Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Will the STATE pay your mortgage if you are unemployed looking after children?????

31 replies

drosophila · 05/03/2006 11:14

A friend of mine is soon to find herself on her own and she will be left in a flat with a reasonable size mortgage. She has two kids and has not worked since the birth of the first one. I'm not sure what her exdp will contribute financially but understandably she is worried.

I told her of a case I had heard off where the state payed the mortgage on her house and she got about £400 or £500 a month to live on. In this case the woman also had two young kids. Anyone got any knowledge.

Thanks

OP posts:

Freckle · 05/03/2006 11:22

If a person is in receipt of income support, they can claim housing costs (this is not housing benefit). There is a 39 week waiting period before it will be paid and then only the interest on the mortgage will be covered, not any element of capital repayment. This is useful if your friend has an endowment mortgage, but not hugely helpful if she has a repayment mortgage.

Other factors will be taken into account, such as who is responsible for the mortgage. If it is in joint names, then her ex-h will still have a duty to pay his share to the lender. I doubt that housing costs will cover any part of his contribution.

Tinker · 05/03/2006 11:24

Hello dros

Someone will know better but think it used to be case that the state would pay the interest on your mortgage within 3 months (I think), of becoming unemployed. Am sure last govt changed this to 11 months but not sure if changed again since.

expatinscotland · 05/03/2006 11:24

No.

And tbh, the very thought sort of burns me up. We're working poor and can't afford to purchase our own property. Why should my taxes go to subsidise someone's mortgage whilst they built equity in the place and then sell it for profit later on?

Tinker · 05/03/2006 11:25

Nearly right!

expatinscotland · 05/03/2006 11:27

then her ex-h will still have a duty to pay his share to the lender. I doubt that housing costs will cover any part of his contribution.

And quite rightly! Why should taxpayers pay when he farts off scot-free?

Original poster

drosophila · 05/03/2006 11:36

What I had heard was that it was more cost effective for the state to pay the mortgage that pay for a B&B. Because she is the carer and the state will ensure they have a roof over their heads they would pay her mortgage.

She would not be a job seeker as she is a full time carer. I think in the case I had heard off the Man had lost his Job.

OP posts:

Freckle · 05/03/2006 11:41

Well that's a completely different situation as presumably both the husband and wife were out of work and claiming benefits. In your friend's case, I assume her ex-h is still working. So he would still be responsible for paying his share of the joint mortgage.

Are they getting divorced? If so, the housing issue will be decided within those proceedings and I suspect that the house will have to be sold if neither party can afford to maintain the mortgage.

GeorginaA · 05/03/2006 11:41

When dh was unemployed it was nearly a year before we would have got any help with our mortgage. Very nearly lost our home in the process :(

Expat: that's fair enough - but I do think there should be help for just the interest part - not to help actually pay off the loan. How much more strain would it put on council resources to then have to rehome a family after getting chucked out by the bank? Last I heard waiting lists for council properties were sky high...

zippitippitoes · 05/03/2006 11:45

just out of interest who is she a carer for?

Original poster

drosophila · 05/03/2006 11:54

Well the flat is in her name (not sure why) but he paid the mortgage. She is a carer for two young children and as far as I know this means that you are not a job seeker. Not a divorce as they were not married and I believe he told her he doesn't want anything from her for paying mortgage.

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 05/03/2006 11:55

The thing is, Georgina, is that owning a house is an asset, with equity built as one pays the mortgage. And when people go to sell, they take the profit w/them and sell at prices that are increasingly out of reach for many. That equity and/or profit are personal wealth. I don't think that's fair for the taxpayer to subsidise it, and the person not recompense the state for the assistance in increasing their personal wealth.

If the state is going to subsidise, than it should be on a loan basis, payable when the person goes to sell.

Original poster

drosophila · 05/03/2006 11:56

The thing is if you are both unemployed the state would see at least one of you as a job seeker and i htink they are stricter with you then but as a single parent I think they help more. I could be completely wrong though.

OP posts:

zippitippitoes · 05/03/2006 12:00

I thought that was a parent not a carer ie she could work

vickiyumyum · 05/03/2006 12:01

i beleive it depends on when the mortgage was taken out, one of my freinds was going through a divorce and her h stopped paying the mortgage, so she applied to the benefit system for help witht eh mortgage. they paid the interest only on it, so if repayment they only pay aprt and if endowment etc they don't pay the policy. she only qualified by a few months apparently as the law changed and mortgages taken out aftera cetain date were exempt.
a charge was put on her property for the money that the government paid, so when she sold the house a spart of the divorce settlement they had to pay the money back.
if i was her i would get in touch with the local council and ask for thier advice or the cab.

zippitippitoes · 05/03/2006 12:06

If you are employed then if you rent you may be eligible for housing benefit but that doesn't apply if you have a mortgage so I would say it's not that different, is it..

sorry I know that wasn't the question

cece · 05/03/2006 12:32

If you are on income support you may get some of the interest paid on the mortgage but it would depend on other circulstances, She would have to contact the income support office.

She could get 25% off council tax though if she is the only adult living there.

I would think she will have to get a job unless her ex is prepared to help out.

cece · 05/03/2006 12:33

if she is a carer do the children have SEn otherwise I would call her a SAHM.

Freckle · 05/03/2006 12:49

Single parents with children under the age of 16 do not have to seek work. That is why she would claim income support, plus tax credits, not jobseeker's allowance.

Original poster

drosophila · 05/03/2006 12:53

True she is a SAHM. If she can't pay the mortgage then she looses the flat. As a single parent with no income the state would have to find her and her kids a place to live. If there are no council flats available then they would have to use B&B's which would be pretty expensive for the state to pay.

She really doesn't want to work. I have tried to make her see that this is a real option but she is very resistant.

SHe probably won't go to CAB at he moment cos she is in a tiz.

OP posts:

gomez · 05/03/2006 13:13

Lots of people don't want to work which is fine if you can afford it. She presumably can't so she in all honesty has no option.

Agree with Exapt in full on this one - used to be exploited horrendously in the past with many house bought and paid for on the basis of DSS benefits - in particular social housing stock. Not on IMO.

FairyMum · 05/03/2006 13:18

I am on Expat on this one too. Lots of people don't want to work, but do because they have to pay the mortgage. Also, as Expat points out, lots of people can't even afford a mortgage.

zippitippitoes · 05/03/2006 13:24

the trouble with splitting up is that it makes both partners poorer..so really she has to sort out her finances (and her partner has to do this too) and work out how she will be able to manage

as someone said there are various agencies who can help with advice

the one thing she can't do is pretend it isn't happening and hope there is an easily accessible safety net..

Original poster

drosophila · 05/03/2006 20:12

I do think she should work but it is an alien concept to her. Perhaps she lacks confidence.

OP posts:

ScummyMummy · 05/03/2006 20:19

She's screwed if she doesn't want to work and the partner won't pay the mortgage, I'm afraid. She'll have to sell up and rent somewhere on housing benefit, I guess, but finding somewhere will be hard and if she's relying on the council to help she may find herself ineligable or B&Bing things for a while. Not great with 2 young kids. Working really might be the better option, whatever her viewa on SAHMing are. Maybe a visit to CAB would be the best first step for her?

ScummyMummy · 05/03/2006 20:22

If her lender will allow her to pay interest only she might be ok, as Freckle says.

Flip

1 2