10% contribution towards rent is 33% drop in living standard

[trebormoinet]

My living expenses at present are,

 

I pay £18.00 per week for gas and electricity on a budgeting plan,I am a low energy user.

I pay £4.00 per week towards council tax.

I pay £7.00 per week water rates

I pay £8.00 per week for a budgeting loan

I pay £6.00 per week towards soap, wash powder, toilet roll, cleaning materials and so on.

 

Total out goings £43.00.

 

I do not have a TV so I do not have to budget for a licence nor do I have any debt as I rely on the budgeting loan to buy my clothes and cover any household expenses repairs/ replacements etc which gives me roughly £150 every 6 months.

 

I receive £73.10 per week JSA so after taking away my priority expenses I am left with £30.10 per week.

 

I am a single healthy male so not worthy of any extra help, I do not have a invisible partner, a child nor a job on the side.

 

My job centre is a 10 mile round trip which I walk to each week, if I use public transport I will not have any money left to eat for that day.

 

If I have to pay 10% towards my rent, which in my case would be £10.00 (£100.00 per week for a single bedroom flat) then I will be left with £20.00 per week a 33% decrease in my income which would leave me with £2.85 per day to spend on food, drink , job hunting , entertainment.

[tobyjugg2]

I think that is the absolute definition of a broken system.

 

and for those who say he should move into a £50 a week room, that would give him an extra £5 a week which would probably go on higher heating requirements.

 

£5 extra being more than a 16% increase in weekly expendable income all other things being equal - what a disgrace.

[Nystagmite]

and for those who say he should move into a £50 a week room,

 

Assuming such a place exists, which it probably doesn't.

[Mr.P]

and for those who say he should move into a £50 a week room,

Assuming such a place exists, which it probably doesn't.

 

 

If I could get £50 per week for a spare room, I'd certainly consider taking in a lodger....

[ericsbrother]

one problem with the current system is that it encourages landlords in many parts of the country to charge rents that would be unsustainable without HB subsidy. If the system changes then many amateur landlords would go bust and the houses would become cheaper and thus rents lower and the same percentage return on investment made. However, the banks dont want to become slum landlords so the deceit continues. It is handy for the govt to say that all of these people trapped by the proposed changes should move somewhere cheaper but they cant due to lack of housing supply and the above skewing of the rental property market. What would they do if 3 million homeless people decided to turn up in Parliament square with a tent?

[Sparks_]

I am ESA and I dont know how I will manage, they say to move to a smaller home...who pays for moving costs? I sure can not afford to nor can I move my things myself

[estellyn]

Also important to remember that moving is expensive. It is expected that the person provide a deposit up front and may require the payment of fees. If you have no one to help then it requires at the very least the hiring of a vehicle big enough to transport your belongings, and possibly removal person or people to do the heavy lifting. There are often other expenses that may go with a move - for instance if you live somewhere with a cooker and the new place does not have a cooker. There are no longer any budgeting loans, and the council funds available are small and difficult to access. Few people on benefits have the savings to give them the flexibility to decide to move somewhere cheaper, they are often trapped in the situation of not having enough money to live somewhere by not having the money to move somewhere cheaper.

[Sparks_]

Also important to remember that moving is expensive. It is expected that the person provide a deposit up front and may require the payment of fees. If you have no one to help then it requires at the very least the hiring of a vehicle big enough to transport your belongings, and possibly removal person or people to do the heavy lifting. There are often other expenses that may go with a move - for instance if you live somewhere with a cooker and the new place does not have a cooker. There are no longer any budgeting loans, and the council funds available are small and difficult to access. Few people on benefits have the savings to give them the flexibility to decide to move somewhere cheaper, they are often trapped in the situation of not having enough money to live somewhere by not having the money to move somewhere cheaper.

 

That is what is on my mind as well, I have friends who say 'why dont you move?' I point out moving costs, fees if renting private, deposit, replacing things like curtains that dont fit the new place, plus I have a support netwirk here, the estate is quiet and safe, the only cheaper places are on bad estates that have high crime rates and I would know no-one

[tobyjugg2]

That is what is on my mind as well, I have friends who say 'why dont you move?' I point out moving costs, fees if renting private, deposit, replacing things like curtains that dont fit the new place, plus I have a support netwirk here, the estate is quiet and safe, the only cheaper places are on bad estates that have high crime rates and I would know no-one

 

Sparks,

Are you hit by the bedroom tax perchance?

If so, have you thought about letting a room? I must admit to not knowing the ins and outs of people on benefits renting out rooms.

[tobyjugg2]

If I could get £50 per week for a spare room, I'd certainly consider taking in a lodger....

 

£50 a week for a room in a house shared with the owner is quite common around here, buts thats + sharing the bills which would probably work out more expensive for the OP than his existing minimal bills.

(I'm in the midlands and in a large town not in a major city)

[Sparks_]

Sparks,

Are you hit by the bedroom tax perchance?

If so, have you thought about letting a room? I must admit to not knowing the ins and outs of people on benefits renting out rooms.

 

I am in private rented accomadation so its not bedroom tax its they will only pay for my part of the rent, I live with my working daughter in a 3 bed house, I would not like a stranger to live with us, plus the only bedroom free is the small one...neither I nor my daughter would like to have that as a bedroom! you can just about get a single bed and a chest of drawers in it, nothing more!

[worried33]

Its a vicious trap.

 

Estellyn and a few others on here may remember my plight a few years back, I had to make a decision when I had 18 months or so of reduced housing benefit when they introduced the under 35 years old single room rate.

 

Basically I did the maths and worked out was more expensive to move into a bedsit than to stay in my single bed flat for those 18 months, why? because moving is not free, especially on the private market. That is excluding the cost of the harm to my health which the process would have caused.

 

Also now days around here bedsits cost more than £50 a week, it was £60 a week 12 years ago when I moved into one.

[trebormoinet]

Mightily relieved they did not announce this measure it has been worrying me all week.

 

I think my email to George made him think twice lol, I wish.

[RaeUK]

Mightily relieved they did not announce this measure it has been worrying me all week. I think my email to George made him think twice lol, I wish.

Thank you for sending that email, it'd been worrying me as well. Now, if you don't mind me taking you to task, why the oojimiflip did you not send an earlier one about the bedroom tax?