Financial help with living costs whilst building up a property business

UNBELIEVABLE!

Sorry but reading this made me very cross indeed.

The Welfare State exists to prevent people from having to live below the poverty line, not to give you money to build a property portfolio!

If you can't afford to invest then you should not have given up your job, it's as simple as that so far as I'm concerned.

If such a benefit does actually exist then it's time for me to sell up and get out of the lunatic asylum whilst I still can.
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If you can't afford to cover your living costs and have no other sources of income then you can't afford to own investment properties and need to sell them, which is exactly what the local authority are saying to you. If I was in your situation I'd get real, sell them, and get a job. You seem to have an attitude where you deserve to own these properties, and want someone else to supplement your income for you. You do not have that entitlement, I'm afraid it makes you look a bit daft. What you've got there isn't a "business" it's a house of cards waiting to crash down - maybe it'll be a rate rise, maybe it'll be a rogue tenant, maybe it'll be a fire, maybe it'll be a court case, but if you can't even pay your bills you clearly cannot survive any kind of financial shock. Apart from your own needs, you're also putting the security of your tenants at risk. If they knew how shaky your finances are, you think they would stay?

You need to find that shop where you buy your cake and they give you back your h'penny

Follow me on Twitter@landlordtweets

My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is here >>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

Glad I'm not the only one who got annoyed reading this and I totally back the other comments.
My first suggestion would be for you to get a job as a short term solution to your financial situation. If your partner runs an internet business maybe they could do it around project managing your renovation.
As a longer term solution, have you considered turning one of your properties into a multi-let property. You may have to spend a little more meeting regulations but it can vastly increase your income. We've just purchased a property that should clear us a healthy £900 a month profit so long as we keep it full and have no unexpected costs. It may take a little more effort but you reap the rewards.
You can't expect other people to fund your lifestyle choice !

I was a bit shocked at some of the comments of my learned colleagues.

You came here for support, not to be lambasted, I am sure.

The first thing I would suggest you do is rent out a room in your residential property to a lodger.

I rent out two rooms in my house and get £1100 per month.

You may be able to go to some peer-to-peer funding groups and secure a loan to help you build your property business, but it will need to be paid back.

You could also find a JV partner with money who comes into the property developing with you for a share of the profits.

You do need to develop some additional income streams as well, as you are sailing close to the wind.

Hope that gives you some idea/hope?

For others thinking of giving up the day job to go full time into property, it is a decision that should NOT be taken lightly, and I recommend that you have a read of this ....

http://www.propertytribes.com/day-job-vs-property-investor-t-8458.html

I am in the same camp as Mark et al and one of the people who has ticked 'like' on each of their comments.

This is like asking for a regular GIFT of some money to assist with mortgage payments to buy more properties and, furthermore, never having to pay any of it back. Priceless.

The naivety of your post got me hot under the collar at first too. Isn't Vanessa lovely though? You ticket to heaven is in the post my dear!

It sounds to me as though you are realizing that giving up your day job was a big mistake. Never mind, we all make mistakes don't we? Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and find yourself another job. You may need to take a step back to more forwards and if that means selling one of your properties to replenish your capital reserves then so be it. Don't scrimp on the professional advice if you do that, make sure you get proper advice on capital gains tax issues. Chalk this up to experience.

Good luck!

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "16/08/2013 - 15:23":

Vanessa I am not sure what you think is so shocking? ****** did not ask how she could increase her income she asked

"My question is does anyone know if there is a benefit or suchlike that I might be eligible for (which does not require paying back), to help with living costs whilst developing a property business "

If the question had been how to increase income we might have made more helpful suggestions. To be honest I tweeted Mark to ask if this was a genuine post - not wanting to offend this woman but I share the concerns that Oliver has raised - what on earth will she do if she needs to spend money on one of her properties to keep it up to standard - a new boiler for example?

Follow me on Twitter@landlordtweets

My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is here >>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

Reply to the comment left by "Mary Latham" at "16/08/2013 - 16:30":

It's trending on Twitter, here are some of the Tweets ...

@iAmALandlord Surely that is not a serious post? Worth a read if you want a Friday afternoon laugh.

— Mary Latham (@landlordtweets) August 16, 2013

@iAmALandlord I just can't wait to see the comments on this one hahahaha http://t.co/EK5BWyplop #property

— Mary Latham (@landlordtweets) August 16, 2013

Unbelievable RT @iAmALandlord: Financial help with living costs whilst building up a #property business. WTF!!! >>> http://t.co/f3aa0MaGCt

— Juicy Property (@juicyproperty) August 16, 2013

@iAmALandlord I posted a reply. I managed to not be as rude as my irritation prompted me to be 🙂

— Juicy Property (@juicyproperty) August 16, 2013

Ooh Mark, sometimes you are really nice, then all of a sudden u go into ogre or posh mode-U do like to create a debate don’t u ha ha.
I’ve been in similar situation, just about paying outgoings trying to build money up, & then some’at goes wrong & I needed safety net to buy food, pay my mortgage etc. So I can sympathise. I was building up, had a few bad weeks where car didn’t sell (used to buy & sell cars), mortgage still had to be paid, money goes into minus, you’re back on the dole.
And what happens there is, us paupers used to be on off the dole all our lives costing taxpayer money-But if we have that safety net to rely on, to buy our food, gas & elec, we could have then built the money up & got off the dole & stayed off the dole FOREVER-And then we too could pay taxes to help others out.
But no, on the other side of it, yeah, one would think that once u have a few houses, u can then no longer rely on Welfare. But I do think with one house rented out, if no profit, there are provisions for you to get Housing Benefit for yourself to rent a house.
And I think DWP used to have general rule. that once u get going self employed, you’re on your own pal was their motto, either self employed or dole, not flitting between the two.
And yes, does look like u r close to the limit, u get a roof & a boiler needs replacing the same week, 5k in one hit, don’t sound good.
Ooh, some of u posh Landlords, I could do with taking u out for an hour, see some of my tenants, u may have a bit more sympathy then for those that are struggling-There again u could call ‘em lazy s__ts when we’re knocking on door at 10am & they still in bed while their kids are downstairs watching the £71 a month Sky TV package.