Moving into renting privately

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We currently rent our home from the local council. The rent is 300 pcm for a 2 bedroomed maisonette.We don't currently get any Housing benefit, DP is working FT and we get tax credits.

I would like to move to a 3 bedroomed property (with a garden, loft and possibly a dningroom/playroom downstairs). the council wil not move us for at least 6 years so our only option is to rent somewhere privately.

I know that we will get nowhere around here for the price we are paying, but could afford to pay around £200 extra each month by cutting down on extras. But even £500pcm will get us nothing the same as we have now let alone somewhere bigger. Cheapest prices I have seen start around £750pcm.

Does anyone know if our rent was higher would we be able to claim some housing benefit to top-up what we could afford ourselves, and can we get an estimate before signing a tenancy??? i.e. not sign up to something we find out we can't afford.

Also what effect do you think the current house price situation will have on the rental market?

Will prices rise as more people choose to rent rather than buy? And will buy to let properties increase in price to cover increasing mortgage payments?

What will happen if rent privately only to end up unable to pay the rent in the future? Will the council consider we have made ourselves intentionally homeless and refuse to help? Or will we go back to the bottom of the housing register and have to go into B+B/hostel type accomadtion?

Whereabouts are you?

Think it depends whether you would be deemed to need a 3 bedroom in the first place.

Im in Lewes, East Sussex but I am looking at moving to other(cheaper) areas in the county like Newhaven/Peacehaven.

The council do not consider us to need a 3 bedroomed place until DD is over 10 years old. But the places I have looked at there is very little diference betwen 2 and 3 beds anyway(£100 at the most)so I would be quite happy to pay that extra myself if they would help out on paying for a 2 bed place that they consider we need.

Examples of the difference in prices for2bed and3bed

Does anybody have any answers to any of my questions???????????????

You may be able to get some HB to top up what you can afford yourselves, but that is not a guarantee as the council will access whether or not you need the extra space - based on your kids' ages and sex.

If you want an estimate you should see a housing officer.

No one is going to be in a position to answer that definitively for you without knowing what your council's guidlines are with regard to housing benefit.

Try citizens advice bureau?

Each council also has its own policy on how they handle homelessness and threatened homelessness.

Again, you need to consult a housing officer with regards to this.

In Scotland, for example, a family cannot be housed in a B&B, but this is not true of all English ones.

Some councils have a policy of housing homeless families in temporary accommodation which is actually private housing teh council rents from a private landlord.

Still others have varying policies on what constitutes intentional homelessness.

Ours forces you to present with a Notice to Quit from a private landlord who is not going to continue to rent to a tenant who is claiming homelessness. But others make the landlord evict the tenant formally.

I know theyy wouldnt give us 3 bed as I said b4 we dont qualify but Ive shown examples above that we could get a 3 bed if they were to pay towards a 2bed. But i dont know if they would tell me b4 how much we were likely to get, was just wondering if anyone had got one b4 cos this would really help.

Housing Officers are too busy and never get back to your messages. There is a lot of housing shortage in this area and if we moved then another family would b able 2 get our place.

Ive looked up the local homelessness rules, I didnt realise that they are different everywhere, but what do you all think will happen to rents due to house prices falling? I dont want to move and then find the rent goes through the roof 6 months down the line

It will all depend on the total of your's & your dp/dh's incomes & also on how much the house is worth rent wise.

You can get a pre-tenancy agreement done before you move which will tell you how much the house is worth in rent & the council won't pay over this.

If you have a good income then they will expect you to pay full rent, they don't take any debts into considertion they just got but why the law says you can live on.

HTH

It's really a matter of conjecture what is going to happen with the rental market as the housing market fluctuates.

I would agree with Scooby in that if you are considering moving you should be able to pay the rent in full and perhaps a bit on top in case of a rental increase.

Is the amount the house is worththe same as the amount they are asking in rent? Ones we are looking at are £700-750.

DP earns £800 a month plus we get £450 tax credits and £120 child benefit for 2 adults and 2 children- how much does the law say we can live on?

I have found a list on the council website that says LHA for 2bed in our area is £775

it's a question of what the council says you're entitled to. every council sets its own guidlines - it's not nationwide because of course housing costs vary across the UK.

it's going to be impossible for someone line to tell you one way or another for definite.

scooby's suggestion of a pre-tenancy agreement is worth looking into.

Is that in your present area or the cheaper ones though ? I suspect if you don't qualify now you are unlikely to if you decide to move.

I checked both areas and they are both the same amount- strangly!

I don't know if we qualif at the moment as we have never applied, because we have always been able to pay the rent here ourselves as it is quite low compared to private rents.

Ill try and get to see a housing officer tomorrow as they hav a drop for hour on thursday mornings.

Its begining to sound as if I shouldnt bother even looking though as there is no way we are realistically gonna be able to afford to pay the full rent ourselves on anywhere privately anytime soon.

You will think me crazy for suggesting it but have you considered buying? Not now, but if house prices come down a lot then you could.

At current interest rates if you borrowed 85k then you would be paying £500 per month for the mortgage. Admittedly you do need a halving of house prices but some people have said this may happen, although it might take a couple of years (based on 3 beds in Newhaven being 150K from rightmove).

Alternatively have you looked into shared ownership? I don't know much about it but if you search on the internet you should find lots of information.