Housing Benefit: Do I have to declare it if my family lent me money?

wintersun_2

alwaysonthego wrote: »

How much are you borrowing?

About 5000 ... might get a loan from my bank as well ...

wintersun_2

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

it's very easy to be misunderstood on here .....lol, just ask again and a nice person will come along !!

Oh ... you are so kind and understanding! ... thanks a lot!!:easter_ba

real1314

If your family have the means to assist you, the simplest way for them to do so is to loan you the money.

You should create a written agreement that they will loan you the money and agree how this will be repaid - it might be that they say you will repay when you can afford to (this might be if you have more then "x" amount of income per week e.g you will repay £5 per week for every £20 you have above £100 [you/they can decide the figures]). The agreement could also state that the loan will be paid to you on a monthly basis e.g £200 per month, although there would have to be a limit to it otherwise it would appear to be open-ended and might therefore be a form of income.

This way, the payments should be treated as savings or capital, which would only affect your benefit if the total you have is over £6000.

all based on my experience and knowledge only.

zzzLazyDaisy

You can have savings up to £6000 and this will not affect LHA or CTB.

However, if you receive regular payments - even from a family member, it may still be counted as income (there are different rules for maintenance paid for the benefit of a child, but from what you say, this doesn't apply to you?)

You will be required to provide copies of your bank statements periodically, so any regular payments into your bank account may flag this up as an issue.

So, if your parents are willing to help you out with a lump sum, provided that doesn't take your savings over £6000, that may be the way to go.

EDIT - cross posted with above

wintersun_2

real1314 wrote: »

If your family have the means to assist you, the simplest way for them to do so is to loan you the money.

You should create a written agreement that they will loan you the money and agree how this will be repaid - it might be that they say you will repay when you can afford to (this might be if you have more then "x" amount of income per week e.g you will repay £5 per week for every £20 you have above £100 [you/they can decide the figures]). The agreement could also state that the loan will be paid to you on a monthly basis e.g £200 per month, although there would have to be a limit to it otherwise it would appear to be open-ended and might therefore be a form of income.

This way, the payments should be treated as savings or capital, which would only affect your benefit if the total you have is over £6000.

all based on my experience and knowledge only.

Thank you so much! Your advice is very clear and helpful! xxx:heartsmil

wintersun_2

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

So, if your parents are willing to help you out with a lump sum, provided that doesn't take your savings over £6000, that may be the way to go.

EDIT - cross posted with above

Yes, it makes sense. I thought this might be the way to it.

Thanks a lot!!:beer:

LizzieS_2

wintersun wrote: »

To answer your question: because my current rent exceed the maximum LHA ( south London) and I cannot get out of my contract until 8 months later. My 60pw income will be mostly gone after I pay the difference in rent and London transport

I can understand that, but for benefit purposes your income must cover your expenses. If you are borrowing from the family loan (especially if it regular payments as opposed to one lump sum) to survive, it can be seen as you are getting an additional income. Also you will be getting an additional income from self-employment - that does need declaring as well as your 10 hour job.

Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure I once read that for a private loan to be recognised as such, interest has to be charged at a minimum rate (court rate?).

Although your parents are overseas, is it possible for them to be involved in a UK business as a partner? This could solve the capital side, but not the capital you may have to use from the business to pay your bills.

Angel89_2

How on earth would the council even know how much money your parents lent to you?? lol

They dont have any way of just ''looking into peoples bank accounts to check if they have any money go in'',
or follow people around all and take photos of them through windows being given cash.



SO dont worry, you will be fine.

And even if somehow the council did find out that you had come into posession of some money you can simply just say that its not ''your money'',
its your parents money that you are looking after&investing on their behalf.

So your income level wont have changed at all.

viktory

OP, please disregard any and all 'advice' from Angel89 - he is a boy attempting to screw the state and then boast about it. His 'advice' is dubious at best.

Macro_3

Money received as a lump sum would be treated as capital. Money received as a series of periodical loans may be counted as income by the local authority if the purpose of the loan is for everyday living costs.

Strangely though, if the payments received from your parents were 'voluntary payments' rather than loans (that is, given to you freely by your parents to help you out with no expectation that they will give you anything back in return) they would be wholly disregarded.

One thought, though... if you are working for ten hours a week in employment and also working to set up your business, does that mean you will be working for more than 30 hours per week altogether? If you are, you might be entitled to Working Tax Credit to help top up your income?