Housing benfit and close relatives

tincat

Why Dmg?

His house could rent for £1500+, but he rents to her at £960.

He's not making anything - he's losing. She would be able to claim £960 anyway, which is I think teh amount you're allowed in her area for her family situation / number.

MinBlack

dmg24 wrote: »

That sounds like blatant abuse of the system to me.

I disagree, if the brother has purchased the house and uses the rent money legitimately in order to fund the mortgage and pays tax on the income, capital gains when he sells the house etc then what's the problem? Most landlords are not in a position to rent out houses for free to relatives but a lot do charge slightly less (as long as there costs are covered), if he wasn't renting it to her he would either rent it out to someone else or sell it. The customer is entitled to HB and if she couldn't rent from him she would rent elsewhere and claim HB for that. No loss or abuse that I can see.

There are other savings involved in that renting of her brother her tenancy will be more secure and reduce the chance of her being made homeless and forced to rely on subsidised council or housing association stock.

The main abuses that occur when renting from close relatives are when the tenant is not really living there, the tenant has a financial interest in the property that has not been declared, the landlord would allow them to live in the property free if they where not entitled to HB or the landlord falsely inflates the rent to receive more than they should be entitled to.

thecrazy1_2

hi all
my situation is very similar my father owns a house in bromley but for health reasons has moved to dorset and is renting a property there i have a tenancy agreement with the local letting agent and for my own health reasons i need to be closer to my mother i currently claim income support. i spoke to the housing office and they said i probably would not get the benefit as they don't see it as a commercial tenancy.
the thing is he needs the rent money from me or someone else if they were to rent it. if i dont get this he will have to evict me and then i will be homeless and he may have to sell. the house has been in the family for more than 50 years i am really worried they are going to refuse. i thought i had done everything right please any advice would be great.

thanks

thecrazy1_2

has anyone else been refused, what did you do?