Housing benfit and close relatives

charliepup_2

hi
reading this with interest, I'm on benefits and haved moved into a house owned by a relative for health an safty reasons, but was turned down for housing benefit because a relative was my landlady, I find this an embaressing situation although she says it s ok, do you know if I can get even a small ammount to help. I'm not sure how to post a new thread as I'm new today and not very computor wise, so would very much be pleased to get anyone's input on this.
thankyou.

bestpud

charliepup wrote: »

hi
reading this with interest, I'm on benefits and haved moved into a house owned by a relative for health an safty reasons, but was turned down for housing benefit because a relative was my landlady, I find this an embaressing situation although she says it s ok, do you know if I can get even a small ammount to help. I'm not sure how to post a new thread as I'm new today and not very computor wise, so would very much be pleased to get anyone's input on this.
thankyou.

Welcome to mse. It will be much better if you start a new thread.

The 'New Thread' buttons are located at the top of each board.

You can't see it here because you are within an existing thread but if you go back a page it will be at the top of the list of 'Benefits and Tax Credits' threads.

Hope that helps but if not post back here and someone will hopefully explain better than I can!

Kimitatsu

Hiya Charliepup

Welcome to the boards - a new thread has been started for you

As far as I am aware you cannot get anyhelp if the relative is a close one - by that that can be mother, father, brother, sister, brother in law, sister in law, step parent, step sibling but not according to the law an aunt or uncle.

If your relative falls into any of the above then no I am sorry you will not be able to claim anything.

Scarlett1

This has cropped up before and apparently housing benenfit can be paid to a relative if it is shown to be a proper let like having a tenancy agreement or a rent book, charlie do you have something like this ? if not then get one and re-submit a claim, otherwise visit CAB or welfare rights if they have one at your local council

Scarlett1

just found this thread that might give you an idea

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7200589&highlight=renting+from+a+relative#post7200589

kiwipower

Until recently my partner and i rented a house of my partners father. Now we were told as long as its all legal with a tenancy agreement they will (and did) pay us housing benefit.

seven-day-weekend

You need more than a tenacy agreement. You or the landlord need to be able to prove that the property is a proper commercial arrangement, i.e. if you didn´t rent the property someone else would.

This can be done by showing evidence of a btl mortgage, a permission to rent on a residential mortgage, an estate agent´s advert etc.

In the 1990s I let my investment property to my son and because I was able to show a permission to let on my mortgage agreement and had a letter from an estate agent to prove it had been advertised on the open market, he was able to get Housing Benefit.

Maybe this may be a way forward for the OP.

MinBlack

Yes, you can receive housing benefit if you rent from a close relative as long as the council is satisfied that the tenancy is commercial. Most councils will send a questionnaire to the LL asking questions like would they evict you if you didn't pay the rent etc in order to establish if the tenancy is commercial. Basically the council will not pay you benefit to live in a property when the landlord will allow you to live there for free.

However your statement that your landlady says its OK that you are not getting benefit suggests that the tenancy is not strictly a commercial one and this is probably why the council have rejected your claim.

You might be best of contacting your local welfare rights office for advice on your particular situation, they can also assist in the appeals process.

Oldernotwiser

Also, don't forget that your landlady must pay tax on any rent she receives, whether the tenant is a relative or not.

tincat

This happened to a close friend of mine who rented a house from her brother. He bought the house she lives in in the area she wanted to live in. She was able to claim HB. They had a tenancy agreement drawn up, and as he owned other properties which were rented out, he was able to show that he had bought the house for commercial tenancy purposes.

She would have been entitled to HB anyway as was a single parent with 2 kids, but this way she was able to live in a nicer house than she would otherwise have been able to rent. Her brother isn't even getting a fair market related rent from HB, but feels this is a good way he can help his sister, nephew & niece.

dmg24

tincat wrote: »

This happened to a close friend of mine who rented a house from her brother. He bought the house she lives in in the area she wanted to live in. She was able to claim HB. They had a tenancy agreement drawn up, and as he owned other properties which were rented out, he was able to show that he had bought the house for commercial tenancy purposes.

She would have been entitled to HB anyway as was a single parent with 2 kids, but this way she was able to live in a nicer house than she would otherwise have been able to rent. Her brother isn't even getting a fair market related rent from HB, but feels this is a good way he can help his sister, nephew & niece.

That sounds like blatant abuse of the system to me.