News

The fear for many lower paid and those very poor is losing their home regardless of rented or bought. Plus landlords in social housing have appalling customer service. The freedom and restraints from all this would be immensely rewarding in the emotional and mental well-being of tenants. Plus boost send esteem and confidence. When you think about, someone can be on benefits for many years and in that time a mortgage could have been paid, then it means less for the government/tax payer when that mortgage is paid up. Perhaps a clause that states if someone needs to go into a nursing home the house is sold to pay for the care. I feel there needs to some clauses as it’s not fair on the tax payer. 

At the end of next month my mortgage will be paid off. Quite an achievement for someone who has been a carer and rarely had work that pays well. BUT I will be moving on before I start my state pension next year. I have managed to do small essential repairs but now after 33 years my house requires a new roof, rewiring and improvements to damp coursing. These things cost thousands, far in excess of the mortgage repayments I have managed on a slightly higher income while working. I see this new scheme as completely barmy! 

Absolutely , don’t do it!!!!!!
i bought my council house  in 2002, At this time there was a waiting list of many years to get disabled adaptations within social housing, if I bought , I could have my required adaptations within a matter of months. I did this. I received help with the interest on my mortgage so although I still had to pay towards it. However when this help with mortgage interest stoppedI then had to fund full mortgage payments from my benefits which I am supposed to live on. If I had continued to rent, I would have had no housing costs, no repairs or maintenance to fund and I live like a peasant, if you are on benefits, this is really not a good idea.
As I am getting older I may need to downsize, if I sell my property I will lose any benefits I receive and be expected to live on the capital I have struggled to pay for and done without for many years. 

Generally mortgage prices are lower then private rent, my husband works an I'm on long term sick so if it did help being able to put me on the financial stuff could help in the future.

I am in no position to take up the offer with less than £150 a week to cover everything including rent and council tax. 

Im a pensioner so technically not allowed an opinion, but I think the vast majority  on HB/CTB, wouldnt want to take this on, they are far too sensible unlike the government ministers including our PM, they live in their own little  lucrative bubble, where the cost of living doesn't even figure into their equation. If it did go ahead then I can see lots of people defaulting on mortgage payments and the said properties being taken back by the banks and we know who'd benefit from that. Anyway this deflecting suggestion is totally discriminatory. Owning your own home isnt always the bees knees. Government want to get rid of social housing as it serves them no purpose at all.

How can you afford to pay a mortgage when you live on benefits as your sole income  ? 

For several years banks have not been allowed to give personal loans to people in receipt of benefits,  so how are mortgages going to be permitted  ? 

I have never agreed with the right to buy of Social Housing unless the housing stock is replenished at the same rate as it is being sold ...........and un the 40 odd years of the existence of the right to buy ,this has never happened. 

I feel this could be another trap for some people who would become first time home owners.   Do they realise all of the solicitors fees involved ?  The full rates payments ?  The cost of the maintenance of a property?  Building insurance  ? 

The Conservative government repeating the push for home ownership as predetermined by the Thatcher government is not for everyone. 

I hope the government take on the responsibility of pointing out the pros and cons of home ownership along with the costs, in an unbiased way to potential home owners on benefits........unlike their dealing of the Brexit Referendum  ! 

The government have a duty of care,  which they seem to have forgotten about. 

I now have what will be a lifelong disability and have had a mortgage with my husband since we were in our early 20’s. We’ve put a lot into this. Neither of us ever claimed a day in our lives until I had an accident at work, classed as an industrial injury. As I only worked part time as our children were young my wages were low and although they were found at fault my accident triggered a degenerative disease which meant I could not claim, I was awarded pennies. I am now much further down the line bed bound, four spinal surgeries later, no hope of any improvement and my husband has had to become my full time carer.

I personally could not bare the thought of never knowing when I would have to move and where to, I have a lot of anxiety and keeping our home going gives me some peace of mind while we can and saves the government paying out much more per month in rent costs. Please note I use all my benefits for this, we struggle to buy food and get by, I do not want something for nothing but to explain we willing pay all we can.

There is one major pitfall nobody is mentioning regarding having a mortgage on benefits. I will insert part of a letter below that I sent to dwp, hm treasury and my local mp. Needless to say this got me nowhere but here goes.

Sections of letter sent regarding mortgages while on benefits:

‘I have been wanting to contact someone about the unfairness of our benefit system for a long time but did not feel mentally in a position to until now. I believe that is because I know the outcome before this is sent. 

I know there will be a ‘Spring Statement’ released today but do not believe any of the items I am reaching out on will be addressed.

My main reason for contacting you is the SMI (support mortgage interest) payments which were introduced. Both my husband and myself had always worked, it wasn’t until I had an accident at work which triggered a degenerative condition (meaning no real claim although it was an industrial injury) has resulted in me being bed bound and my husband becoming my full time carer since the first of my four spinal surgeries.

Because of the wait for payments to start we had to borrow heavily from our families which took an incredibly long time to pay back. We have a mortgage on our home which we had to extend until we are 75 to get the payments low enough for us to be able to make them. When I say low enough all of my disability payments go towards our mortgage and monthly bills and we struggle. My payments cannot be used to help me in any way as we have responsibilities.

Neither of us want to be claiming benefits, we do not wish to make money from them, we just want to survive.

Ever since the SMI was introduced we are accumulating a debt for part of each payment we receive that goes towards paying our mortgage. This amount which is gaining interest and growing continually although doesn’t have to be paid back until we die or move house is still there. I need a bungalow, at present I am isolated from my family on a different floor. Although at present there is no way we can afford to move to a bungalow, if we could we would also have to pay off this extra SMI payment. If we stay in this property until we are 75 although the mortgage will be paid we will now have this extra large debt that has to be cleared which continues increasing interest each and every day.

I have been told that this payment is only fair as we gain a home at the end of it. In fact we were a huge chunk through our mortgage when I had my accident, all my benefit money makes up the extra where others who rent are much better off than we will ever be.

The amount we owe in SMI was £9,909.98 and this was as of March 2021. This was a year ago so will be much higher now, it is accumulating interest. The worry of what this final figure could be if we both made it to 75, another 21/22 years makes me sick with worry. It’s like having a second mortgage running alongside our own. The worry of this makes me feel sick to my stomach.

This example hopefully explains why I believe this system is so wrong and why we desperately need thus looking in to. If we were to stop paying our mortgage until repossessed, we’d have money in our pockets, I could pay to have treatments even on the most basic level for my mental well-being. We could then rent a property with help. At present both my children are at home on minimum wage apprenticeships with one desperate to move out but finding it impossible save the amounts needed.

After checking our local housing rate allowance, for a three bedroom house we qualify for £218.63 per week. If my children left home, the amount for renting a two bedroom (needing an extra room if my husband isn’t here for a carer to stay) property is £189.86 per week. This is much more than we actually receive, how can that make sense.

The irony is we are trying to do the right thing, keeping our head above water. From the change in the way payments for claimants with mortgages was amended (not long before we had to claim) it is one flat fee, it does not matter how much your mortgage is or how long you have left. Imagine the savings if you did not have to help towards someone’s accommodation costs, I would have thought this would be encouraged.

With interest rates rising our fuel costs have risen from £109 to £238 and our mortgage which is not fixed has gone up to £600-£700.

I worry so much about how we will cope but I do not want to live in rented accommodation, the stress that would put on me, the constant uncertainty of never knowing when we could be moved on would be too much for me to bare.

Yet the easy answer would be to rent and let someone else pick up the bills, here it’s also maintenance. It would be far more costly for the government to put us in rented accommodation for the rest of our lives. There are stories most days on the shortage of property to rent and then the condition of them. There are people being told to find somewhere else all the time as the property owner, obviously if not council owned changed their mind and wants to sell. Because of lack of properties some whole families are being sent to tiny flats until houses can be found. You do not need more renters but this is the direction in which things are going.

We only ask for the same help people on universal credit are getting. No more, but no less. The crippling SMI payments which are raising so fast are nothing short of cruel.

There is also one other scenario that if either of our parents were to pass away and if we came into some money the first thing anyone would want to do is pay off their mortgage or a chunk of it. I find myself asking why if the SMI payment is still there and will keep increasing until it’s paid, it would be throwing money away. It does seem a very dark hole at the end of a very long tunnel.

Please could someone look into this, not to provide an automated reply but to look at the impact these current systems that are in place are having on some of country that are the ones who need the most help. I feel forgotten and unimportant. My anxiety over this is forever increasing.’

I apologise because of the length of this but wanted to show exactly what the issues with mortgages while on benefits can be without change and sadly that I only received a very inadequate excuse in response.

Do these people live on a different planet ,why would it make life better for me owning my own home,the reason I'm on housing benefit is because i can't afford to pay my rent let alone a mortgage ,so i start to buy my house ,i then have to start looking after that house myself which will cost me more money than i haven't got ,gas servicing,house insurance,what if the boiler breaks ,upkeep of the property which costs more money ,then i would probably have to pay full council tax because the house is mine ,perhaps it's me but that Teresa coffee is a idiot ,I'll bet anyone a pound that woman has no idea how much a bottle of milk costs, she's never had to worry about money ,the people in government have no idea what they real world is like they have never lived in it , in there little bubble the world is a completely alien place to them ,they have no idea how normal people live at all , I'm just astounded at what they come up with in there world ,I'm pretty sure they make it up ,it makes it look like they are doing something for the average person but unfortunately they don't live in the normal world at all ,they should be made to live life on benefits for a month everything taken away from them for a month and then they may just may have half a clue what it's like .
I am a member of your fantastic site i have been for a couple of years now ,and the good that you do is fantastic you and your site have helped me more than you will ever know ,just so this isn't anonymous i will put my name to it , my name is Tim Brookes , and you can publish this where ever you want to ,i would love to go to Westminster in front of group of MP'S and just ask them on what planet do you think this is a good idea !

I don’t qualify as I don’t work due to disabilities. I live in private rented accommodation and am not onnUC. Also I think the LISA has an upper age limit which I miss as I’m 48. Rents are skyrocketing where I live and if I have to move from where I am I couldn’t afford to rent in my home area. It’s not my fault that I can’t work. Why am I discriminated against because I have lifelong disabilities?

This is once again discrimination against disabled claimants.

scenario 1, someone is on a low income, they work on zero contract hours, they get the mortgage, the HB pays for the mortgage.

Now that person goes out of work for whatever reasons.  Does that now mean coz that person is on the dole, the HB will still continue to pay that mortgage ?

If it does then it's discrimination to people who are already on the dole right?

Scenario 2, the same as above but the person with the mortgage, keeps going of work on the sick, eventually the SSP  grinds down to a halt.  That person now has to claim dole (UC)  Or go for ESA,
does this mean their HB will continue and pay off / towards the mortgage ?

If the 2 above scenarios equals yes he/she /they can use HB still to pay towards paying off their mortgage, as if they were still employed.

Then that means hundreds of thousands of people who lose their jobs, jack their jobs etc will be on a good deal.

But the disabled people cannot buy their home using their HB ???  do you all follow me so far !

Now that is the height of discrimination once again against disabled people of Britain.

If the goverment is willing to let people just go and find zero contract hours, where by that person doesn't know from one day to the next if they will get more or zero hours in a week to work, and then give them HB to pay a mortgage off.  Surely it's only right and fair to let all claimants use their HB to pay a mortgage off with ..right???

To me the problem with this proposal is that it is likely to lead to more low income families getting into more debt, especially when they are struggling with the current cost of living and trying to make ends meet

and when they stop your benefits you can't pay your mortgage and you lose your house and all your previous mortgage payments a winner for everyone except the claimant who will be the only loser

No, but that would be largely due to the fact I am 52 next birthday, and have tbi induced epilepsy. It has been diagnosed as lifelong, and will almost certainly limit the length of my life anyway.

Luckily I have a beautiful housing association flat in a lovely quiet area, but I am without doubt completely terrified, confused and overwhelmed by all of this in equal measures. 

I just hope and pray that I am able to manage for the rest of my time. 

After years of incredible stress fighting many attempts to decline or reduce claims, I have zero faith that the Government actually wants to 'improve the life' of benefit claimants. I'm afraid the truth is that changes are always designed with budget cuts in mind and to reduce the number of benefit claimants. That much is evident from the claim processes they operate, including their reliance on health 'assessments' by individuals incentivised to decline or reduce awards and by constant reviews of lifetime conditions so they get regular opportunities to reject your award. Even when a tribunal overturns their decision, 12-18 months have passed without benefits being paid so what happens to mortgage payments then? Which mortgage providers would offer you a 20+ year loan when benefit awards are so often limited to just a couple of years, even when your disabilities are lifetime conditions?
I do not trust their motivations one bit and I certainly don't believe the hype that it is to help people. We are merely a drain on resources to them and they would ship us all out to Rwanda if only we'd go quietly.

I convinced DWP to let me buy because it saved the taxpayer well in excess of £180,000. I'd been diagnosed as ill for life. There was a law they initially denied that I could buy to move to accommodation more suitable to my disability. They soon agreed when I pointed out they can pay
 more rent for 50 years that will increase
or
 an immediately lower cost mortgage for 25 years that decreases
+ they can sell the house to pay for if I need a care home. 

It needs to be explained when you take out a mortgage & at estate agents that you never own a home because the government can take it to pay for care, fair enough if they admit it when you make the decision
Then claimants become the only people who have to pay interest on our interest. The system is always looking to increase our disadvantage. The DWP decided to make their payments a loan & we had to actively sign something to avoid that. I had paid enough off & I didn't want to pay extra or leave my beneficiary with a debt so I pay the mortgage out of the money I'm supposed to live on which is an extra hardship of about 25% of my benefit going on that
It is also hard to get a fair mortgage because lenders back out
It is also hard to afford maintenance of the house
But it helps when authorities & society are looking down on you
It still gives some sense of security when ill health has robbed you of so much

Have you guys heard of cohousing? It's quite a popular housing arrangement in Scandinavia and is not social housing. 

It's a very interesting concept that's much more bottom up and democratic approach than the mostly top down, authoritarian approach adopted by councils. It allows people to become home owners but at a low cost, albeit with the added risk that they're jointly liable for a debt with other tenants. Despite this it's still quite popular but is helped by insurance policies that are geared toward it. 

Perhaps the amazing welfare states in Scandinavia enable people to take more risks. It's a shame the UK isn't so progressive. 

I think if housing benefit is payed to you to help pay mortgage would be a good thing for myself. It would help out no end knowing if any thing happened to me my son could carry on with the Payments. 

They are bribing their way to the next election and using vulnerable people to do so. More council houses need to be built and more rogue landlords need to be dealt with by the law

They will wait till thousands have purchased property then they will hit hard with sanctions bullying the vulnerable into work they physically and mentally cannot cope with,we have a liar in number 10 with a billionaire in number 11 who are both completely out of touch with society ,the faster this shambolic mess of party animals are kicked into the gutter the better.