Housing Benefit and letting to parents

seven-day-weekend

When our son moved into our investment flat, I was able to show a Permission to Rent clause on the mortgage offer from the bank (thereby proving it had been bought as an investment) and also was able to prove that before my son moved in, the flat had been advertised for rent on the open market.

I think you have to be able to prove that the property would be available for rental to anyone suitable, and has not been bought purely to provide your daughter with a home for which she will receive Housing Benefit/LHA.

Oldernotwiser

kilmacurrane wrote: »

hi all,im new here.im wondering if anyone has any advice for me.
i live abroad ,and have come back purley to buy a house (no mortgage) to rent out,giving me an income abroad.My daughter wants to stay here,shes been accepted for college and has a boyfriend here.if i rent the house to her can she claim housing benefit?if so what do we need to provide in terms of proof that its not a scam?

Unless your daughter is a lone parent or disabled, she won't be able to claim LHA (HB) at all as a fulltime student.

hbgirl

kilmacurrane wrote: »

if so what do we need to provide in terms of proof that its not a scam?

also reply to OP.

the only way to prove that something is not a scam, is for it to not be a scam in the first place. for hb, there has to be
1. a rent liability
2. it is a commercial rent liability
3. the liability is not contrvied to take advantage of the system

it is a very complicated area, but the commisioners have stated several times that all of these things are not a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact.

the only you thing you can do in these circs is make a claim and be completely honest about evertything from day one. a decision will then be made on the facts of the case. no-one can tell you what to say or that you need to provide this or that.

p.s kilmacurrane your dtr probably can't claim as full time student.

supersaverkerry

I do not know if this is allowed, or even workable for you, but how about you and your partner move into his property and you let out your property to his parents? That way the relative thing is not an issue as YOU own the house and YOU are not a relative of his parents - unless your marrised but since you said partner and not husband I presume you are not?

May not be plausable but just and idea....

hbgirl

supersaverkerry wrote: »

That way the relative thing is not an issue as YOU own the house and YOU are not a relative of his parents - unless your marrised but since you said partner and not husband I presume you are not?

they would still count as relatives, you don't have to be married to be a partner from a benefit point of view.

Macro_3

DORA_THE_EXPLORER wrote: »

Hi

Update for those who are interested.

I have been advised by a wefare rights officer that as his parents are on pension guarantee credit they get HB no matter how much capital they have .. He also said that as the property was bought in joint names his parents share would probably have a nil value, because if my partner did not want to sell his share it would be very difficult to sell 2/3 of a property.

Dora

Well, that is probably true if they move into sheltered accommodation. I've known council tenants but their homes jointly with their children and then gift the home after the min. 3 years, and she is right in saying the the capital in the home would be worth much less than 2/3 of the full market value. That's not the same as nil, though.

She is also right in saying that they will get full HB and CTB as they are getting PCGC. However, that only holds if they receive PCGC and the capital is taken into account on their PCGC claim - if they move out and a review of their pension credit/HB information sharing leads to the DWP realising they may have deprived themselves of capital, then they may lose their entitlement to PCGC. Their are also a number of tax issues for your partner around the gifting of the property. In short, if they move out they/their son could face a number of problems.

If they stay and try to claim where they are, then the problems with contrived tenancy, landlord being a relative and them having owned the house only a year ago would apply. In some cases (such as 7-day-weekends) it's clear that the tenancy is commercial. In this case, though, they may find it very difficult to prove.


I have to say, I think you need to seek proper legal advice.

maxim12345

Hi was wondering what the outcome was in the end for the original poster?