Charging mother rent...........

blythmags

Hi

I purchased my 82 year old mother's house some time ago, when her council house came up for sale. Since then, I have not charged her a penny in rent, and don't want to start now.

However, what would be the case if I charged her the going rent knowing that she couldnt afford it (she has no capital worth mentioning). Would the authorities/social services/ housing/benefits people etc, have to financially assist ?.

I would hate to think I was losing out on some assistance to payment just beacause she was my mother if you know what I mean !

Thanks for any advice I receive

John

Kez100

What do you think the answer might be?

jockettuk

the answer is no .. if you rent from family your not entittled to help

Kez100

Sounds like a contrived tenancy to me.

PasturesNew

As your mother is a relative, different rules apply to normal. This is to avoid people milking the system.

The correct answer is that if you could prove the property was purchased with a view to making an income from rental, then you would have had a claim for your mother to claim housing benefit and to hand that over to you as legitimate rent.

However, you did not buy the house as a genuine BTL investment. You are only now looking at getting a few bob out of it, so you can't now start charging her rent and getting her to claim HB.

Also, there was no need for you to buy her council house in the first place - another piece of evidence that you didn't buy it purely as an investment decision.

They'd turf your hopeful little buttocks out of the council offices quicker than you could ask the question.

Gorgeous_George

I'm not sure of the rules but you can rent from family. My niece rents from her parents.

You will get some severely nasty posts on this thread (call me psychic). Mostly from people who would have done what you have done but will say that they would not.

The 'holier than thou team'.

GG

blythmags

Hmmmm..........

Ok. The answers were fairly straight forward and succinct

Ta

blythmags

Thanks.
I hope this thread is meant in the best possible way. I'm simply asking for an answer to a question lots of people in this country would ask. I've never charged my mother a penny as stated, and I'm not likely to start now. My question simply involved ascertaining what assistance there might be should I have asked her for rent.
Thanks for you answer which at least was friendly and helpful !
Best wishes
John

Oldernotwiser

What happened to the money that she got from you for the house, surely this capital will make her ineligible for HB without the question of a contrived tenancy?

Gorgeous_George

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

What happened to the money that she got from you for the house, surely this capital will make her ineligible for HB without the question of a contrived tenancy?

The money will have gone to the council.

GG

poppysarah

The house was the OP's mothers.
The counciol sold the house to the mother as the OP wasn't resident.
The OP paid.

Whose name is it in?
If it's the OP's then there must have been a transfer of equity to them.

You can't charge your mother rent without being prepared to evict her if she doesn't pay.

The hb/lha payment comes from the pockets of tax payers.