I have to get this typed as my head is all over the place`... hoovering will have to wait.
My mum is staying with me and dh at the moment she is a widow in her mid fifties (dad died 14 yrs ago) and has a very tiny pension to live on - she was renting a cottage for 5 yrs near my sis and though she rec'vd housing benefit this did not bar her from getting a property and she has been an excellant tenant - any small income she earned from providing respite care for a friend with an autistic son (whom mum loves very much) - was swallowed up by housing benefits but she managed.
I wanted her to come here as I have two very small children and she lived hundreds of miles away so saw them rarely - so she packed up and cam. Since then wwe have faced a nightmare trying to rent a property deep in middle england where I live. Despite myhusband being a snr Civil servant and being willing to guarantee my mothers rent - we are having trouble getting her past ref stage - any whiff of housing benefits - makes agents run for the hills. I am getting desperate - we can't really afford to pay 6 months up front but it is fast becoming the only conceivable option. She is a fantastic tenant - with good references from a landlord she has been renting from for 5 years and dh and I can ensure the rent is paid. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM???? I would willing donate a pint of blood to seal the deal but I have given birth relatively recently perhaps they would like my first born son as a deposit?