Housing benefit and retirement developments
Did you know that elderly people in receipt of housing benefits can live in purpose built retirement developments such as McCarthy and Stone and Peverell.
These tend to be modern purpose built, well maintained, well located properties with lifts to all floors.
Compare these to some council “purpose built” buildings that have no lifts and steep access to them. (Here is a previous article I have written on the subject.)
I contacted Girlings to find out more and was interested to read the response from Caroline Hull (Executive Manager – Head of Marketing)
She wrote
“A tenant who rents a property through Girlings does not pay service charge or ground rent as this is covered by the Landlord.
The tenant is responsible for their
- rent plus
- council tax,
- utility bills,
- telephone,
- contents insurance
- and personal expenditure.
Also, property maintenance is included in the rent, so if the boiler breaks down this is covered. The most useful point is that we offer Assured Tenancies on the majority of retirement properties, so that the tenant can stay in the property for as long as they choose – the Landlord cannot give notice, unless the tenant contravenes the tenancy agreement”.
They do ask for a letter confirming sufficient bank funds to cover any difference between the Housing benefit payable and the rent charged.
