Getting a flat

[thatguy5]

Hi, i am hoping someone can help me out. I am currently living at home dependent of my parents, i am currently 18 years old. This year i plan to do a 2 year College course (which i have to pay for) which means i am going to be in college at least untill i amv 21, its a full time (over 16 hours) course). I would like to look into getting a flat but i am not sure how i would go about it, i currently have no job.. is there any benefits that would help me?

I would be doing full time education, in order to get benefit would i need to do a part time job? excluding benefits.. generally speaking do you think it would be possible for me to be able to afford a flat on a part time job if i couldn't get benefits?

Any students or exstudents that have gone through this please let me know what you did, i am not sure how i should even go about this.

Thanks for reading.

[stevie21]

I don't think you'd qualify for anything more than a student loan which would need to be repaid eventually. Definitely not any benefits.
At best, you might get some emergency hand out from the college if you give them a sob story but this wouldn't even be enough to cover one month's rent.

Last time I was a student I was working 20 hours a week and got a grant of about �3000 and that just about covered my rent etc.

[Sammy Snake]

I doubt you would be able to afford a flat.  Aside from the rent, you would have to take into account your utility bills.  Gas, electricity, water, phone?, contents insurance etc and all these add up.

[vicars]

As a mortgage broker I can say 100% that you will not get a mortgage in your current situation as you have no job. Lenders need you to be working with sufficient income to service your debt. They will not take into account the sort of benefits you will be receiving.You do not necessarily need a deposit as lenders can give over 100% loans but once you do have an income you could borrow up to 3.75 times your income depending on the lender and your job. If you had enough deposit though you may be able to find a buy to let mortgage deal where they allow first time buyers (you need at least 15% deposit). Alternatively you could get your parents to help - if they have spare income over and above their own mortgage payments they can use a scheme such as that offered through Coventry Building Society. However I would say rent for the first year and try to save - it will be cheaper with no major house bills etc and do you want a mortgage to take care of while you study? You may find a missed payment wrecks your chances of getting a decent mortgage deal when you finish. Also property prices are not going up right now so why go for something that could drop in price and leave you in real debt and trouble?

[thatguy5]

Thanks for the answers, i forget to mention in the original post that i am interested in renting a flat, i am very sure that i couldn't do it any other way :).

As far the benefits, i ment since i am in full time education and renting a flat would 'housing benefit' suit me; http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/housing_benefit.asp

I'd have a part time job paying rent, so they should apply to me?

[jridgeback]

As a hardworking student you would not be entitled to anything, however if you were unemployed and never aspired to be anyhting then you would have money thrown at you from every direction - then, whenever you needed some more money you could just have another kid or go on Trisha. What a fair society we live in !