Charging partner "rent", what to put on SOA?

sazziecee

Hello

Just found out my bloke is in quite serious financial difficulty, his wages only just cover his priority debts and living costs, there is not enough to pay his debtors, he is only paying the minimum and at times doesn't even manage that.

He has been touch with CCCS regarding his options and filled in a SOA.

He struggled what to say in regards to his contribution to my household though.

He moved in with me, I lost most of my tax credits because of his income and obv my council tax single person reduction so now we split most things down the middle, to make up for what I "lost" my having a partner

However the mortgage, gas, electric, all other bills are just in my name. I intend to keep them that way now I know of his difficulties, as I have a quite good credit rating.

On his form does he use the figure of what he actually pays? or does he say he is living here and paying the "average rent".

Does it matter that my mortgage is only small? can he only be expected to pay half the mortgage? or to pay the equivalent of what it would cost him to rent? I just don't want his figures being rejected if he ends up going for either an IVA or BR, so wondered what was expected.

Thanks

peb

I don't know but I did not want to see the post disappear off the front page. My gut istinct is for him to put down whatever you would expect him to pay if he was solvent, CCCS are acting for him and should be able to talk him through any point. It may be worth PM ing either CCCS_Matthew or CCCS-Sarah for a bit of advice on this.

sazziecee

He has another CCCS interview next week to go over the figures, but we are still a bit stumped.

If he is only expected to contribute towards certain aspects of the household and not others, then we are snookered, as since I started getting less tax credits I can't pay all my debts either from my wage and he has been making up the "shortfall"

My partner has been going "halves" with me on everything but I never realised how much he was struggling with his own debts, and I assume that when he does his SOA he can't state he is paying money towards my credit cards, they will only allow his own. Unless I can add it all together and call it "rent". I am so puzzled!

newlywed

Hi, I'm with CCCS.

I put down the figure that I pay half our rent and half the council tax even though OH actually pays these and I pay all the food costs, and electricity bill - it actually works out about even and no-one has ever questioned the things I've put down. Some are noted as "client's contribution" on the forms as with tv licence it's obviously only a part of the cost.

So it is possible to put him down for half of all the costs/bills of the house if you want to work it out that way (most of mine are in my OH's name and no-one has asked for proof/bills etc).

I also put down the full amount of all the car costs (coz I pay those) and no-one has asked whether that should be a shared cost.

Don't forget he can also add in small budgets for haircuts, clothes, emergencies etc and that you don't actually have to spend the money on those things

sazziecee

Thanks newlywed. That helps me a fair bit

Do you have children?

I am unsure whether we put the figures down as a "family" as we are living together as one.

Would they think it reasonable for him to be paying towards kids clothes? school dinners etc? or would it be expected that I do that on my own as I am the natural parent?

He has filled out a SOA before, but as an individual and it's proving quite difficult how to work out what to put when you live as a family, once you are used to keeping everything seperate.

I think I should hunt around for an example SOA on here, for a similar situation (we are a couple with 2 kids who live with us full-time and his own child who is with us every other weekend and for some holidays)

Sarah

newlywed

OH has kids and he pays for them (CSA, clothes etc) so I didn't put anything down for kids clothes/pocket money.

When we go out as a family we usually try and split the cost so I have put a little down for "entertainment and hobbies".

But the food bill is down (as a half value) with a note next to it saying that I have 2 step kids to feed for half the week - and not one person has queried that comment yet - even though I've just increased it.

The thing is (from my viewpoint only)... if you lost your job/income completely - apart from maybe having to put down any joint tax credits as income (we don't get any because we only have the kids for 3 nights every week - which includes the whole weekend), he'd probably have to cover some/most of those things anyway, wouldn't he? So to put down now that he contributes to them as a half share is likely to make it easier if anything does happen and he has to say - oops I have to cover all the bills now???

Obviously that wouldn't ever include your credit cards etc though.

So we went through our figures to make sure putting half of everything (apart from car costs) meant that I could actually cover all the things I do pay out in full (eg I pay gas, electric, food - OH pays rent). It works out the same in the long run but I'm not seriously going to be transferring £5.50 to him for the TV licence separately from £12 for the contents insurance for him to then transfer money back to me to buy the food shopping

sazziecee

Haha, no I am not gonna be transferring money back and forth either.

Yeah I guess it is a bit much for him to be allowed to be paying my credit cards! But if I upped other costs accordingly (because once I pay all my cards I obv have less money towards food, petrol etc) would that be questioned? I guess not, as long as it was reasonable?

And yes I agree if I had to give up work, then he would be expected to take over half the bills so it's best to keep it on.

It actually works out better financially for us if I don't work, but I like having a little bit of independence, and it's nice to get out of the house.

sazziecee

Oh one more thing...

does it go down under mortgage?? or rent?

newlywed

Although with CCCS you can ask for a budget review at any point - it is a good idea to include a bit extra in case prices go up again. Someone mentioned they were advised to put their petrol budget as what they spend on a bad month to make sure they always have enough to cover those bad months (and then can save any extra the other months).

newlywed

Ours goes down as rent but I think the actual title on the form is "mortgage/rent" so same difference

newlywed

If you want any extra support or to ask questions (in case your thread ever gets missed) there's a DMP support thread over here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=977633