Moving Back with Family - Will Their Benefits Be Affected?

MSK2110

Waste of time posting really since all I seem to have encountered (apart from a couple of helpful people) are self-righteous unhelpful people who have made snap judgements even when I have stated the facts.

I never said, and no one bothered to ask, if she had even asked for rent. She has said she doesn't want any.

I also stated that I was not trying to fiddle anything - simply trying to find out how much (if anything) she would be stopped to ensure I could work out whether it was cheaper to move or stay once I had reimbursed her for the stopages.

Would you like to stop making accusations now?

I thought this forum might be a goog place to get advice. Clearly not. Guess CAB might be better.

seven-day-weekend

MSK, I'm sorry you feel annoyed at the answers people have given you.

Fact remains, I'm pretty sure that your Grandma's benefits will be assessed on HOUSEHOLD income, regardless of whether or not she has any rent from you. They will take the attitude that with two other people living there, she has access to other income. It's as if you were lodgers. You will be deemed to pay your way, whether or not she takes the money.

Therefore I think it WILL affect her benefits.

I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear.

seven-day-weekend

MSK2110 wrote: »

She has a widows pension and full council tax benefit so pays nothing towards council tax.

Does this mean that if the two of us moved in the council tax would be split 3 ways for liability and she would get benefit for her 1/3 while we would have to pay the remaining 2/3?

If the Council decide that you are 'jointly and severally' liable for the Council Tax, yes. (But they may not decide this).

This is precisely what happened when my son was unemployed sharing a house with two other people. They had a third of the CT on benefit.

From this link:


http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4705


Joint & Several Liability

Where adult members of the same household (i.e. freeholders, leaseholders, tenants etc) have an equal interest in their dwelling, they can be held jointly & severally liable for the Council Tax bill for the property.
Husband & wife or couples living as such can also be held jointly & severally liable for the whole Council Tax bill.
In all circumstances where there are two or more persons liable for the same Council Tax bill, it is in the interests of those persons to come to some amicable agreement between themselves about how to pay.
If the council makes you liable for the Council Tax and you do not agree that you should be, you have the right of appeal. Any appeal should initially be made in writing to the Principal Revenues Officer.
Since 1st April 2004, students are no longer jointly & severally liable for Council Tax.

MSK2110

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

MSK, I'm sorry you feel annoyed at the answers people have given you.

Fact remains, I'm pretty sure that your Grandma's benefits will be assessed on HOUSEHOLD income, regardless of whether or not she has any rent from you. They will take the attitude that with two other people living there, she has access to other income. It's as if you were lodgers. You will be deemed to pay your way, whether or not she takes the money.

Therefore I think it WILL affect her benefits.

I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear.

Thanks for your answer.

It's nothing to do with not being what I want to hear. Like I said, I simply wanted to know where we stood so I can work out what I'd have to pay her to balance the benefits loss out.

Can they count our income though if it is being used to pay existing debt? I understand if we have pocketfulls of cash they can and should say we should pay something, but if we have nothing spare because of debt payments we have nothing to give essentially. Your income and available cash are two very different things in reality.

dmg24

MSK2110 wrote: »

Thanks for your answer.

It's nothing to do with not being what I want to hear. Like I said, I simply wanted to know where we stood so I can work out what I'd have to pay her to balance the benefits loss out.

Can they count our income though if it is being used to pay existing debt? I understand if we have pocketfulls of cash they can and should say we should pay something, but if we have nothing spare because of debt payments we have nothing to give essentially. Your income and available cash are two very different things in reality.

Yes, they will count your income even if it is being used to pay debts.

terryw

MSK2110 wrote: »

<SNIP>

Can they count our income though if it is being used to pay existing debt? I understand if we have pocketfulls of cash they can and should say we should pay something, but if we have nothing spare because of debt payments we have nothing to give essentially. Your income and available cash are two very different things in reality.

Sorry mate your argument is non-starter. If it worked I would be straight on to those nice people at HMRC who take tax of me even though I have debts and no available cash.

Your relatives benefits WILL be cut if two working people stay with her.

the poster formerly known as
terryw

MSK2110

Thanks - that's all I wanted to know. Is CAB the best place to go to find out how much they will be cut by or if they will be stopped or is the council the best place?

terryw

MSK2110 wrote: »

Thanks - that's all I wanted to know. Is CAB the best place to go to find out how much they will be cut by or if they will be stopped or is the council the best place?

Here's a benefits calculator. Bung your relative's details after the proposed change into here and you will get some idea.

http://www.entitledto.co.uk

the poster formerly known as
terryw

[Deleted User]

MSK2110 wrote: »

We are currently considering moving back with my family to enable us to save more this year to pay off debts etc.

Any way, to cut a long story short, we would if we go ahead be moving in with my grandmother who lives alone and receives full Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit.

Does anyone know how her benefits would be affected if we were to move in with her and NOT pay her rent or board?

As they are income assessed benefits I assume that they won't change, as her income won't change, but how does the council tax work since we both work full time?

Also, maybe not for this board, but she currently has Staywarm for her gas/electricity - I assume this also is unnefected since she is the bill payer and there would only be 3 people living there (I seem to remember reading somewhere that 3 people can live there and still qualify).

Thanks in advance.

she will lose all her ctb and housing benefit unless the 2 of you also have low incomes,as for staywarm its based on number of bedrooms AND number of people in the house,so that will increase as well,all means tested benefits are worked out on household income unless you are renting from her and in that case her benefits would be affected by the extra income,and if she rents from a social landlord may not allow sub-letting

[Deleted User]

MSK2110 wrote: »

Oldernotwiser - We are not in any way trying to freeload or bend the rules. I don't think I implied that anywhere in my post. I am simply trying to ascertain how and to what extent they may be affected so as I have all the facts. There is no point me moving in there if she will be worse off as I will have to compensate for that and that could make me worse off. Whatever we do will all be above board and I am Frankly a little annoyed that you made such a sweeping judgement with no facts.

Thanks Elmer. We are both above average earners so I suspect if they assess for a deduction it could amount to 100% deduction?

I don't see how they can say the money is "available to her". Our main intention is to pay off debt, so we would simply pay every spare £ into those debts. Even though we are earning we won't have cash as such as we would pay it all out every month. Does this still count as "available"?

I hope i dont sound too rude here when i say that it appears that you have got yourselves into debt and now hope that by moving in with granny the state will effectively bale you out.
I`m afraid you cant have your cake and eat it :rolleyes: