Options for housing 22 year old.

[Blackblueandgold]

22 year old is looking at options for housing and need ideas please.

He has a temporary work contract which ends this month, no savings, no credit history so bad credit rating on credit report searches.

He was looking at renting a house with his gf but as he doesn't have a permanent work contract or a good credit rating this now isn't possible. I believe its the same if they tried to rent a room in a houseshare. They asked one parent to be guarantor but answer was a no as he isn't good with money and parent hasn't ever met gf so would be mad to take on financial responsibility for someone they've never met.

One parent lives abroad so he can't live with them. The other parent doesn't have a spare room and there is no family that has room.

Can anyone think of any options here? Presumably if he went to the council he'd get put in temporary accommodation for years as not a high priority.

Op, council will only accept if he is assessed as vulnerable, they can’t house otherwise.

why can’t g/f get flat share or either get room in shared house?

does gf work? Where does she live now?

ideally parent would house while he saves for deposit even if on sofa.

can he stay with gf while they save? Can gf parents help?

can he get work with accommodation? What work does he do? Are there work options otherwise how will he pay the rent?

Thank you for replying.
A house share requires credit checks the same as renting a whole house does so they'd fail on those too sadly.
Gf has been at uni and is now starting her first job, she is currently living with her mum (who rents a house). Dtaying with her mum hasn't been mentioned so presume it's not an option for whatever reason.

He has no work experience other than seasonal summer work with tourists so not likely to get a well paid job for a while or one with accommodation. He has applied for a few permanent jobs but is upset that they are apprentice wages and worried how he's going to live.

Staying on a parents sofa is the last option I think. They want to live together so may have to face reality and realise they won't be able to for a while.

My dd was a lodger for a year at that age, the landlord didn't need a credit check or guarantor, it was just an interview - I think because they can ask a lodger to leave at any time if they get behind on rent or become a pain then they felt able to take more of a risk.

There are quite a few options. A house share where they take over someone else's contract, not deal directly with the LL. Say 3 friends rent a flat and one leaves, the remaining two find a replacement and inform the LL. Lots of these on Spareroom.com. Other options as PP said, a lodger. Or living in an elderly person's house in exchange for care
https://www.sharemyhome.co.uk/
you need to be very careful that it's a suitable match though.

Ultimately though the bigger issue is him sponging off his GF. Why the rush to move out and play house? The apprentice jobs are worth it if it'll lead to something bigger, rather than being stuck in an endless cycle of low-paid jobs/temp contracts.

Do you live outside London?

Has anyone got a driveway or a drive-into back garden? I know of at least 2 young couples who are living in touring caravans (bought secondhand) in parents gardens, plugged into their electricity.
It feels for many young couples these days that it's a direct choice between living together in rented and never being able to save enough for a decent deposit, or finding some way of living with parents until you have a decent deposit.
I have 2 young adults living here, luckily the layout is flexible enough so they live fairly independently, I'm hoping they will have their deposit by 25.

As pp says it's very difficult for young people. I have all four of mine currently living with me plus eldest ds's gf as it wasn't possible for her to live with either parent after leaving Uni due to blended families etc. It must be so hard for young people who do not have parents to live with for whatever reason. My eldest ds is 24 and only just in a position ow to start looking for a place with his gf. If the young person is moving anywhere with a proper tenancy agreement then he could get help from universal credit towards rent is he's on a low or fluctuating income. Even if he is not a priority for council accommodation he should still get on the list and for HA's and if private renting the local authority may still be able to help with rent deposit and first months rent upfront.

Good idea regarding the caravan. I actually know of one whole family with kids who are living in a well insulated caravan on parents land and have done for many years.

Can he travel further out for work? I lived in Kent when I was a kid and did 1h45 each way to London for a better paid job than was available locally. It was quite brutal for a 16 yo but at least it could afford me to rent my own flat at 17 - even if that did cost about 65% of my take-home.

Staying with my parents wasn't an option. We would have torn each other's throats out. But, even when I initially did, they still got about 40% of my take-home which disciplined me towards some sort of financial responsibility.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but it sounds like he wants to play at being a grown up without doing the grown up part of it, i.e. making uncomfortable sacrifices.

Being a lodger rather than in a house share will generally be less strict in regards to credit checks.

Not all house shares/lodging arrangements need credit checks. Has he looked on Spare room or any local fb pages for rooms with private landlords? Pretty much all of my friends here live in houseshares (Bristol housing market 🙄) and I'm pretty sure very few of them would pass a credit check haha

A caravan is also a decent option so long as it's on private property (they can now be confiscated if not)

Thank you all.

We're not in London for the pp that asked.

We had thought about a caravan as there is space but they are all £7k plus, not sure anyone involved had that spare sitting around.

Looking on spareroom.com shows all available rooms are single occupancy only.

I don't think they've checked any eligibility for UC but will get them to check.

Not sure looking further afield for work would help either as he has no work experience or further qualifications so location won't make a difference.

It's so hard isn't it.

Not sure looking further afield for work would help either as he has no work experience or further qualifications so location won't make a difference.

Nor did I. I left school with 4 mediocre GCSEs. I had two weeks experience in a fish and chip shop. I played the numbers game. I wrote a letter to every single bank in London, got a couple of interviews. My sister came home with the papers with work ads every week and I applied for dozens upon dozens of jobs until I eventually got one. Office junior. Got the job when I was still 15, started the week of my 16th birthday. It was just perseverance and a numbers game.

Also, he can start doing some volunteering for work experience. Even if it's not in the field he wants to work, employers still like to see it, because it shows a willingness to work.

Well he needs a permanent job. That's why it's hard. Most 22 year olds with shitty credit history and no job will find it difficult to play at being a grown up. 22 year olds with jobs, who have lived with parents, even if that means on a sofa, and saved enough for a deposit won't find things anywhere near as difficult. Which sounds tough, but adults wanting independence need to think like adults and not teenagers.

And since when have councils housed young able bodied men?

And he'll be entitled to minimum wage, so why are the jobs he's applied for only paying the apprentice wage? Is he applying for apprenticeships rather than boring supermarket, warehouse or hospitality jobs?

This caravan price is not accurate. Someone I know sold their home office caravan for £300. It was not towable (needed something fixing to be roadworthy) but was watertight and water/electricity worked.

There are definitely caravans for less than £7k.

I think single occupancy is normal. They each get a room in separate flats, do 2 nights each at each then sleep alone for 3. I'm in my 30s and don't know anyone who could play house as a couple straight from university. They only have to do it for two years then they should have some savings and credit rating. It gives them time to grow up and check if the relationship is serious before risking getting too entangled.

We can't always have what we want when we want.

First, job.

Later, living with girlfriend.

Where does he live now?

As a lodger and they can't live together yet.

Yes applying for apprenticeships rather than actual jobs.

He was living with a parents friend but has been asked to leave sooner than planned so is now spending a week on friends sofas at a time.

I agree most obvious answer is to live separately but they're stubborn, what can we do?
I just looked on fb marketplace and can see the cheap caravans mentioned earlier, thanks.

the options are:
buy
rent
couch surf with friends/ relatives
homeless

buying is off the list
sounds that renting is too

so couch surfing it is

(homeless sucks. Spent sometime as a 17 year old sleeping at Heathrow airport when my landlady kicked me out of lodgings for cooking kippers!, was too proud to ask parents (living overseas) for help. Luckily some work colleagues let me sleep on sofa at their house share when they found out)