Hi everyone

I am not sure if you remember but i posted a while back about getting a house build instead of a garage conversion.

Well the long and short of it is that there is no chance according to the council of us having the build and they would only do the conversion despite it meaning that we would have to hire somewhere to work (as we are self employed and work from home using the garage as work storage and storage for our sons wheelchairs, among other things).

I have said the cost of hiring somewhere to work makes working for ourselves impossible as the cost of this is prohibitive, all to no avail.

So i find myself in a very unique (to me) position. We have lived in our home for nearly 20 years and prior to us owning it my grandparents lived here so the house is a little more than just bricks and mortar, and because of the low mortgage i am able to be a stay at home mum to our 3 children. Because of the current financial climate we cannot afford to (or would more than likely not be given) a new mortgage/loan to do the building works ourselves.

I have requested that the council rehouse us, into a 4 bedroomed bungalow or a 4 bedroomed house with a downstairs bathroom and downstairs bedroom and that hopefully it will be sorted soon, as everytime my son takes himself upstairs or brings himself down i fear for him falling down them.

I am very disappointed and feel let down by the system that was supposed to help us.

If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated

Lolx

Have a chat with your local housing advice team, I have heard recently of a newer shared ownership scheme where nominated housing associations are able to share the ownership of your property by getting remedial works and adaptations done and teh same system applies that after 5 years you can buy in back bit by bit. I will try and find the housing meetings where this was discussed but get the ball rolling.
Also, if you do have to move will they force you to sell or can you rent it to a family member and declare the income?

i have been told that we dont have to sell and that we can do what we want with our property, however as we need to be able to come back at a point where our disabled son no longer lives with us i am sure that we could rent it out. obviously we would have to declare the rent as income - so there would go the carers allowance

As very little is known about our sons condition (and we cant get to see a specialist let alone get a prognosis), we are not sure if he would have to return to live with us, should he get worse, if he was to leave home (uni, life in general etc) and i would be very worried that we would not be able to care for him adequately in our property as it is now and obviously the move back home would mean that we would not be able to do this if needed.

If one of you claims the carers then the other can get the income on there name. That means you won't lose it.

exactly...... use wisdom and great advice to do what's best for your family in the long term, you could allow a family member to live there purely as security if you continue to use the garage as working premises or even rent it to them on a ten year lease through your company using the money in company accounts for a pension scheme I am sure there are many ways to make sure the tax man still gets their pound of flesh but protecting what's yours at the same time