housing benefit and benefit basics query, please help

dmg24

There are places available in the city centre for £400 pm, but I don't see why you need to live in the city centre. You will get much better value for money in the suburbs.

I don't know which properties you have found which are in band E, but I would be very surprised if they are one or two bed flats. Most one beds in Birmingham city centre are band A or B.

I think you need to go back to the drawing board!

dustinjames

dmg24 wrote: »

There are places available in the city centre for £400 pm, but I don't see why you need to live in the city centre. You will get much better value for money in the suburbs.

I don't know which properties you have found which are in band E, but I would be very surprised if they are one or two bed flats. Most one beds in Birmingham city centre are band A or B.

I think you need to go back to the drawing board!

city centre: found one studio £400, but no parking.

city centre starts at £450>
I need to live in city centre. I need to see life. I need inspiration.

2 bed flat: band E: city centre

I thought sharing would be cheap and better standard of living, but LHA penalises you for sharing. My LHA is halved if i share 2 bedroom 2 bathroom flat.

dmg24

Nobody needs to live in the city centre, especially if depending on benefits to pay their rent.

A band E flat would have a value of over £250,000. You are not going to find a band E flat that will be covered by benefits!

dustinjames

can get full allowance £100 per week if
"shared accommodation but have two or more rooms (bedrooms or living rooms) that no-one else can use".
from pdf from LHA website.
who decides who can use a room or not?

The guy on the phone from council said you CAN NOT get full allowance (£100) if you share.

Who is right?

So say if you have a 2 bedroom flat and 1 living room. Me and another person.
Can i not say 1 bedroom is mine and also the living room is mine. ?

Can you get 2 bedroom flats with 2 living rooms?

And shared facilities means shared kitchen and bathroom.
But can i not get a flat with my own bathroom, which in effect is not shared facilities apart from kitchen.
So technically this is full allowance of £100.

Indie_Kid

dustinjames wrote: »

city centre: found one studio £400, but no parking.

city centre starts at £450>
I need to live in city centre. I need to see life. I need inspiration.

You don't need to live in the city centre - you want to.

Tobiwan_Kenobi

I don't mean to cause offence but is this some kind of mickey take?

Where are you living now if that you don't know how much council tax is? What are your current living arrangements?

terryw

Tobiwan_Kenobi wrote: »

I don't mean to cause offence but is this some kind of mickey take?

Where are you living now if that you don't know how much council tax is? What are your current living arrangements?

A reasonable supposition TK. But I think this chap is genuine. I get the feeling that he has been living at home and has been working until now and is just feeling his way around the benefits system. He really does not know the ins and outs.

I honestly do not think it is a mickey-take.

dustinjames

sorry chaps. Dont mean to sound like a comedian.
I am geniune.
Yes living at home with family. I contribute to bills, but have never encountered council tax personally.
Time to move out, for many reasons.

If anyone can answer my latest questions, it would help. Might go down CAB tmrw.

dmg24

dustinjames wrote: »

can get full allowance £100 per week if
"shared accommodation but have two or more rooms (bedrooms or living rooms) that no-one else can use".
from pdf from LHA website.
who decides who can use a room or not?

The guy on the phone from council said you CAN NOT get full allowance (£100) if you share.

Who is right?

So say if you have a 2 bedroom flat and 1 living room. Me and another person.
Can i not say 1 bedroom is mine and also the living room is mine. ?

Can you get 2 bedroom flats with 2 living rooms?

And shared facilities means shared kitchen and bathroom.
But can i not get a flat with my own bathroom, which in effect is not shared facilities apart from kitchen.
So technically this is full allowance of £100.

The LA would not just take your word for whether you had your own lounge or not, if there was any doubt they would send someone to visit you. If you were liable for half the rent there would be an expectation that the other tenant would have as much space as you.

A two bed flat with two lounges would usually be a three bed flat that two people have decided to rent and divide up the rooms.

A bathroom for your sole use does not count as a second room.

dustinjames

dmg24 wrote: »

The LA would not just take your word for whether you had your own lounge or not, if there was any doubt they would send someone to visit you. If you were liable for half the rent there would be an expectation that the other tenant would have as much space as you.

A two bed flat with two lounges would usually be a three bed flat that two people have decided to rent and divide up the rooms.

A bathroom for your sole use does not count as a second room.

thanks.
but say you had one living room, 2 bedrooms, the living room has been agreed by both tenants that it would belong to one person (me).
ohhhh yeah i see, if its half half the rent, everything is split or assumed to be.

So a three bed flat, both tenants paying half half, but one person says two bedrooms are his. How does that sound?
ohhh same principle, half half so why not half half space.

hmmm you would have thought the GVT encouraged sharing, not living alone.