Housing and disability

[Eldorado]

Haven't posted in a while and am lost as to how to proceed. I am UK citizen. My wife is from Argentina, her son is 17. He is disabled and confined to a wheelchair.

Got married in Argentina at end of 2004. Due to lack of work in Argentina, I was here from July 08-July 09 (wife came over and visited for 6 weeks). So we were not living together for 4 continuous years. I came back here in September of last year to earn some money to prepare for an application to bring them both over.

I have been in permanent full time employment since end of October. I earn about 19k. We have in savings around 15k. My wife has sole responsibility of her son and we have paperwork from court in Argentina showing that the father has no problem with him living abroad.

I am currently staying in my parents rented council house. For many reasons it will not be possible for the three of us to stay with them, not even for a little while - it really is not an option at all.

So obviously I need to find some rented accommodation. The problem is that I was made bankrupt a long while ago and, for reasons that I can understand, agencies are not too keen to let a property unless I put down 6 months rent in advance. Some will not consider me at all. I need to show that I have accommodation on the application but dont want to sign in to any agreement with an agency and hand over a big stack of cash when I dont even know for sure if my wife and her son's application will be successful. So, I plan to use my parents house on the application (my parents are OK with this).

I live in Hertfordshire and renting is not cheap. I wondered if I could get any help from the council but after reading the forum it seems that the council will only consider me when looking at a housing application as my wife and son have no recourse to public funds. Given the circumstances (he is in a wheelchair), would they make any special allowance? I guess I can only enquire about all of this with them once their visa is granted? Would a housing association help?

Sorry to ramble, I will wrap up now but just one more question: if I rent and pay market rate for 6 months to a year will this harm any application for a council house in the long term? Would the council think, if he can pay for that long then they need no help at all?

Anyway, sorry to ramble and any advice much appreciated

[workingmama]

Generally the council will only be able to accept you for housing.
Until your wife and step-son get ILR and are able to access public funds then they can not be included in your application so you would be assessed as a single person and only able to bid or be allocated a 1 bedroom property.

The fact that your step-son is disabled means you would need a mobility 1 catagory property which throughout the UK are very few and far between. Most poeple who have a disability for example have to use a wheelchair, would always have an Ocupational Therapist with them on any property viewing as they have to make sure adaptions could be made to make the property suitable. It is highly unlikely as I said above that they can consider you for this due to the rule on having to have access to public funds, although this is down to the particular council's allocation policy.

Council housing is in dire shortage and this is why these rules have been made. In the borough I live we have almost 13,000 people waiting to be housed and only around 800 properties become vacant each year (thats Housing Association and Council combined).
I suggest you talk to your local councils allocation department and ask if due to his disability whether they would at least accept him onto the application. I have yet to see anyone in my borough manage this to be honest.

Most housing associations these days are part of the choice based lettings scheme and you can only be allocated a property if you are on the housing list. Years ago you used to be able to apply to HA seperatly but no anymore.

[Eldorado]

Thanks for the reply. So, the only realistic option is to rent for two years (which we can do but our savings will take a hit) and then apply for a council home? How long could the wait be for the house (once they have ILR)? What I am really getting at is whether we might be prioritised given his condition.

[workingmama]

The allocation policy is quite complicated.
Just recently in the borough I am in, any new applicants who apply for housing on the basis of homelessness no longer go into the highest catagory and wont be allocated council housing. Instead they will be allocated another form of housing with a 10 year lease at market rent.

If you rent privatly and then apply for housing you may be deemed to have suitable accomodation so will be in one of the lowest bands and it could take years. However if the property you were renting was totally unsuitable for your step-son then if you provide all the medical evidence, get an OT involved then you could be accepted into the highest band and get a property quickly.
My cousin has a 3 year old with Rhett Syndrome and she is unable to walk, talk or sit up alone. She got band A despite already having a 2 bed flat, and in less than 4 months just got allocated a house with room for all her daughters equipment.

I would suggest before renting privatly go and speak to your local councils allocations team, see if they would be willing to accept the son due to his disability.

Dont forget also that many councils now give priority for a large number of their homes to people who a Positively contributing to society such as working or doing a certain number of hours of voluntary work each work or are a full time carer to someone outside of the home. If you bid on a property that says priority to positively contributing applicants, even if your a lower band you can often be allocated the property if higher bands do not fit that criteria.

[Eldorado]

Had a chat with someone from my local council who more or less said what you have, that it will be extremely difficult for them to put her son on my housing application. To be honest, I dont really mind that too much, its more or less what I expected. However, its what happens after the two years are up and they get ILR that worries me. The lady I spoke to painted the picture that I most feared i.e. if I have managed to rent for two years, albeit at a loss, then I can carry on renting privately and the council will be more or less no help. Sighs.

[SoHopeful]

I can empathise somewhat, as I had to make a homeless application due to personal circumstances and in order to get a property suitable for myself and my son in the capital, I had to stay in a bedsit for over 2 years. This of course was not ideal space wise, but it was the only way I could be considered a priority.

I would say if you really need to go the Council route, you will have to make the application now and hope you get a 1 bed property where you can at least turn the living area into another bedroom. If they give you a bedsit (which is possible), then of course you would need to weigh up whether it will be worth the 2 year wait.

I avoided the private route for a number of reasons, including the fact they could just fob me off forever as I have a roof over my head.

Best of luck

[Eldorado]

I spoke to another lady from the council today who thinks that he may well be able to go onto my application. Obviously he can only do so once he has been granted visa clearance. She said that if I were to rent privately, I would only be considered by the council for help if the accommodation was unsuitable. So does this mean I should go ahead and rent for the three of us a one bedroom apartment?

[vinny]

A one-bedroom apartment may be overcrowded, resulting in visas refusal and loss of application fees.

See also public funds.

[workingmama]

I would only be considered by the council for help if the accommodation was unsuitable. So does this mean I should go ahead and rent for the three of us a one bedroom apartment?

A one bed apartment may affect your partners visa application as someone else has mentioned.
If you do rent a larger property you can apply to the council at the end and use the medical/disability reasons for the move.
Rarely if ever are private rentals adapted for disabled people. If you can prove the property you rent is totally unsuitable and you are unable to have adaptations made then the council could assist you in finding suitable adapted social housing. But as I said before the waits are long and adapted social housing is few and far between. Often an OT will come with you on a viewing to see if they can adapt it such as a wet room, stair lift etc.