housing benefit question

rustyarchs

regarding renting from parents

right im a 29 year old guy always worked from the age of 15 through to november 2008 when i got made redundant now at this point i asked at the jobcentre if i was entitled to any help paying the rent for the house i rent from my parents and was simply told no, now my mum and dad split up a few years back both moved into there partners houses and have continued to let me rent the house iv always stayed in off them in the understanding that when the divorce is over i get my own place.

they let me away with not paying any rent or council tax money to them until i found a job which btw was in april btw i pay 120 a week so you can imagine that was a few quid they let me away with, but on friday i got told that my temp position will come to an end and that next friday will be my last day!!

now im going to be jobless again and cant ask expect them to go without any rent money again and end up paying for a house i live in when they cant afford it !!

anything i can do? iv tried to research a bit today but anything i can find is about renting from private landlords and not from parents as i dont have any tenants agreement etc

thanks

karenx

To get help it needs to be a proper tenancy with a rental contract drawn up and they need to be charging you the going rate for the type of property not a discounted rate

Oldernotwiser

The fact that you've been living there rent free indicates that this isn't a genuine commercial tenancy and therefore you are not eligible to claim LHA for it.

Vixie_Pixie

there is nothing in HB law that prevents you from claiming for a property that you rent from your parents (providing they dont live with you). Also there is no legal requirement in HB law for a tenancy agreement ... however you are going to have difficulty proving it is a commercial let as private landlords would not let their tenants live rent free whilst finding a job...

unemployedJCP

it is not a commercial let because all tenants would be liable to paying their own council tax. I am sure there are exceptions to that but generally thats the case. Whether you paid the council tax or got benefit for it isn't relevant.

Vixie Pixie seems to know more than I do but I always thought people were restricted from renting property owned by close relatives regardless if they live with or without you.

Jowo_2

unemployedJCP wrote: »

.. I always thought people were restricted from renting property owned by close relatives regardless if they live with or without you.

Tenants are free to live where they like, with relatives in the same place or a separate property owned by them.

However, in terms of being considered eligible for HB/LHA only tenants with exclusive use of the property (i.e. the landlords don't live in the same property) and whose tenancies are not regarded by the DWP as contrived, can receive housing benefit.

If we didn't have that rule, we'd have a situation where hundreds of thousands of the unemployed who still live with their parents, for example, would cost the state millions of pounds to pay their rent while it is expected that families support each other to some degree.

A contrived tenancy is one where it has been set up to take advantage of the housing benefit system and there is plenty of information on the internet to advise what this is.

One example of when it will be regarded as contrived is when a tenant lives in a property owned by a relative and doesn't pay any rent when they work but do claim housing benefit when they aren't working.

The OP could ask Shelter or Citizens Advice for advice on how to appeal the decision if he thinks the tenancy isn't contrived and feel eligible for LHA.

leemack

can you prove you've been paying rent? Is the council tax in your name? Would the house be rented to someone else if you moved out? Would your parents have to ask you to move out if you can't pay rent? If the answers to these questions are yes you may have a case. But you would claim, it would be refused and you would have to appeal the decision and take the matter to tribunal. You're probably looking at 6-12 months before you get a final decision and the pssibility of any LHA!

rustyarchs

hmm im prob !!!!!!d then as im def paying a discounted rate as i only pay 480 a month for rent with council tax included in that. thats the reason iv never been in a hurry to move out as i couldnt afford another place round here on my wage

could easily get copies of my bank statements as the money goes straight out my account into my parents old joint account so can prove the rent getting paid for the last coupe of years that way, nope council tax is still in there name, and yeah id have to move out this time as they can hardly afford to run another house as well as the ones there living in thats the reason i took the temp position in the first place

6-12 months !!!!!! that i was going crazy during the 6 months i was unemployed last year and that was the first time id been out of work since i started stacking shelves in scotmid as the grand old age of 15 and 3 quarters lol

just need to hope i get a job really soon
cheers tho everyone

Vixie_Pixie

unemployedJCP wrote: »

it is not a commercial let because all tenants would be liable to paying their own council tax. I am sure there are exceptions to that but generally thats the case. Whether you paid the council tax or got benefit for it isn't relevant.

Vixie Pixie seems to know more than I do but I always thought people were restricted from renting property owned by close relatives regardless if they live with or without you.

Its a common misconception, but claims have to be considered on a case by case basis. There are some tenancies between relatives that are commercial (because a landlord may want to rent to someone they know and trust) but there are some that are not and some that are created to take advantage. The only legal bit is that hb cannot be claimed in a case where the claimant has a "resident landlord" that is a close relative

Vixie_Pixie

rustyarchs wrote: »

hmm im prob !!!!!!d then as im def paying a discounted rate as i only pay 480 a month for rent with council tax included in that. thats the reason iv never been in a hurry to move out as i couldnt afford another place round here on my wage

could easily get copies of my bank statements as the money goes straight out my account into my parents old joint account so can prove the rent getting paid for the last coupe of years that way, nope council tax is still in there name, and yeah id have to move out this time as they can hardly afford to run another house as well as the ones there living in thats the reason i took the temp position in the first place

6-12 months !!!!!! that i was going crazy during the 6 months i was unemployed last year and that was the first time id been out of work since i started stacking shelves in scotmid as the grand old age of 15 and 3 quarters lol

just need to hope i get a job really soon
cheers tho everyone

there is nothing stopping you from submitting a claim but as Leemack says in the post above - the LA will ask loads of questions...