Help with rent
- keith corkill
- Nov 25, 2018
- 2 min read
Help with rent
The social fund is a pot of money which provides interest-free loans, at a minimum of £100, to help people on benefits pay any rent arrears or moving costs.
Other loan schemes to help pay for rent in advance Some councils, charities and housing associations operate loan schemes to help tenants cover the cost of their first month's rent.
Different schemes have different rules. To be eligible you should:
have a local connection be on a low income or claiming welfare benefits be homeless or threatened with homelessness
If you already claim housing benefit or universal credit in your current home, you can ask your council for a discretionary housing payment towards the rent in advance before you move in.
The Crisis Help to Rent database lists some schemes, but it’s worth checking with your local council as well because many other schemes are available. Find your local council here.
Will they help me? Different bond and rent guarantee schemes have different rules. For example, there may be a limit on how big a deposit they can help with, and some will only help certain groups of people (such as young people or people on benefits). Some schemes may also have a list of participating landlords who have properties available.
What happens to the money? Rent guarantee or bond scheme
Most schemes work by providing a written guarantee to your landlord to cover any losses due to unpaid rent or damage. No money actually changes hands.
When your tenancy ends, your landlord can ask the scheme-provider to pay for damage you caused or rent you didn’t pay. You will then normally be asked to repay the money to the scheme.
Your landlord doesn’t have to register any guarantee with a tenancy deposit scheme.
Rent deposit scheme
Some schemes may offer loans for you to pay over to the landlord as a deposit. Usually, the scheme lends you the money in advance and you pay it back over a period of time from your wages or benefits. If there are no problems, you should get your deposit back at the end of your tenancy.
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