings accounts.

so you're working cash in hand?

Message withdrawn

I think you might be better off getting a normal job so you can qualify for tax credits.

I hope you're still keeping up with your NI or you may be in a bad way when it comes to pensionable age.

Irrelevant maybe for this post but just for correct info:
AS milliec says Everywhere has gone LHA since April 7th 2008 not HB. LHA rates are published for each area you can find them online- these will tell you how much your entitled to fo rthe size of your family.

You can have up to 6k without it affecting your housing benefit or income support/JSA. Savings over 16k disqualify you from receiving housing benefit or income support/income based JSA (but not contributions based JSA).

So you're working cash in hand, have £80k and still want benefits!!

If you spend the £80k, it will be seen as deprevation of capital so you wont qualify anyway. They will expect you to use it for rent.

'yes i know i am v v lucky to have the 80k, but i cant spend it on anything!!! (frustrated face)'

why can't you spend it on anything?

it's YOURS.

but why should others pay for you to save this kind of money?

shelter is an essential, not throwing money away.

if you get a normal job, even a 20 hour/week one, you can get Working Tax and Child Tax Credits to bump up your income and with a deposit like that, probably afford a mortgage.

i thought it was illegal to work cash in hand if you're not paying tax/NI. is that not true?

Everybody's being very helpful on this thread but you really need to be sure you are getting the correct information. Citizens Advice should be able to give you accurate and up to date details as benefit rules change so frequently believe me - I worked for DWP many many moons ago and I struggled to keep up with all the why's and wherefores. Many claims to benefit are pretty straightforward but others (possibly yours) are a little more complicated and so advice from others who have claimed may quite possibly apply to your circumstances.

For example but you MUST find out properly

Equity from the sale of home may be disregarded in certain circumstances if that money is earmarked to buy another property in the future. Not indefinately - and varies case to case.

One more thing - the part owned properties rent/buy whatever they are. Could you sink your equity into the buying side so you are paying the rent bit only and possibly a small amount of the ownership bit?? Just a thought. Good luck xx

yes i would feel incredible guilty claiming HB anyway if i had all that money in the bank, and if we were only entitled to a 2-bed then i may as well try to buy one rather than rent.

Some useful advice on my other thread about shared ownership so am really going to look into that option properly!

thanks again for all your help

AGBU your best bet is to get a job on the books so that you can get a mortgage, 80K is practically half a house so you would only have to take a small mortgage out to pay the remainder.

You can move into rented accommodation and get housing benefit and the council will give you 6 months to use that 80k to house yourself, if you dont you will lose the housing benefit until your capital is 16k, you cant give your money away as that is depreciation of capital and is considered as fraud and they will treat you as still having that money so you wont be entitled to any benefits.

thanks

i am applying for proper jobs right now so i can apply for the shared ownership homes..

thats great, would be a shame to not put that equity to good use, hope you get a nice home for the 3 of you x

thanks, but i think i have a very long road ahead of me!!
xx