6 months rent upfront

[TEEUVEE]

I am a single mother who gave birth a few months ago. I am currently on maternity leave and homeless, hopping from house to house. I tried to rent a small house for my baby and myself but all landlords insist that because of my situation I will have to pay 6 months in advance as I am not in receipt of benefits at the moment. My dad said he is willing to lend me the money but he will need it back. I plan on applying for universal credit and getting help with housing (LHA) once I move into a place. My question is, would the 6 months of rent that were paid in advance be given to me so I can give my dad his money back. If not what other help would I be entitled to from the government.

Are you on the local council/HAs' lists?

It would be paid back to you monthly as part of your Universal credit. Depending what your LHA is then your rent may not be covered in full. There is no way that Uc would know you had paid six months rent upfront unless you told them.

Why are you waiting until you’ve found a place to claim UC? You can still claim the standard and child elements before that.

generally when you claim the housing element you will just need to show proof of tenancy- you aren’t asked to prove that
you’ve paid rent like you would with childcare costs. So you could repay your dad on a monthly basis until the 6 months when you need to start paying the rent again.

Be careful with the property you choose - if it's over the Local Housing Allowance (most private rented ones are) then you'll have to make up the shortfall (which you of course won't be able to afford as sometimes this is hundreds of pounds each month). Find a property with the cheapest rent so that at least the shortfall in rent won't be too horrific.