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Rent Allowance for a single mother

  • 03-08-2011 5:58pm
    #1
    sleepybobo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭


    Sorry I cannot use this site prop - can anyone help with my Q below

    Hi there, I am going to be a single mother in 5 months time. I am currently unemployed & on benefits with rent allowance of 66 per week currently.

    I have to look for somewhere to live. At least a 2 bedrooms house or appartment in Dublin. How much rent allowance am I entitled to per month & how is this paid? Is it paid into your account? I now pick up my money in the post office.

    I heard it is 95 per week? Is this right? would really appreciate help here to make me feel better...

    Thanks a lot.


Comments

  • #2
    WANTStoWORK
    Closed Accounts Posts: 100 ✭✭WANTStoWORK


    Hi ya.

    Rent allowance is paid based on where you live, your community welfare officer is your first port of call, it is paid either into your bank account or you can collect it weekly at your post office. What money you get really depends on where you live. There is a set allowance for diffrent parts of the country. best of luck with baby


  • #3
    mrsbyrne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,228 ✭✭✭mrsbyrne


    sleepybobo wrote: »
    Sorry I cannot use this site prop - can anyone help with my Q below

    Hi there, I am going to be a single mother in 5 months time. I am currently unemployed & on benefits with rent allowance of 66 per week currently.

    I have to look for somewhere to live. At least a 2 bedrooms house or appartment in Dublin. How much rent allowance am I entitled to per month & how is this paid? Is it paid into your account? I now pick up my money in the post office.

    I heard it is 95 per week? Is this right? would really appreciate help here to make me feel better...

    Thanks a lot.
    Hi
    Your useing the site just fine! You dont say why you cannot stay in your current accomodation after the baby comes. Are you just renting a room in a shared house? If you want to move you will have to talk to the CWO.Tell him/her about the baby and ask him/her if you can look around for something else and find out from him/her what the rent limit is for a lone parent with one child. You must stay within that limit. The CWO might tell you that you will have to wait until the baby is here:( Also the rent limit for one child is unlikely to get you a 2 bedroomed apartment/house. Ask the CWO if you can get help towards some baby essentials, buggy, cot etc. I presume you have a medical card. Happy home hunting.
    ETA you will continue to collect your rent supplement in the PO, im sure, but discuss it with your CWO. I presume when the baby comes you will be applying for OPFP and Child Benefit both of which can be paid into your bank account if you wish, as opposed to your Jobseekers which you have to go to the PO to collect. I dont know if rent supplement can be paid into a bank account, maybe another poster can jump in here.


  • #4
    Slydice
    Registered Users Posts: 10,501 ✭✭✭✭Slydice


    looks like the limits are on this website under "Couple with 1 child or one-parent with 1 child ":
    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

    Dublin limit looks to be €930 per month.

    I'd say you'd be able to find a 2 bed apartment for that price no problem. I'd say it'd be a good idea to talk to your CWO to see if you can get €900 per month


  • #5
    January
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,865 ✭✭✭✭January


    Slydice wrote: »
    looks like the limits are on this website under "Couple with 1 child or one-parent with 1 child ":
    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

    Dublin limit looks to be €930 per month.

    I'd say you'd be able to find a 2 bed apartment for that price no problem. I'd say it'd be a good idea to talk to your CWO to see if you can get €900 per month

    According to a friend of mine, that is actually incorrect, there are notices in the local health centre stating that for a couple or one-parent with one child the limit for Dublin is now 800pm


  • #6
    donalg1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,513 ✭✭✭donalg1


    Sure that's grand an immaculate conception and the govt will them throw money at ya and you'll be sorted for life. Don't want to be too mean but shouldn't you have sorted proper accommodation and a steady income before getting pregnant?


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  • #7
    cee_jay
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 7,920 Mod ✭✭✭✭cee_jay


    donalg1 banned for breach of forum charter.
    Users are reminded to read forum charter before posting.
    Thanks.


  • #8
    Slydice
    Registered Users Posts: 10,501 ✭✭✭✭Slydice


    January wrote: »
    According to a friend of mine, that is actually incorrect, there are notices in the local health centre stating that for a couple or one-parent with one child the limit for Dublin is now 800pm

    from looking on daft.ie I did a quick 2 bed search between 500 and 800 and:
    Searching for 2 bed apartments to let between €500 and €800 per month in Dublin City

    Found 208 properties. Displaying properties 1 - 10 below

    I haven't gone through them but hopefully there might be 1 or 2 decent places


  • #9
    PeterMchugh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭PeterMchugh


    sleepybobo wrote: »
    Sorry I cannot use this site prop - can anyone help with my Q below

    Hi there, I am going to be a single mother in 5 months time. I am currently unemployed & on benefits with rent allowance of 66 per week currently.

    I have to look for somewhere to live. At least a 2 bedrooms house or appartment in Dublin. How much rent allowance am I entitled to per month & how is this paid? Is it paid into your account? I now pick up my money in the post office.

    I heard it is 95 per week? Is this right? would really appreciate help here to make me feel better...

    Thanks a lot.

    Can you sponge off your parents and not off innocent tax payers. So many single mums expect the world and benefits, as if they have been hard done by. If you can't afford to have a kid then you should have worn protection.


  • #10
    cee_jay
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 7,920 Mod ✭✭✭✭cee_jay


    PeterMcHugh banned.
    Users are reminded to read forum charter before posting.
    Any further posts along this vein will be banned permanently from this forum.


  • #11
    aissmythsmh
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭aissmythsmh


    Thanks for your help here. Unfortunately this has happened while I am unemployed so all new to me. OK - The CWO was not very helpful to me. Said that I can't look for somewhere untill Dec & my baby is due in Jan. This is because of the rent quota. It's very close to the birth & can't imagine too many landlords wanting to offer me & a big bump the appartment. The CWO did say that you pay the first 112euro per month. It seems very little for me to pay. Has anyone been in this situation before? Let's say the monthly rent is 900euro. Does that mean that the state pay 788euro per month??It just seems alot. Do you pick up what you are entitled to in the post office every week or how does this work? I am 36 & have paid the higher rate of tax up untill recently (for a long time) so do not feel in anyway guilty about these entitlements especially when I look at my old p.60's. I happen to be unemployed & hopefully this time next year I will be back in full time employment just need to know how it all works etc. Any lone parents in my situation, I would love to talk to you


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  • #12
    stargazer 68
    Registered Users Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭stargazer 68


    Op its all means tested so its hard to work out. I work part time and get 400 per month. My rent is 1000 so I pay the other 600. Its paid into my bank account and I have a standing order to the landlord.

    If you check on daft you will see a lot of places won't take rent allowance however it is worth asking as thats what I did and the guy had no problem.


  • #13
    aissmythsmh
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭aissmythsmh


    Thanks for that. Yea most places don't accept it but there are so many people like me who have lost their jobs that I am sure they have relaxed somewhat there. The only thing I am worried about is that they may not want a baby living there etc.ahhhhhhh. Other thing is if there is anyone else is in my situation, pregnant, lone parent & currently unemployed please write to me. Thanks Again.


  • #14
    aissmythsmh
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭aissmythsmh


    The CWO was unhelpful & told me that I could not look untill Dec even though my baby is due in Janurary. The reason is that if I move in a couple of months before thebaby is born the rent quota for someone living alone is 530 & that I couldn't live somewhere that is worth 930 as the baby won't be here yet etc I can't stay in my rented house share obv but also I cannot wait untill I heavily pregnant to look for somewhere to live. Dose anyone have an ideas or been through the same thing. There has to be a way around this..Thanks so much for any advice. It is the only thing that is worrying me.


  • #15
    Slydice
    Registered Users Posts: 10,501 ✭✭✭✭Slydice


    hmmmm, I've no experience so I'm just going on what you've written

    the only possible option I can think of right now would be to look around and find a 2 bed and see if you can convince the landlord to hold the place until after you have had the baby.

    jeez though... talk about an unstable solution. the big problem is you couldn't guarantee how much the CWO would cover for ya even if a landlord agreed to hold a place for ya.


  • #16
    Ana36
    Registered Users Posts: 48 ✭Ana36


    aissmythsmh wrote: »
    The CWO was unhelpful & told me that I could not look untill Dec even though my baby is due in Janurary. The reason is that if I move in a couple of months before thebaby is born the rent quota for someone living alone is 530 & that I couldn't live somewhere that is worth 930 as the baby won't be here yet etc I can't stay in my rented house share obv but also I cannot wait untill I heavily pregnant to look for somewhere to live. Dose anyone have an ideas or been through the same thing. There has to be a way around this..Thanks so much for any advice. It is the only thing that is worrying me.

    Maybe there are alternative options you can take,

    The first one is to appeal the decision made by the CWO to the CWO Superintendent. This will involve writing a letter explaining your situation and asking for an "exception to the rule" being made on your behalf, given your situation.

    Number 2: Go to you local T.D.s. They are there to help in situations like this and can make a request on your behalf. Google their names online and find out when they run their clinics. In the mean time, e-mail them regarding you situation.

    Number 3: Perhaps you can come to some sort of agreement with the CWO that if you are allowed to rent a house for 800 or 900 in October or November, you will make up the balance until the baby is born or just before until you are entitled to the full Rent Allowance for parent and child. Credit Unions are doing short term loans now with low interest rates and might be able to help you out. That way you'll be covered for a couple of months anyway. 20euro a week would have the loan payed off in a year but at least you would be in comfortable and stable accommodation for when your child's born.

    To be honest, I think you are best trying your local T.D. and see how they can help. I wish you all the best with your new arrival and I hope things work out for you. Just don't stop pushing for your rights. All the best!


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