Unemployed relative lodging. Are we entitled to anything?

badlydrunkboy

Hi,

This is the first time i've posted on here so please go easy.

About 9 months ago, i bought my first house with my girlfriend and moved in in January. It's a 3 bedroom place, council tax band C and with my wage and my girlfriends (which are both pretty small, £36k combined) it seems we aren't entitled to any grants etc.

Recently though, her younger sister lost her job and couldn't afford to live in rented flat she was in in Southampton, so we offered her a room at ours. She is currently on job seekers allowance (about £53p/w i believe) and as such, cannot afford to pay us any rent. We were wondering if we would be entitled to anything because of this. My girlfriend had a quick look last night and it seemed that because she's a close family member, we aren't. Surely this can't be right? Her parents live in France so it's not really feasible for her to live with them and we're more than happy to have her but I would expect us to be given some help in such a situation.

Is there anything i'm missing?

Many thanks in advance for any help anyone might be able to offer.

BDB

karenx

With an income of 36k your right you wont be entitled to any benefits.
Also theres no extra help for the sister as its not a proper tenancy she is in. If she had kept her rented flat she would of got housing benefit.

missmontana

You aren't entitled to anything, as a close family member surely you should be letting her stay out of the kindness of your heart?!!

You'd have to draw up a tenancy agreement if you wanted to charge her rent, but it would have to be seen as not being "contrived" just to get money out of the benefits system, if you look there are quite a few posts on the same sort of thing. And that may possibly affect the type of mortgage you have (but i'm not really clued up on that).

If she were to look for somewhere else to rent, she could claim LHA, is she under 25? She'd get the shared room rate. Did she not look into this before she moved out of her flat?

As long as she buys her own food etc, surely she won't make of a difference to the household bills? maybe she could just pay you back when she gets a new job...

badlydrunkboy

That's obsurd. What if we drew up a proper tenancy agreement, or would that be more trouble than it's worth?

My girlfriend and I live pretty close to the limit of our means as it is and can't afford to support an extra body for a great deal of time. We'd have kids if we were in that position.

She is under 25 and in was paying almost £500 a month in rent + bills at her flat, in a pretty unsavoury area. We agreed that she could live at ours and pay about £200-250 a month all in and treat the house as her own.

Molly41

She can afford to pay her share of the bills. If she lived by herself she would have to budget for her bills. My DS will be paying me half of his JSA for food, etc. Its not his spending money but the money the government says he needs to live off.

karenx

You cant just draw up an agreement. You would need to inform your mortgage company also and insurance. And your mortgage company might not agree to it also. You will also need to get a gas safety inspection as all properties that are let out need this.
How much is she costing you tho to stay there? She has her own money therefor can buy her own food etc, you could ask for about £10 per week for her share of the extra gas/electricity?

Lokolo

If you are struggling with 2 of you on £36k you might want to do a statement of affairs......

missmontana

why is it absurd? everyone would be doing it if it were that easy!

Have you given her a time limit of say perhaps a month to 6 weeks to find some sort of work, even if its only part time?

She's family after all, you're just giving her a place to stay, not support her.

As Karenx has pointed out, there's alot involved if you want to rent a room out.

You need to sit her down and have a chat about bills and stuff, see what she'd be happy with.

missmontana

badlydrunkboy wrote: »

That's obsurd. What if we drew up a proper tenancy agreement, or would that be more trouble than it's worth?

My girlfriend and I live pretty close to the limit of our means as it is and can't afford to support an extra body for a great deal of time. We'd have kids if we were in that position.

She is under 25 and in was paying almost £500 a month in rent + bills at her flat, in a pretty unsavoury area. We agreed that she could live at ours and pay about £200-250 a month all in and treat the house as her own.

I missed that last bit, when did you agree she would start paying? when she gets a job? If so thats fair enough, but until then there's not really alot you can do.

karenx

badlydrunkboy wrote: »

That's obsurd. What if we drew up a proper tenancy agreement, or would that be more trouble than it's worth?

My girlfriend and I live pretty close to the limit of our means as it is and can't afford to support an extra body for a great deal of time. We'd have kids if we were in that position.

She is under 25 and in was paying almost £500 a month in rent + bills at her flat, in a pretty unsavoury area. We agreed that she could live at ours and pay about £200-250 a month all in and treat the house as her own.

Ok so if it was £200 a month you were charging her she would only get £212 a month in JSA(going on the £53 a week you quoted) so therefore she will only have £12 for buying food, bus fares etc etc. I would of hated to see her reaction when you told her she needs to live on £12 a month!

badlydrunkboy

missmontana wrote: »

I missed that last bit, when did you agree she would start paying? when she gets a job? If so thats fair enough, but until then there's not really alot you can do.

Yeah, once she gets a job but that was because she was pretty much offered a job, whcih fell though when a partner of the company legged it with the business account money. At the moment she's getting pretty much no where. Each position she's applied for has hundreds of other applicants.

If i could afford it, i'd have live rent free for as long as she needed and give her spending money, food money, travel etc to boot, but that's not the case. I was only investigating whether myself and my girlfriend would be helped.