Graham and Marion lived in a council house in a small village in the North of Scotland. Graham had a road accident several years ago which left him with walking difficulties, but he was able to work as a steel profiler with an oil firm, making oil rigging equipment.
Marion has a neurological disorder, probably resulting from the removal of a brain tumour some years ago. She loses her balance easily, so needs to walk with a stick, and is losing her sight - she is now registered blind.
Their son, Sean, has a medical condition which means he needs supervision overnight and is often poorly. He would really benefit from a bath, but they had to have the bath taken out to put in a shower, because Graham couldn't manage the bath.
They were given their house because it had a stair lift, but there wasn't any room at the top of the stair, so it stopped three steps short of the top. It was dangerous for Graham to get off, try to balance, and then climb the rest, so it was taken out. An extra handrail was installed, but the OT and the Visual Impairment officer advised that there was a risk of one of them falling down the stairs. They had top priority on the rehousing list, but had been waiting for 14 years.
Graham and Marion's daughter, Lauren, and Marion's mother had to cope with the shopping, cleaning and the coal fire, which ran the hot water and the central heating.
When Graham and Marion first started thinking about ownership, Graham was working and they were receiving disability benefits. They had a small amount of capital. Graham arranged a mortgage with a lender who was willing to take their benefits into account. Then Graham was made redundant and he claimed Income based JSA and Housing Benefit .
Working with Ownership Options, and after agreement from Scottish Homes (Communities Scotland), Graham and Marion purchased a house and Graham made a claim for ISMI. However because of the 39 week waiting period he would not qualify for this for some time. Ownership Options arranged a grant from a charitable organisation to cover the mortgage interest costs during this period.
Although they could have obtained a higher mortgage based on ISMI, Graham is only 39, and in the future would like to work again, so there would have been no point taking out a mortgage that would have trapped him forever on Income Support. They worked out that their mortgage would be affordable at a lower salary than Graham had previously been receiving.
The house needed adaptations to widen doors, replace steps with wide steps and a platt suitable for future conversion to a ramp, and an extension to provide an accessible en suite bathroom. Scottish Homes and the Council provided grants which covered most of the shortfall in the purchase and adaptations costs, with other charitable institutions making smaller grants.
Because of Mary's uncertain medical condition, getting insurance was difficult and the financial advisor recommended an ISA mortgage savings plan - ideal while Graham was working, but eventually it will fall foul of the Income Support savings rules, unlike a conventional endowment policy. So in the next few months, Graham and Marion will have to revisit the financial advisor to look at the endowment options again.
