Can benefits be counted as income for mortgages?

[WordsAreNoUseAtAll]

I know, probably not.

DH is in the position where he could have a full time higher level job in the next six months (promotion), which would mean we would finally have a steady income of around £12,000 a year, which would be a huge relief, and the next jump would be to about £18,000 or £20,000 which would be actually amazing.

I get DLA (plus various other income related things, but DLA is not income related) and am pretty sure I would also get PIP when that comes in, unless I recover, in which case I would be looking for a job asap. Recovery is not expected for the next four years or so at least though.

I would love to be able to think that my DLA income, which is around the same as a small NMW part time job (the kind of work I would probably be doing to ease myself back once I can, and tbh if I was still having to tread very carefully I would still be on DLA, just at a lower rate) would count for our dream (which admittedly is very far away atm, but once both kids are at school, DH starts working his way up at work, we both finish our degrees, etc it would be very possible) of getting our own house.

We've seen houses that could be bought fully for around £60,000 that would be brilliant for us, or there are cheaper ones that wouldn't be amazing, but at least we wouldn't be at a landlord's mercy as to whether they decide to just sell up from underneath us or whatever. There are also various shared ownership schemes in the area as well.

The bank where I used to work included DLA as income, but not things like jobseekers. Obviously you will need to save for your deposit, but hopefully you will be able to get a house sorted once your dh is working. Good luck!

Since DLA is supposed to cover the associated costs of being disabled it may not get counted as income by all banks - best thing is to ask. I know tax credits do though.

If you could save up 6000 then a mortgage of 54000 would be achievable on your husbands next incremental rise/

Tax credits do? Brilliant!

I thought I would get flamed to death, but now it actually seems that it could be possible in the not too distant future :)

Best get saving then... :)

Oh, the ILs and have offered to help us out deposit wise - we would still save, obviously, but it would make it more achievable. Would we still need to save the minimum deposit ourselves, and then kind of add on the ILs money as a kind of extra, to show that we can budget?

I know it's all just dreaming at the moment, but still :)

Nope, can have full deposit gifted to you. Remember that if you want to do any home improvements you will need to have that as extra, you won't be able to add it onto the mortgage.

Child benifit is also counted as income.

Can I be nosey and ask which area you're looking in please? I've never seen anything so reasonably priced near us (SE).

Wow - it really is turning out to not be so amazingly impossible as it was. Our vague plan is to get a house that is as cheap as possible while still being somewhere we can see ourselves living for a good while, even if that would mean something like a loft conversion or whatever when the DDs become teenagers (they are 4 and 2 atm, so a long way to go)

Then we would do it up to a standard where we could live there safely (a lot of the cheap houses are repossessions and haven't been lived in for a while) and move in, then do bits and bobs as and when we could. My Dad is a builder so I'm sure he would be willing to at least show us how to do things, and having grown up as the child of an often out of work builder I am used to living in houses that are having work done - it's not so bad. We looked at a couple before I had this latest relapse, and it was mostly that they needed new kitchens.

The estate that we have our eyes on is five minutes walking distance from school and from the ILs house, and is really pedestrian and child friendly - think houses arranged around greens rather than on roads. There seems to be loads of kids running about as well, and the houses have little gardens at the front and gardens big enough for a veg patch and a small lawn at the back. Two bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, kitchen and futility room, as well as an ex coal shed/place to keep the kids bikes etc. Sigh. It would be great. Smaller than the house we rent atm, but we could settle down properly, attach things to walls, decorate, maybe get a cat. Best of all, we would know that the mortgage was being paid. :)

North East, a former mining town that is now pretty reliant on a big factory or travelling to Newcastle or Sunderland. No jobs, but cheap housing. These houses are ex council but pretty solid. Flats start at £15,000 if they need totally gutting and are made of soviet style concrete, but houses start at around £50,000 and average at about £100,000 - our rented house is 4 beds, front and back garden and near a park and shopping area for £595 pcm and one of the neighbours houses was recently up for £90,000.

I know, it is very cheap compared to other places - if you can find work, I would highly recommend it.

Should add, as long as you can find work and don't mind learning Geordie and hearing a lot about coal, bridges and ships :)

Oh how lovely. Do you tend to have a back yard that leads out onto a Ginnel (sp?) (sorry if I'm being really rude)

Not very much round here (and not rude at all :) ) as this is a new town and so doesn't have very many of the rows of terraced houses, but I know that Gateshead has a lot of very nice ones.

Where I used to live in Lancashire there were loads and loads, so I know the type of house you mean - I always liked them, because they were very solidly built and warm compared to semis that I have lived in. High ceilings too, which gave them a feel of having more space than they did, iyswim.

The houses round here are mostly from the 70's though, and still a lot bigger than the "barratt boxes" that seem to be all the rage nowadays. Some of them do have kind of ginnels, with car access to the back of houses, but not the kind of thing you would see with older housing - they are nearer to very small roads with pavements than the thinner ones that are just wide enough for a car to squeeze down that you get with the old style.

Ginnel is a very good word, btw :) You don't often hear it outside of Lancashire, apart from me trying to stem the tide of Geordie that my kids are picking up :)

There are, of course, bigger houses in the area too, and plenty of new builds if that is your bag (it isn't mine)

Haha, I sound like the Northern tourist board or something :)

You sound really excited about the prospect of a dream becoming a reality!

I'm pretty envious actually.

I used to live in a Victorian terrace, and I agree that they did seem to be built really well.

Good Luck with it all

I am excited :-) I had pretty much given up on the idea of me being able to contribute (I kind of see the health related benefits as my 'wages' if that makes sense - they are what I earn by working at getting better- I know that isn't technically true and my being ill costs us money, but it helps to think like that) so it is good to know.

Ideally I would just stop being mental, get my degree and get a high flying job or at least do something that doesn't get funding for letting people like me join in. I bet having a secure house would help - I could make future plans, put down roots etc :-)

We could even get lucky enough to be able to put an offer on this house - that would be brilliant. :-D