LHA claims without Tenancy agreement?

999mph

Spot on with all of the above except if you are renting for a relative on a purely commercial intent, the rent is normally covered under the LHA according to Shelter UK.

Great to have a community like this. Thank you all so much.

zzzLazyDaisy

For the sake of anyone reading this thread, it should be pointed out that the LHA rules relating on renting a property from a close relative (which relate to renting a property from a relative who lives elsewhere) and the rules relating to renting a room in a shared house from a close relative who also lives in the house, are completely different.

The first is permitted subject to certain criteria, the second is not.

To OP - it is apparent from your various threads that you have been given a lot of advice about the benefit system - including LHA - in different scenarios, over the past year or so.

There is really only so much information posters on a forum can provide. I suggest that perhaps it is time to pay a visit to your local 'one stop shop', or LHA department, explain the details and difficulties of your particular situation, and get advice directly from the 'horses mouth'.

Good luck!

sue1953

This is taken from Shelter's website

I live with other family members - can I claim housing benefit?


If you are renting a home from a family member and they live in the same house, you won't be able to get housing benefit, even if you are paying them rent. A close relative is a:

• husband or wife
• civil partner
• partner
• parent or step-parent
• father-in-law or mother-in-law
• child or step-child
• son-in-law or daughter-in-law
• brother or sister
• brother-in-law or sister-in-law
• partner of any of the above.

In addition, you won't be able to get housing benefit if you or your partner are responsible for a child and the landlord is a parent of that child
The HB rules also apply to LHA. It is made very clear in the HB regs that if you live in the same house as a close relative (regardless of whether you pay a commercial rent or not) then HB/LHA cannot be paid; it would be against the law for a Local Authority to pay benefit in these circumstances

999mph

I completely hear what you are saying and theoretically you are absolutely right. But what would you say about what Shelter UK has to say about the matter publicly regarding HB and LHA entitlement for 'close relatives' paying commercial rents ((http://www.shelter.org.uk/)?

Say I was to move out and find my own place (which seems like a very sensible thing to do given everything) is there a way of recouping the deposit payable to the new landlord?

Oldernotwiser

Won't you get a deposit back from your SIL?

sue1953

The extract below is also taken from Shelter website.

I live in a property owned by a family member - can I claim housing benefit?

If you live in a property owned by a family member and pay them rent, you may be entitled to housing benefit. However, this will not be the case if you (or your partner) are responsible for a child and are renting from the other parent of that child.



The council will also want to check:

• that you're paying rent on a commercial basis. In other words, that it's a proper tenancy, not just an informal arrangement between family.
• that the arrangement has not been set up in order to take advantage of the housing benefit system - this is called a 'contrived tenancy'. For example, if your landlord only asks you to pay rent when you are not working (and so eligible for housing benefit), but not when you are working (and earning too much to claim housing benefit), this would be a contrived tenancy.

Shelter should have made it clearer in this section that the family member who is renting out the property must not live at the same address as the HB/LHA claimant.

You can rent property from a family member but you must not 'reside' with them ie live at the same address. It is a few years since I assessed a HB claim but the rules regarding 'living with a close relative' haven't changed and I would not have paid your claim. You would not qualify for LHA/HB because you are residing with a close relative regardless of whether it is a commercial rent or not. You may wish to contact Shelter again for clarification.

999mph

I never paid my SIL a deposit, instead I bough the furniture for the room with that money. I suppose I could still ask her for the money for the furniture.