How do i find somewhere to live?

[mybabyandew]

I live on the gold coast with my parents im 18 next month i have a toddler and a baby due in june i plan on moving out after baby's born within 2 months after. How do i find someone that is really cheaps i preety much have no money so i need to live somewhere cheap how much would a 2 bedroom be. Also how much do you spend a week on everything i only get payments a fortnight so i know its going to be very hard. i get paid only around $550 a fortnight is this nearly enough money to live off. Paying everything like nappies,food, rent, kindy, petrol when i can drive, swimming lessons etc.

[Freya]

Hun, stay at home. It's almost impossible to afford to move out on the GC.

[mybabyandew]

I know but i preety much have to. Its just to hard here theres no room what so ever and im just tired of not being able to raise my child/children the way i want. Without smaking him always giving him junk food, junk drinks etc i have no say what so ever i always tell them not to hit him and they just tell me he needs to learn and i said while tell him no hes my child not yours and they just say hes living under own roof etc etc. I just need to be living away from home rasing my children.Also they are always i mean always swearing non stop and of couse ive told them not to but they dont listen.

[Leeny]

My dh only works part time, and I'm trying to start a business... We can't afford to move out, and we're not in an ultra expensive area :no:.. We've been with my parents for over 6 years, and all 4 years of our dd's life.. Fun fun fun :rolleyes: If you can, wait it out and save as much as you can, and move out when you know you can afford it, and won't end up having to move back home etc..

I fully understand the not being able to raise your child the way you want.. I really truly do, believe me!.. Its hard :hugs:

[sunnyflower]

I don't think she should have to put up with her parents smacking her child though:no:

Have you put your name down for gov housing hun?

[mybabyandew]

Have you put your name down for gov housing hun?


No i havent, i havent even heard of it :laughing:, what is it and how do i go around doing it.

[Sammy76]

Have you found out how much parenting payment single and FTB A & B will be with the combination of your income?

[sandy_1902]

Personally i wouldnt do government housing on the coast unless it was a MUST.. from what ive heard its horrible.. to tiny etc. but when needed its good.


You will find average price for 2 bedroom is about 270-300 a week.

unless you look into sharing with a friend etc,

Gold coast is really expensive.. we are wanting to move as well.. we have found nerang is sorta the cheapest.. and i have had to get past the outside look of a house if we are going to find anything in our price range..

I say you would be able to afford it with some great budgetting, and searching to find that bargin... and just remember dont always rule out complexes..
i have lived in the 'ghetto' complex in nerang there its not that bad.. and its pretty cheap 2 - 3 bedroooms.

my dp pays our rent but on food we spend about 100ish to 150ish including nappies etc, our water electrity is all included in rent.. a few places on the coast.. umm apartments, etc do do this i have found its very handy.

As for petrol.. try and find something central.. close to buses (i know its hard work with more then one kid) but just for small trips down to the shop etc (not food shopping) its VERY handy.
i say hold off on things like swimming lessons until you have your budget under control, and have worked out how much you need etc etc same with kindy.. but centerlink does rebates with those so see if your entitled.

Like i said earlier it is possible.. you can always get a advance of 500, and put money on top of that to get the bond ready etc. i have done that before.. centerlink are great in ways like that.. they will let you pay it back as little much as you like.

umm... i think i have rambled a little sorry.. i hope i have answered at least one question.

[JasmineLouise]

You could have a quick squiz at realestate.com and check out the rental section.

Also, it may be helpful to check with centrelink to see if you are entitled to rental assistance.

Good luck :)

[sandy_1902]

or domain.

[happytobehere]

I just looked on the internet and there is a Gold Coast Youth service http://www.goldcoastyouthservice.com/yap.html
maybe contact them and see how you go. I am a long way from the GC so i cant give an opinion of the service.

Explain your situation honestly and openly and be clear that you are looking for help. Because you are still young you may qualify for support and :fingerscrossed: u may get assistance to look for a place or you may qualify for accomodation. Assistance can take make forms and it depends on what the actual service provides but they may be able to help with anything from transport to look at places, help with filling out forms for bond loans or rental applications, doing up a budget to see how much you could actually afford to spend, to even accomodation if they are able to offer it.

I get that you aren't homeless but from your situation it sounds like you would be described of as 'at risk of homelessness' because of what you are feeling and experiencing.

Anyways sorry bout tha big speel but thats what i'd recommend and what i and many others have done before. If you manage to get onto a good service it is absolutely amazing the support you could get to get a good start.

It must be really frustrating being told how to act and have people hitting ur child. If u do make some calls like i said be honest and open like u do here on bubhub because if it is understood that the living arrangements you are currently in don't allow you to feel that u and ur bubs are safe and treated respectfully they are more likely to help.

good luck :)

[Bubs'n'Roses]

It's worth it to put your name down on the gov housing list but you have to be willing to wait years - the last time we looked into it we were told the waiting list was 10 years unless your circumstances were 'special'.

You may find that Southport is the cheapest - there are a lot of units and apartments there that go for about 250. You need to keep looking because occasionally in the expensive rental world on the GC, you'll find a gem for 200 or 250. I looked just recently and there was an actual house in Southport for 200 pw.

Remember you can get rent assistance, that might help a little bit. Your payments should increase a little bit with the birth of your second child. Not a great deal but a little bit.

I'd look into the youth thing the PP mentioned. You could be able to get some help through them because of your situation. Good luck.

[Teley]

Call up St. Mary's and Zigzag :). They are both housing facilities for young women with children. I know for one S.M. has very good off-site accomodation, and they really care for you and help you out :hugs: (guess who went through them:rolleyes:). PM me if you want more details:).

[Mummy1988]

If rent is anything like it is in Sydney then you will struggle. A 2 bedroom place will cost you around $330-$400 a week. Most rental agencies here in Sydney won't take any tenants who don't work full time, and they don;t consider any Centrelink/child support payments as income, so if you don't have a job you will be classed as unemployed by the real estate agents and they will turn your application down (even if you get $550 a f/n from Centrelink).

You would get rent assistance from Centrelink - but it ends up only being around $90 a week - so if your rent is $350 a week it still leaves you with a huge chunk of rent to pay.

If you can stay at home do it, but if it means compromising your child's health and well being then I can understand why you need to move out.

Have you got any friends who have kids and are in similar situations? If you could share a house with another single mum it could work. Or you could put an ad out searching for other single mums in a similar situation who would be willing to look into co-housing. I'm sure there are other young women out there in similar situations.

Have you got any other family who would be willing to take you and your children in? You could pay them board ($150 a week or something) and agree that you will help cook the evening meal, and that all of the kids washing and tidying up after them will be done by you. And obviously nappies etc bought by you.

:hugs: I can understand how stressful this is for you at the moment

[Freya]

Honestly, the chances of you getting a rental at your age and on PPS is very, very low. And there is a very high need for rentals so all the houses are snapped up really quick too and mostly real estate agents will give a house to someone who is working.

Gold Coast youth service are great, my friend got a 2 bedroom with them at Miami for $90 per week BUT they are very rarely available as there is such a high need for them. So once again the chance of actually getting accommodation through them are low.Still try contacting them though, you never know. Also try and get in contact with YHES house, they may be able to support you and help you to find something. As well as help you with budgeting ect..

I totally get that you don't feel like you can parent them the right way, you need to talk to your parents about this and tell them that you are paying your own rent and own way and they need to respect you as a mother and leave the parenting up to you.

I had to move in with my Mum because it was impossible for me to get a place I could afford without me having to go back to work full time.

[sandy_1902]

If rent is anything like it is in Sydney then you will struggle. A 2 bedroom place will cost you around $330-$400 a week. Most rental agencies here in Sydney won't take any tenants who don't work full time, and they don;t consider any Centrelink/child support payments as income, so if you don't have a job you will be classed as unemployed by the real estate agents and they will turn your application down (even if you get $550 a f/n from Centrelink).

You would get rent assistance from Centrelink - but it ends up only being around $90 a week - so if your rent is $350 a week it still leaves you with a huge chunk of rent to pay.

If you can stay at home do it, but if it means compromising your child's health and well being then I can understand why you need to move out.

Have you got any friends who have kids and are in similar situations? If you could share a house with another single mum it could work. Or you could put an ad out searching for other single mums in a similar situation who would be willing to look into co-housing. I'm sure there are other young women out there in similar situations.

Have you got any other family who would be willing to take you and your children in? You could pay them board ($150 a week or something) and agree that you will help cook the evening meal, and that all of the kids washing and tidying up after them will be done by you. And obviously nappies etc bought by you.

:hugs: I can understand how stressful this is for you at the moment

Gold coast is a fair bit cheaper then, you can get a 2 bedroom for around 250 a week some complexesx even 3 for 290. you jsut have to search high and low

If your on single parent pension you can get up to 150 rent assistence i think the max is.


As for not getting rentals on SPP thats not true. i have a friend who lives alone with her son and only gets centerlink she got a house straight away.. so has a few of my other friends.. some with partners some without..

you WILL find people who will say no to you becuase of you situation but there will be some that say yes.. becuase they want someone for the house..
Some people like people who are on centerlink because with the current climate you wont get saked and no have an income you will alwyas have money coming in

I agree share housing is a great idea, but with that i do recommend people with kids so they wont get annoyed etc.

dont give up becuase you get a few no's here and there.. is will happen.. but there are people who will say yes just remember that.

on places like domain you can see what has been up for a week or so.. and even with the demand there is quite a few which are up for weeks and weeks and those are your best bet

[Teley]

But there are other avenues to private rental......

[sandy cheeks]

I would put my name down on housing if u want ur own place or maby move in with a friend.
Because u have never rented b4 and the market is tight u will prob have a hard time finding a place im not on the GC but would think it could b $$ could u move to a cheaper area?
I spend 250pw on rent 100 on gas/elec/water pw the left over 150-200 on food, phone & net I have a tight budget I couldnt put ds into swimming as it's to $$ I have dad teach him(he was a surf lifesaver).
It is so hard on ur own I no living with the olds sux I did to but stay until u can save a little it helps to have even a few hundred just in case.
Also the dep of housing can loan u bond money if needed u will need 1st month rent but they can loan u bond, they get it back when u move as long as u have no debts to real estate a friend did this no probs.

[lealea79]

i live in the redlands area and when dp and i moved out just over a year ago, we applied for a dozen places and kept getting knocked back for houses, we both worked fulltime n have rented for years.. finally we got a 2 bedroom duplex, we wanted a house but i think owners were after people with kids or families so the bedrooms werent being "wasted" even though we were trying for a baby n now finally having one.. dont give up hope when trying for places someone is bound to give u a go..
i pay $30 a fortnight for electricity n our billl usually averages out to $180 every quarter so i recommond u pay some every fortnight and as for food, well that depends where u shop.. some people really love aldi n say that is the cheapest place.. (i shop at coles but may just have to change to aldi to save money myself)..
u can get prepaid mobile and home telephone and internet so then u can control how much u r spending on them instead of getting a huge shock every month when the bills arrive..
and u will b entitled to rent assistance, just give centrelink a call and see how much u r entitled too..
my friend has just moved in with another girl that has just had a baby there is a year between the kids and they get on ok, they cook there own dinners, they just go halves in the rent n electricity bills, so maybe that also might be another option for you..

Goodluck

[HarvestMoon]

You are lucky you live in QLD... very good public housing system compared to NSW at least!
Get your name down with Department of housing as a first step. You will probably be in the highest priority category because of your age and circumstance (only problem with that is you probably won't be able to pick suburbs on the gold coast cause wait time is just to long). DOH will be able to give you the numbers for community rent schemes and supported accommodation providers... get your name on theirs list and explain your circumstance too cause some CRS and SAAP work on priority and not wait time.

Would you consider moving to Brisbane? There are plenty of CRS.. Redback, MATCH, INCH, Mangrove housing.. just to name a few. There are alot of SAAP as well... Othilas and ZIgZag would be 2 worth getting your name down for. Theres ST Marys, clare homes, carina youth agency plus plenty more.. really depends on which side of town you live on. There are some in Logan too.. if you wanted to be closer to the GC.

It's just about impossible to get a rental property as a young sinle mum... I've been homeless since february with 2 kids. I've had 20 unsuccessful rental applications this month alone... it's not worth going through this crap. IMO i would just live it out where you are now until you can get into public housing.

[Missbella]

I was in a situation where I needed a border or to move in with someone and was referred to this site; http://www.space4.com.au/index.php?p=search&sub=search

It's a single parent accommodation search website.HTH and GL! *hugs*

[mummycloud]

At the age of 17 you can go to a social worker for assistance through youth housing.
They will give you temp accommodation while they find you somewhere more long term and will also be able to offer you skills training courses for when you are ready to earn an income.

http://www.qyhc.org.au/

It's a tough road, gather as much support as you can.. a single mum at any age struggles and teen mum's find it even harder.
Take care.

[~ElectricPink~]

Honestly, the chances of you getting a rental at your age and on PPS is very, very low.

Thats not quite true!!! Yes, you will have to persist and prove yourself a lot more, but it is possible. There will be a landlord out there who is willing to give a young mum a chance, you just have to keep applying. I applied for about 8 houses before I got the one I am in now, the real estate I went through were fantastic, and my landlord has been great too - I live on a block with 4 units and two of us are single mums on PP, other two are elderly. Its on a nice street too and nice units, they could easily charge us more than they do. There are always people out there who will want to give someone a chance.
I would recommend you write a cover letter, just stating that you are a young mum with no previous rental history, and looking for a landlord who is willing to give you a chance, give a brief explanation of your current situation. Gather up as many personal references as you can. Offer to pay rent by direct debit. Make sure anytime you deal with real estates, inspect houses etc you try and talk maturely, dress immaculately, and be polite! They will take all of this into account.
As for money, I'd advise you to go into centrelink and check what you are entitled to once you move out.
The max rates of payments a single mother of one is entitled to p/f:
Parenting Payment Single: $562.10
Family Tax Benefit A: $151.34
Family Tax Benefit B:$128.80
Rent Assistance: $129.36
= $971

[Freya]

Thats not quite true!!! Yes, you will have to persist and prove yourself a lot more, but it is possible. There will be a landlord out there who is willing to give a young mum a chance, you just have to keep applying. I applied for about 8 houses before I got the one I am in now, the real estate I went through were fantastic, and my landlord has been great too - I live on a block with 4 units and two of us are single mums on PP, other two are elderly. Its on a nice street too and nice units, they could easily charge us more than they do. There are always people out there who will want to give someone a chance.
I would recommend you write a cover letter, just stating that you are a young mum with no previous rental history, and looking for a landlord who is willing to give you a chance, give a brief explanation of your current situation. Gather up as many personal references as you can. Offer to pay rent by direct debit. Make sure anytime you deal with real estates, inspect houses etc you try and talk maturely, dress immaculately, and be polite! They will take all of this into account.
As for money, I'd advise you to go into centrelink and check what you are entitled to once you move out.
The max rates of payments a single mother of one is entitled to p/f:
Parenting Payment Single: $562.10
Family Tax Benefit A: $151.34
Family Tax Benefit B:$128.80
Rent Assistance: $129.36
= $971

I live in the same area as the OP. And I spent months trying to no avail.

I am now in a rental with my mother and the real estate agent told me that she wouldn't give a house to someone so young, single, with kids and not working because it is too high risk. And with the way rentals are being snapped up here, the agents have stacks of other low risk options.

[anikasmummy]

I live in the same area as the OP. And I spent months trying to no avail.

I am now in a rental with my mother and the real estate agent told me that she wouldn't give a house to someone so young, single, with kids and not working because it is too high risk. And with the way rentals are being snapped up here, the agents have stacks of other low risk options.

I used to work in real estate and I can tell you if an agent told you she wouldn't give you a house because you're 'young' 'single' 'with kids' you have cause to take them to VCAT (this is the victorian body but there is one for each state) for discrimination. At the end of the day it's the landlords discretion as to who they choose or do not choose... they're completely entitled to give NO reason and choose another applicant, but DEFINITELY NOT reasons like the ones you stated. Not working is another thing.... if you can prove you can pay the rent (even with centrelink payments) they should not have a problem with that either.

Just a bit of information for next time you come across an agent like that- young single mothers are as entitled to a rental property as 'old married mothers' ;)

[Freya]

I used to work in real estate and I can tell you if an agent told you she wouldn't give you a house because you're 'young' 'single' 'with kids' you have cause to take them to VCAT (this is the victorian body but there is one for each state) for discrimination. At the end of the day it's the landlords discretion as to who they choose or do not choose... they're completely entitled to give NO reason and choose another applicant, but DEFINITELY NOT reasons like the ones you stated. Not working is another thing.... if you can prove you can pay the rent (even with centrelink payments) they should not have a problem with that either.

Just a bit of information for next time you come across an agent like that- young single mothers are as entitled to a rental property as 'old married mothers' ;)

She didn't not give me a house, I was having a conversation with her about how I had so much trouble before moving in with my mother.

But yes we are entitled BUT when there is a married couple with a higher income going for the same house... they are more likely to give it to them over us. Therefore the chances of us getting a rental are very, very low. As I said.

[sandy_1902]

Thats not quite true!!! Yes, you will have to persist and prove yourself a lot more, but it is possible. There will be a landlord out there who is willing to give a young mum a chance, you just have to keep applying. I applied for about 8 houses before I got the one I am in now, the real estate I went through were fantastic, and my landlord has been great too - I live on a block with 4 units and two of us are single mums on PP, other two are elderly. Its on a nice street too and nice units, they could easily charge us more than they do. There are always people out there who will want to give someone a chance.
I would recommend you write a cover letter, just stating that you are a young mum with no previous rental history, and looking for a landlord who is willing to give you a chance, give a brief explanation of your current situation. Gather up as many personal references as you can. Offer to pay rent by direct debit. Make sure anytime you deal with real estates, inspect houses etc you try and talk maturely, dress immaculately, and be polite! They will take all of this into account.
As for money, I'd advise you to go into centrelink and check what you are entitled to once you move out.
The max rates of payments a single mother of one is entitled to p/f:
Parenting Payment Single: $562.10
Family Tax Benefit A: $151.34
Family Tax Benefit B:$128.80
Rent Assistance: $129.36
= $971

I totally agree,

i also live on the Gold coast.. and like i have said early i have a few friends who are single 18-19 with kid/s who have found rentals by themselves..

When i found the place we are in now we went through private rentals.. its much easier then normally.. beucase usually they will just get the first person they think will take care of the property, and pay.. and with the job system as it is. alot of people would prefer a Structered income.. eg centerlink..

The chances are low.. but not becuase your single with kids.. its low for my mum whos single only have one kid living with her and has a wonderful job.. ITS HARD for everyone...

[Freya]

I totally agree,

i also live on the Gold coast.. and like i have said early i have a few friends who are single 18-19 with kid/s who have found rentals by themselves..

When i found the place we are in now we went through private rentals.. its much easier then normally.. beucase usually they will just get the first person they think will take care of the property, and pay.. and with the job system as it is. alot of people would prefer a Structered income.. eg centerlink..

The chances are low.. but not becuase your single with kids.. its low for my mum whos single only have one kid living with her and has a wonderful job.. ITS HARD for everyone...

Yes so the chances are very, very low. As I said.

[~ElectricPink~]

i with the job system as it is. alot of people would prefer a Structered income.. eg centerlink..



Yes, in some instances they actually prefer recipients of a centrelink payment, because it is a stable income.