Housing Benefits

kingfisherblue

Will the mortgage lender allow the house to be rented out? There are sometimes stipulations that prevent this and it can invalidate insurance as well, so it would be worth checking it out before you go any further.

hanneil

Yes the house is being rented out now to private tenants.

itsallinthemind

I think you should sit tight myself. Baby is being born in July and both of you are not homeless.

Hopefully your partner will be working in July, then maybe parents can help you with deposit etc(or use councils deposit scheme), or you then rent from your father. If in the future you needed LHA, I'm sure it would not look fabricated to housing.

If in August/September he is still not employed, then you can start looking and he could look after baby instead?

Both of you have shelter currently and are not a threat of eviction from parents-is that correct? If that is correct, I think you need to wait till one of you is employed, till looking at renting, there are so many other costs involved with moving in, add that to the things baby needs and it is a lot of pressure.

I'm sure you want your own family home, but it is hard work with a newborn at first, I would have prefered hands-on babysitters on my door step

hanneil

I take onboard all your points. They are all very sensible ones. I just think once the baby is born we want to be together with the baby. Not him in one house and me in another with him coming to my parents house or me to his. I think that may also have a strain on the relationship with us and the parents. We have had great support from them and that will continue I am sure but there comes a point when even the best of relationships brake down. But as you say there's still time to look at other alternatives and options.

patchwork_cat

Jowo wrote: »

My understanding is that there is only a legal requirement for a landlord to provide a rent book if the rent is paid weekly.

We are not talking about tenancy law, but I would require written proof of tenancy available in different manners and whilst in tenancy law I believe there is not obligation to even provide anything in writing I would have required this or passed the claim to fraud. This is the exact reason that I do not post on this board as people will start arguing the rights and wrongs of what I have stated. Hence off I go not to post about HB for another year. I am an ex housing benefit officer and have forgotten more than you will ever know about HB.

In order to demonstrate that a tenancy like this is not contrived you will almost certainly have to provide more evidence of legitimate tenancy than usual.

itsallinthemind

hanneil wrote: »

I take onboard all your points. They are all very sensible ones. I just think once the baby is born we want to be together with the baby. Not him in one house and me in another with him coming to my parents house or me to his. I think that may also have a strain on the relationship with us and the parents. We have had great support from them and that will continue I am sure but there comes a point when even the best of relationships brake down. But as you say there's still time to look at other alternatives and options.

I do not mean long term. It is just it is VERY hard to rent whilst not working. I can not see it possible in say a month. Once you get closer to the date, no matter how much your partner/family help, it will VERY hard as it will be hot andyou will be very tired.

Maybe you need to set a date, if you have not found somewhere by then, you wait till afterwards?

When does your father's tennants agreement run out? Whilst it may not be 'nice' to not renew their tenancy it may mean you can find somewhere without a deposit?

Patchworkcat is correct. If you rented from your father you would need not only a good contract, but rent book, rent going out of your account by standing order in to his etc. Housing Officers will be VERY wary of you renting from family.

I would also contact your local Health Visitor(through GP) and as to meet them earlier. Whilst technically powerless with the Hosing Dept, they can help you in other ways and be a voice for you/help getting the paperwork sorted. It is by no means in a HV's job description, but HV's hav been helpful to friends of mine living in cramped accomodation or above 2nd floor(there are guidelines about that). If they understand that it may strain your relationship and mean baby living apart from the father they can help. They can also help you with getting on the deposit scheme if you find dealing with housing daunting.

Alternatively contact your local sure start centre. They often have an inhouse or visiting welfare advisor who can help you with everything. It is worth poppingin/calling your local sure start anyway as they are fantastic. Not only do they have play sessons, but offer computing courses, budgeting courses, cooking courses etc in larger ones.

Jowo_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

We are not talking about tenancy law, but I would require written proof of tenancy available in different manners and whilst in tenancy law I believe there is not obligation to even provide anything in writing I would have required this or passed the claim to fraud. This is the exact reason that I do not post on this board as people will start arguing the rights and wrongs of what I have stated. Hence off I go not to post about HB for another year. I am an ex housing benefit officer and have forgotten more than you will ever know about HB.

Yes, on the topic of the landlord's provision of rent books, I was referring to housing law. As you've rightly observed, housing law doesn't even require a landlord to provide a written contract of any sort at all, a verbal agreement is fine and lack of paperwork doesn't mean the tenant lacks housing rights. It is fairly common for a landlord to provide a tenancy agreement and quite a normal expectation for a local council to seek proof that the claimant holds a tenancy.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=26638

Not sure why you need to get so defensive about your knowledge and contempt for mine since all I did was outline the actual fact that it is a highly unusual practice to be in receipt of a rent book unless the rent is paid weekly, the reason being that the landlord has absolutely no obligation to provide one.

If the OP doesn't pay her rent weekly, she will invariably not be in receipt of a rent book so why give the impression that the council will expect to see one without outlining the actual criteria for being in receipt of one?

So there's no use in a local council seeking a rent book from anyone who pays their rent other than weekly, is there? Nor anyone giving a tenant an impression that they must have one to receive LHA when there is no legal basis for a landlord to provide it in most tenancies...

Sure, you were helpful to point out different types of evidence that a local council will seek from the claimant to process the LHA, though.