housing benefit and benefit basics query, please help

dmg24

dustinjames wrote: »

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.

The simple reality is that no tenant would pay half the rent but only have access to a third of the rooms. The LA would be extremely unlikely to accept that such an arrangement exists.

A three bed flat with two rooms set up as living rooms and two as bedrooms is likely to fulfil the criteria for the one bedroom rate. A three bed flat with three rooms as bedrooms and one as a living room is not.

Why not just stick to searching for accom that you can afford, without trying to manipulate the rules?

fluffymovie

Hi

just wanted to clarify, if you share facilities then you would only get the shared room rate. Shared facilities means things like bathroom and kitchen and so even if one tenant has exclusive use of a living room, they are still classed as shared accommodation.


I have looked on Birmingham councils website and can't see April's LHA rates but the shared room rate was around £58 pw. The 2bed rate was £126.58. Tbh, I would be incredibly surprised if these sized properties were in a ctax band e. Have to be careful as lha also uses letters to refer to categories if accommodation but these are different to ctax.

Have you considered renting a studio flat? These tend to be cheaper than 1 beds but are considered self contained as you gave your own facilities? As you are over 25 you would be entitled to the 1bed rate for a studio?

dustinjames

thankyou

oh so a 3 bedroom flat = 4 rooms in total, correct?

but who defines the bedroom and living room? tenancy agreeemtn or landlord?
say if we get a 3 bedroom flat, and chook one bed out, and so 2 bedrooms and 2 living rooms.

im just researching and reading and learning the rules and processes, as I dont want to be in a worse situation once i move out. So much to consider.

dustinjames

fluffymovie wrote: »

Hi

just wanted to clarify, if you share facilities then you would only get the shared room rate. Shared facilities means things like bathroom and kitchen and so even if one tenant has exclusive use of a living room, they are still classed as shared accommodation.


I have looked on Birmingham councils website and can't see April's LHA rates but the shared room rate was around £58 pw. The 2bed rate was £126.58. Tbh, I would be incredibly surprised if these sized properties were in a ctax band e. Have to be careful as lha also uses letters to refer to categories if accommodation but these are different to ctax.

Have you considered renting a studio flat? These tend to be cheaper than 1 beds but are considered self contained as you gave your own facilities? As you are over 25 you would be entitled to the 1bed rate for a studio?

if one tenant has two bedrooms or two living rooms to himself, then he gets full self contained allowance, in a shared flat. This is what the pdf says on the LHA website. But the guy on phone said if the council tax is just one thing for the flat, then you DONT get full allowance, you get the reduced shared allowance (£57).

2 bed rate if for people living with their child.

flat i saw was £370 pm, shared two bedroom flat, council band E.
My allowance woudl be shared allowance (£57 pw) which would not cover my rent.

Studio flat is one room for both sleeping and living????
Yes they are self contained LHA rates.
I saw a studio flat for £400 in city centre, but no parking.
No lift. Part furnished. Rubbish view. Landord lived next door (creepy).
I really want a bedroom + living room. I want to separate sleeping from chilling/living.

cheers.

Oldernotwiser

I'm sorry, nobody of 30 can be this clueless. WUM!

Fire_Fox

I think you are trolling.

If you WANT to live in the city centre and you WANT a bedroom and a living room then make sure you are working full time. Get a second part-time job, or a job with accommodation or just stay living at home. The council will need to see your tenancy agreement which will have two names on if you are sharing a flat. Once they see two names ... shared rate LHA.

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm sorry, nobody of 30 can be this clueless. WUM!

This is why we need you on FB - we just couldn't decide, and I'm still not sure!

dustinjames

if LHA for one week is £103

I assumed £103 x 4 = £414 per month would be the total LHA allowed excluding bills. Is this incorrect???

what about this calculation?:
£103.56 x 52 weeks =£5385.12 divided by 12 months = £448.76

So which do I follow? what can be the total rent per month for in order for it to be covered by LHA?

dmg24

OK, I am going to be a tad blunt here. You are thirty years old, can you not work any of this out for yourself? Surely you know the difference between four weeks and a month?

Spend some time working things out for yourself, then come back and tell us what you have found out. We'll let you know if you are on the right tracks.

bestpud

dmg24 wrote: »

This is why we need you on FB - we just couldn't decide, and I'm still not sure!

Yes, I was swaying towards 'dim' rather than 'troll' but I think it's gone beyond that now!