Housing for 17 year old

C2712S

Hi, My Dad who was an absolute Angel!! passed away earlier this year due to Cancer, he was a taxi driver. and my so called mother never cared for me.. i have not seen her in years upon years... i am only 17 lad and doing my leaving cert this year, I am living with my granny at the moment, but she's due to going in a care home, if this happens I will have to live with my guardian... in which I cannot live with, and I really mean, I cant, its driven me mental! and extreme rows
I was wondering anyway's, is there any housing/accommodation that I could get of the welfare/council under my circumstances... im planning to go to college full time as well... me and my dad as well lived in the same house with my granny, so we never had a house ourselves, I live in a bad enough area as well.. just to tell you im not a d4 head that inherited a few million, a block of apartments, and a porsche haha
thank you, your help means a lot!

murphaph

Sorry for your loss. You sound like your dad did a great job raising you, for what it's worth. I can't offer advice I'm afraid other than to suggest a trip to citizens advice

C2712S

thank you!!, I went before though... yet your one was a bit slow.. so i might go to another C.A centre

Victor

You just might have a social worker allocated to you that may be able to argue your case.

If not, then demand a social worker.

StillWaters

Have you spoken to the guidance Officer in your school. They should be in a position to advise you.

Balmed Out

perhaps try to arrange a meeting with a social welfare officer

tony81

When are you 18? Helping your gran with housework and stuff might keep her in her house a bit longer.
If you're going to college a grant and a few parttime hours working might be the way forward. Plenty of 17 year olds live away from home and not all get money from their parents.
Doubt you'll have much luck getting housing supplements given your age and intention of going to college (it's generally not available to ppl in fulltime education)

Equality

Is your gran (or anybody) getting either the guardian's allowance or the foster care allowance?

If either of these is being paid, you can continue to get the full rate (188 per week) of SW once you are 18, even if you go to college. You should check this by e-mailing SW to confirm, as the rules may have changed since I last checked them. I'm fairly sure it is still correct, but check it out anyway.

If your gran is renting her house from the Corporation, e-mail them to see if you are listed as a co-tenant (ie if they know you are living there). Explain in your e-mail that you want to become a co-tenant as soon as you are 18, and pay any rent due out of your SW payment. If you get on the house as a co-tenant this means that your tenancy continues if your gran goes into care (but I don't think you can do this until you are 18). However, you should e-mail the Corpo (if the house is rented from them) so that there is a paper trail to confirm that you are living there. If the house is a rented Corpo house and you have been living in it for a number of years, you should be able to hold on to it. Get proof from SW that either foster care, guardian's payment or Dependent child payment on your dad/gran's SW was paid to that address, as this is proof you were living there. Get proof from the school also.

If your gran owns the house or if it is rented from a private landlord the situation is entirely different. If this is the case, you should apply to the Community Welfare Officer for rent allowance to pay the rent. Children leaving foster care get this, and if your only adult relative (gran) dies then you are eligible.

If you get hassle because a parent is still alive, you should point out in writing that the parent in question has 'failed to provide for me since I was X age' and you are the same as an orphan.

You might also want to go into a solicitor (they probably won't charge for the first visit) and see if they can sort out getting you 'declared an adult for legal purposes - I think it is called an emancipated minor - it means you become free (emancipated) of the control of your parent or guardian'. This can be done, and it would mean that you become an adult at 17. There is no point if you are almost 18, but if you are just 17 it is worth doing.

Best of luck with the Leaving Cert and with sorting this out.

Cream_crackers

Great advice from Equality but rather than email, phone the council, get a name of who to call in to and call in person with an appointment. You'll be doing a lot of running around do get all the papers sorted but it'll be worth it.

Citizens advice should point you in the direction of free legal aid to become emancipated as a minor.

C2712S

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for all your replies and help!
My granny has left the house to my guardian. it has always been this way, it should of been left to my dad because he was looking after her and me, I do as much as I can for her all the Housework I do... as well as that, my guardian(her daughter) while filling out forms for the care, she said that I do not live with my granny, to make her application looked at quicker... ive just started receiving the allowance, but the majority of that is paying off my dads funeral expenses which are high very high, but he deserved the best send off!... so in relation to the renting etc... id have little or none for bills or food.. even if I got a part time job...
what should of been done all along was the house left to me... Its not worth pittens, like id say a tent out of Dunnes is worth more, but its the fact that its a home, my home, roof over my head, where i grew up and had memories with my da... This reminds me of another question! Because my da has lived there literally all of his life... and cared for my granny, and now that he has passed away, Would I not get some sort of support if I went to housing or welfare or whoever ya go to about this... because like when im 18 which is late December, im literally an adult, and not to get too personal but my aunt is very wealthy... so would I not have a case behind me, where, why is she getting the house, when she's never feckin in it anyways... where ill have no home, lived there all my life, so did my da (except for very very short few years) cared for my granny... and literally an orphan... I know its my grannys choice, but im not being bad she's have demented and couldnt be up my aunts hole anymore... so me asking her nicely etc wont work...
again thanks for all your help

mikemac1

There is a funeral grant of 850 euro available to help with expenses

If you've not applied already then apply soon
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/death_related_benefits/bereavement_grant.html

C2712S

ive already applied for that, thanks for your post!

tony81

C2712S wrote: »

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for all your replies and help!
My granny has left the house to my guardian. it has always been this way, it should of been left to my dad because he was looking after her and me, I do as much as I can for her all the Housework I do... as well as that, my guardian(her daughter) while filling out forms for the care, she said that I do not live with my granny, to make her application looked at quicker... ive just started receiving the allowance, but the majority of that is paying off my dads funeral expenses which are high very high, but he deserved the best send off!... so in relation to the renting etc... id have little or none for bills or food.. even if I got a part time job...
what should of been done all along was the house left to me... Its not worth pittens, like id say a tent out of Dunnes is worth more, but its the fact that its a home, my home, roof over my head, where i grew up and had memories with my da... This reminds me of another question! Because my da has lived there literally all of his life... and cared for my granny, and now that he has passed away, Would I not get some sort of support if I went to housing or welfare or whoever ya go to about this... because like when im 18 which is late December, im literally an adult, and not to get too personal but my aunt is very wealthy... so would I not have a case behind me, where, why is she getting the house, when she's never feckin in it anyways... where ill have no home, lived there all my life, so did my da (except for very very short few years) cared for my granny... and literally an orphan... I know its my grannys choice, but im not being bad she's have demented and couldnt be up my aunts hole anymore... so me asking her nicely etc wont work...
again thanks for all your help

Sounds like you know the system inside out.
Im sure your gran is up your aunt's hole but, ya know what, between your angel dad who lived there his whole like and mini him... sounds like a sad situation

JuliusCaesar

C2712S wrote: »

My granny has left the house to my guardian..... Because my da has lived there literally all of his life... and cared for my granny, and now that he has passed away, ....... why is she getting the house... where ill have no home, lived there all my life, so did my da

Disputing a will is afaik a very uncertain kind of an undertaking - can take years in the courts, with no guarantee of the outcome - but then you might have a fairly solid case, who knows without more detail than you probably want to give on here. You might be better off asking in Soc > Legal Discussion.

Could you mention to your granny that you are a bit worried about the future and what will happen to you?

C2712S

Hi thanks for your answer...
I understand you, and yes its all been said to her... but it goes in one ear and out the other...

OnTheCounter

Not the ideal solution but an option for you to consider:

In December when you turn 18 go on job seekers allowance. You will get e188 per week plus money towards your rent and fuel and a medical card.

After you have been on JSA for 12 months you can apply for the back to education allowance which means you get to keep all of the above payments during your time in university.

I know you will have to put off college for a while with this plan but you are young and in the meantime you can do fas courses where you can learn a trade to earn a bit of extra cash during college or possibly a jobbridge internship.

Keep the head up, it will all work out in the end and you might enjoy the years break from the exams and to properly think about what you want to study.

There are a few college grants you can apply for also.

If you already know which college and course you want to go to then you can go into the students union of that college and talk to the first year representative or the financial officer about what financial help the college can offer you. The union officers are students themselves or just recently graduated and will be very relaxed and easy going so dont worry about heading in for a chat. Fire off an email to arrange an appointment with one of them.

C2712S

hi sorry for late reply... id prefer to go to college and get it done and over so i can start working as much as i can during it but atleast when im finished at 22 or about hopefully I can work me ass off full time so i'll be independent thank you for your help anyway, I appreciate it!

dubstarr

You sound like a wonderful young man with his head screwed on .Im sure your Dad would be so proud of you.

Smcgie

Hi Op I was in a similar situation about 5 years ago when I was 16

Here's the best solution, look for a house share close to your college with a room for about €60-€80 per week, collect you €188 and live there.

If you don't wanna live with your guardian then DON'T dream of crossing the door in the first place.

Renting a room is much easier and I made loads of friends too, tell the homeowner/landlord your situation too, if they are reasonable people they will be delighted to have you in

saiint

do a fas course
188per week
rent weekly house share 40-90e per week
apply for rent allowence (doubth youll get this at all unless you have a kid even then its hard to get it now)worth a try though
stick to doing a few fas courses until you sort out your living arrangments i.e living with family
then go to college
you cant claim SW while in college
they dont care if you live on the street and have no money
if your in college they expect you can either pay to go or have a part time job to pay your own way
part time work is extremely hard to get nowadays as it is

your gonna have a really difficult life living off 188e per week if you do a fas course or go to college without being able to live in a house which you need to pay bills for, food expenses to and from college

sorry im not much help but just trying to make you see what your getting yourself into
im only in me 20's same thing happened to me

at 17 , my mother passed away
my father left before i was born
lived with my guardians for a month until we had a row so i left at 18
and ive been doing fas courses to help me along my way until i find a full time job
il hv no hope going to college until i actually have a part time job as well

handlemaster

OP. Sorry to hear of your loss. It will be later on in life that you will realise how difficult a time it was. Get help when you can don't be afraid to ask. You should look into an 'orphans' assistance as technically your mother it sounds has abandoned you. with regard the house been left to your aunt. I think you would have some sort of claim on it. If you indeed do not want to live or have anything to do with your aunt in the future. I would think you could contact a solicitor be up front and say you have no funds but would like to but in an 'claim' on the will when it goes to probate. Thereby the executor of the will when it comes to settling the estate will not be able to do anything until this is sorted.This would be years down the road and you will be in a better situation then to deal with it. First of all get your welfare sorted... best of luck

Equality

You indicate that your aunt is getting the guardian's payment in respect of your care.

If you remain in full time education, and do not reside with your guardian (aunt) then on your birthday you may ask for the payment to be transferred to you. An orphan who is between 18-22 years and in full time education may get this payment in their own right. You should apply now, as you are close to 18 and you want the money to transfer to you on your birthday. It will take social welfare some weeks to do this, so e-mail them straight away. You need to stay in education in order to get this, so make sure you either repeat the Leaving cert or go to third level.

You can, at 18, apply for a medical card, as you will be geting the payment yourself.

You can apply for the fuel allowance, and for help with the rent on a flat.

As your gran owns the house and has willed it to her child, there is little point in fighting this, it is better to focus on getting other parts of your life sorted out.

Edited to add that if you go to third level, I am fairly sure you can get the grant or part of it as well. So going to third level increases your income quite a bit - diploma or degree courses are quite attractive to someone in your position.

C2712S

Hi All Thank you for your help!!
I'll see what I can do, I'll be staying in school and going to college then hopefully, one small thing is, because of my situation that my father is deceased and I've had no contact with my mother for at least 11 years, Would I be entitled to some sort of rent allowance even to get a bedroom in some place.. because I dont think I can get the full grant for college because my house is within the distance that it has to be over to the college... and its the only college that will do the course with ordinary maths... especially because I missed out on 90 days last year taking care of my dad, I was in Higher maths but cannot keep up with it at all, so DIT in Bolton street is place I really wanna go to... Tallaght IT do it Im around the same distance from there as I am from DIT...
thanks again for all your help!

Equality

Is your aunt (or anybody) getting the guardian's payment in respect of looking after you?

This is the critical question. If the guardian's payment is being made to anyone on your account, then you can get it paid to yourself, and you would most likely qualify for rent allowance and a medical card, but obviously you would need to apply for these. If refused, you can appeal.

If guardian's is not being paid, then the social welfare rate is 100 per week, so it is a lot less. In this case it would also be more difficult to get the rent allowance.

C2712S

ive guardians allowance all sorted and all that... i've recieved a medical card there within the last week.. hopefully me granny wont get a place in that respite place till im finished me leaving cert... Thanks for all your help