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I need a bit of help before I accept this property

7 replies

ZenaG · 05/07/2016 14:25

The situation we are in now is that me and my partner rent a three bed private rented house. It costs us £765 a month. We have recently been offered a council property with three bedrooms and the rent is £455 per month. Me and my partner earn a low wage so we get help in terms of housing benefit. We get £175 every two weeks so approx £350 a month depending on how many weeks in the month. So what I'm wondering is will our housing benefit go down if we move to a cheaper house. I've spoken with two people at housing. One woman told me it may go down slightly but then the man said it should remain the same as the amount of HB we get is not really based on our rent so ie it wouldn't go up if we decided to move to a larger 4 bed property were the rent was £900 (and example) as we are capped at three bedrooms anyway as we have one boy and one girl. So I'm now a bit confused. One of the reasons for wanting to take the council property is of course so we aren't paying as much rent but if our HB payments go down once we've moved then it's sort of counter productive, as yes we'll be paying less rent but won't be getting as much HB. So I'm just wondering if there's anybody out there who knows about these sort of things and could help. Thanks.

OP posts:
RedHelenB · 05/07/2016 20:41

You may not gain financially but you will gain security.

scaryteacher · 05/07/2016 22:06

www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/overview *lots of info here.

AyeAmarok · 05/07/2016 22:10

Even if HB goes down a little bit you'll still benefiting hugely from the lower rent.

You'd be daft not to take it.

Oldsu · 06/07/2016 01:30

Surely security is more valuable then getting more or the same benefits, if you refuse this house would you be offered another one..
Go on a benefits help website like turn to us

www.turn2us.org.uk/Find-Benefits-Grants?

You are getting a house for £310 a month less rent, surely a drop in benefits would be worth it and not a reason for refusing it

Lighteningirll · 06/07/2016 06:36

Surely the goal n life is to reduce your dependency on benefits? Plus you get security and your own home you can do whatever you wish with.

GrimmauldPlace · 06/07/2016 06:42

As it's stands you're paying roughly £415 a month on rent anyway? (correct me if my maths is way out). I presume you manage to pay that? So even if your hb does go down you'll either be paying the same as you are now or less. Plus you'll have the security. I'm not sure how the rent works in council places, do they put the rent up each year like private landlords do? If not, that's a bonus too.

throwingpebbles · 06/07/2016 06:51

I would be jumping at the chance to take the property! Even if the amount were to go down, so would your costs be!

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