Pensioners housing benefit
Discussion
Does anybody know anything about if and how pensioners get housing benefit?
My old Mum has lived in the same council house since 1962. She lives on just her state pension and pays some rent but I guess the rest is paid via housing benefits? The house and garden is now too big for her and she really needs a bungalow ( stairs are geting too much and are very steep which is a trip-fall-risk). The council are offering to put her on their waiting/exchange list but all the bungalows she can 'bid' for are miles away and they say that unless she is the subject of domestic vilence, racist attack or has a disabiity she has no chance within her local area, where she has lived for the past 80 years.
She is thinking about renting a bungalow privately to make sure she can live out her days in the area she has always lived.
Does anyone know if she able to simply find a private renting and apply for housing benefit to pay it?
Last resort, I may have to try and get a mortage and buy her something.
My old Mum has lived in the same council house since 1962. She lives on just her state pension and pays some rent but I guess the rest is paid via housing benefits? The house and garden is now too big for her and she really needs a bungalow ( stairs are geting too much and are very steep which is a trip-fall-risk). The council are offering to put her on their waiting/exchange list but all the bungalows she can 'bid' for are miles away and they say that unless she is the subject of domestic vilence, racist attack or has a disabiity she has no chance within her local area, where she has lived for the past 80 years.
She is thinking about renting a bungalow privately to make sure she can live out her days in the area she has always lived.
Does anyone know if she able to simply find a private renting and apply for housing benefit to pay it?
Last resort, I may have to try and get a mortage and buy her something.
I doubt anyone would or be allowed to swap a bungalow for a house, you only qualify for one if you are disabled or very old.
Has she looked at housing designed for people over 55, it is not a care home but there is usually a warden to keep an eye on things, there is also a website called homefinder google "town name homefinder"
If she is alone I'd say they were desperate to get her out.
I have no idea about housing benefits though.
Has she looked at housing designed for people over 55, it is not a care home but there is usually a warden to keep an eye on things, there is also a website called homefinder google "town name homefinder"
If she is alone I'd say they were desperate to get her out.
I have no idea about housing benefits though.
Sheets Tabuer said:
I doubt anyone would or be allowed to swap a bungalow for a house, you only qualify for one if you are disabled or very old.
Has she looked at housing designed for people over 55, it is not a care home but there is usually a warden to keep an eye on things, there is also a website called homefinder google "town name homefinder"
If she is alone I'd say they were desperate to get her out.
I have no idea about housing benefits though.
A few yuears ago they pestered her to get her out of the house (even offerd top pay her £1500) into a bungalow and made her loads of offers but at that time she was pretty fit and healthy. She is still spritely but cleaning bedrooms she rarely uses and tending the gardens is geting too much. Since then the council have passed alot of their stock to a housing trust to manage who are a little less friendly towards 'locals' as the council used to recognise that old people wanted to stay close to where they had lived and had a 'local' allocation policy. She lives in a half decent area so I think now that everbody has been bidding/trying to move into the area and that has used up the bungalows.Has she looked at housing designed for people over 55, it is not a care home but there is usually a warden to keep an eye on things, there is also a website called homefinder google "town name homefinder"
If she is alone I'd say they were desperate to get her out.
I have no idea about housing benefits though.
I have checked the council calculator. My God how do they expect anybody not used to the benefits system to fill that in? Anyway, looks like they would pay her rent if she has just her state pension. I popped £600PCM in and they offered to pay £615 ( £15 extra for renting privately, I guess an admin saving for the council???). I am thinking she won't be keen to go down the HB route as she is of that generation for whom benefits is still a dirty word but also that she probably gets HB already and doesn't know it.
Edited by Four Cofffee on Friday 27th August 17:16
It is based on income, many people with pensions get it.
It has only been in the last 10-15 years people have been guided towards pensions, for many you were told you paid NI and got a pension (at least for people who weren't architects etc)and it wasn't really until the 80s that people started buying houses en masse.
It is very different today than what was promised years ago.
It has only been in the last 10-15 years people have been guided towards pensions, for many you were told you paid NI and got a pension (at least for people who weren't architects etc)and it wasn't really until the 80s that people started buying houses en masse.
It is very different today than what was promised years ago.
musclecarmad said:
This may sound mean and i wish your mum well, but why do people get housing benefit? how does it work?
So, she has no pension and gets help but someone with a pension wouldn't get help - I don't think it's fair personally.
It's certainly a disincentive to save!
I have thought it odd. I guess those born in the 1930's who have had low paid manual jobs (my Mum worked the fields in in agriculture and domestic cleaning for years) with no company pension haven't been able to make the kind of provision we now expect to be able to cover even a council house rent which now seem on a par with the private sector rather than a cheap option for those who couldn't aford the private sector?So, she has no pension and gets help but someone with a pension wouldn't get help - I don't think it's fair personally.
It's certainly a disincentive to save!
Seems the availability of council housing is being market led. Basically they band the houses as 'Open Bid' 'Urgent' or 'Disabled'. You then have to 'bid' based on an assessment of your need, so a spritely 80 year old is behind a wheezy 40 year old and someone made homeless. She won;t be able to bid on anything other than 'open bid' until she is disabled, homeless etc.
There isn't an email or postal alert service on the web site and Mum hasn't got a PC anyway (she took the freeview out because it was 'too much to make decisions on'!) so she will have to pop into the council offices qweekly and I have set up an online account so I can watch out for her.
There isn't an email or postal alert service on the web site and Mum hasn't got a PC anyway (she took the freeview out because it was 'too much to make decisions on'!) so she will have to pop into the council offices qweekly and I have set up an online account so I can watch out for her.
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