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Housing and disabled people

waynewheely1
waynewheely1 Scope Member Posts: 3 Courageous
Hi, I have been looking to move since the break down of my marriage from the marital home as not only has the stress on my physical health and mental health been bad it seems that trying to move is pushing me back down the dark  dark rabbit hole of deppresion as it was bad last time 

If you are unable to work due to disability illness etc and you look for somewhere else to live and you tell the estate agents that you cannot work due to health issues your are looked at like you are vermin

I've tried and tried to get somewhere to move to but the same stuff happens we want the hair from a unicorns mane and the tie nails from an old witch (I can get them off my mother lol) 

Any advice please as don't wanna go back down the rabbit hole 



Comments

  • Debbie_Alumni
    Debbie_Alumni Community member Posts: 932 Pioneering
    Hello @waynewheely1,

    This is such a common problem with renting privately. Finding a landlord willing to accept tenants in receipt of benefits these days is really difficult. It's not going to help when Universal Credit is fully rolled out because benefit will be paid directly to the claimant rather than the landlord. Add in all the other changes to benefits and it's a full blown nightmare.

    Landlord's are often restricted by their mortgage lenders as to who they can rent to. It's quite the norm for a lender to place restrictions on landlords renting to people in receipt of benefits. It's just not allowed!

    Even if a landlord doesn't have those restrictions, there's a long list of other reasons why they avoid tenants in receipt of benefits including:

    Caps to housing benefit and Local Housing Allowance. In some areas LHA will not be enough to cover the market rent.

    Even when LHA payments can be made direct to the landlord, payment is in arrears, not in advance and usually on annoying four weekly, not calendar monthly cycles. Where LHA is paid to tenants, this often causes cash flow problems for them when rent is due calendar monthly – leading to rent arrears.

    Housing benefit and LHA can be slow to start paying and awards can stop without warning when tenants’ eligibility changes. Examples of this are if a benefit such as ESA, IS, JSA stop it often cascades down to the housing benefit automatically.

    Constant changes within the system of LHA / Housing Benefit / Universal Credit  has led to private landlords getting confused and simply avoiding this end of the market altogether.
    Insurance premiums are usually higher for lets to housing benefit recipients and usually a tenant in receipt of benefits also needs help with a deposit. Local Authorities have deposit schemes and these often only cover loss of rent not damage to property. Another barrier and another reason why the insurance would be higher.

    It's easy to see why landlords are reluctant isn't it? 

    So things to look at to help you move on starting with the marital home. Is the marital home in joint names? Do you have any matrimonial rights to the property? Have you explored this with a family law solicitor?

    Have you approached your local authority for some housing advice and if so what have they advised? (Probably to privately rent no doubt).

    What part of the country are you living in? I'll have a look and see if there's anything locally I can find.

    You're probably not going to have any other option but to keep searching. It's going to take time though. 

    I feel awful for posting such a gloomy response but this is the reality we're in at the moment. We don't have enough housing, rents are rising, but benefits aren't, so the gap in rent shortfalls is just increasing all the time. 

    Let's try to end this positively though and let me know which part of the country you're in so I can see what options are open to you.

    Best wishes
    Debbie

  • waynewheely1
    waynewheely1 Scope Member Posts: 3 Courageous
    Thank you so much Debbie the house is a private landlord but with the issues I had with my my x wife and the fact that a lot of abusive things were thrown at me and being told to go and die infront of my child has more than tarnished this house also the land Lord is putting the rent up in Feb 2017 is out of my reach 

    I've got a great ot  and she has informed housing etc that I need to move asap also I love in north Wales 
    Thank you for your reply Debbie xxxx
  • Debbie_Alumni
    Debbie_Alumni Community member Posts: 932 Pioneering
    Hi @waynewheely1,

    Wow sounds like you've got loads going on there! Moving on seems like the best option. It's great to hear that you've got a good OT, this will be really helpful. If you need some additional help there in Wales get in touch with Shelter Cymru. The laws are a bit different in Wales and they will have a better knowledge of the laws there than I do. We do also have a Regional Information and Advice worker who covers Wales so if you need some further information on what is available (if anything), we'd be happy to put you in touch with her.

    I hope everything works out and that you soon find some suitable settled housing. Keep in touch and let me know how everything goes, I'll have my fingers crossed for a happy ending :)

    Best wishes
    Debbie :)

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