Housing Benefits for young parents.

Carlbrown_2

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me out with my situation,
I am 17 (18 in 2 weeks) and my girlfriend is also 17, she is 5 months pregnant and we need a place to live.

My girlfriends dad owns a 3 bedroomed house which his mother rescently moved out of, she didnt pay rent for over 6 years and was forced to move out due to my girlfriends dad not being able to afford to keep paying her rent, he told us we could move in but would have to pay rent but i have just finished my second year in college and my girlfriend has just finished a college course but does not plan on returning to college and i may not be able to return to college unless i get an apprenticeship, well long story short, will we be able to claim housing benefit to live in her dads house?

Thanks in advance,
Carl

DX2

Carlbrown wrote: »

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me out with my situation,
I am 17 (18 in 2 weeks) and my girlfriend is also 17, she is 5 months pregnant and we need a place to live.

My girlfriends dad owns a 3 bedroomed house which his mother rescently moved out of, she didnt pay rent for over 6 years and was forced to move out due to my girlfriends dad not being able to afford to keep paying her rent, he told us we could move in but would have to pay rent but i have just finished my second year in college and my girlfriend has just finished a college course but does not plan on returning to college and i may not be able to return to college unless i get an apprenticeship, well long story short, will we be able to claim housing benefit to live in her dads house?

Thanks in advance,
Carl

You want HB for a three bed house which belongs to your GF father and you are both under 25, your having a laugh right?

May I suggest you look here : http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

cabbage

Hi

You might have difficulty claiming Housing Benefit (HB) unless you have a proper commercial agreement with your girlfriends dad and providing he does not live in the house. Its best if he sets up a proper tenancy agreement with you. If he does this and you still have problems you will need to challenge the decision not to award benefit. Cab or your local authority welfare rights section may be able to help you.

There are also rules regarding students and claiming HB. I've copied the extract from https://www.adviceguide.org.uk below:

If you are a student
If you are a student in full-time higher education (degree level or equivalent), you cannot usually claim Housing Benefit. However, you can claim it if you are studying part-time. If you are under 19 and on a course below degree level, you can also claim Housing Benefit (unless you have recently left care).
You can also claim Housing Benefit if you get Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, you are a single parent or you are disabled, regardless of whether you are studying full-time, or what level of education you are in. You can also claim if you are a member of a couple, you are both full-time students and you have dependent children. If you are a full-time student but your partner is not, check if your partner could make the Housing Benefit claim instead of you.

Jowo_2

If you are eligible to claim Local Housing Allowance (HB), then it will be at the 1 bedroom LHA rate (until the kiddy is born, I think which then can be paid at the 2 bedroom rate) which you can identify at the LHA direct website.

If you are eligible for any LHA, how do you plan to make up the shortfall between the LHA rate and the rent charged by your landlord? If you aren't eligible for LHA, how do you plan to pay the rent?

Landlords are permitted to rent their properties to close relatives on LHA so long as they don't live in the same property togehther but they must be proper tenancies, not informal arrangements. Google 'contrived tenancy' to understand why some local councils will reject some applications which breach the regulations and have been set up to exploit the HB system.

cabbage

The other poster makes a valid point. HB or Local Housing Allowance as it is now bases your entitlement not only on your income but also the number of bedrooms you need. As a couple you would be entitled to LHA at the one bedroom rate. Once the baby is born you would be entitled to get it at the 2 bedroomed rate. I think its best if you ring or visit CAB or Local Authority Welfare rights service to get a benefit check for HB/LHA plus any other benefits you might be entitled to.

Carlbrown_2

We are living with her mother at the minute and its allready overcrowded so once the babies born we would be moving into her dads house, and therefor would be eligable to claimfor a 2 bedroomed house, but would the ammount of bedrooms make a difference? i would have thought that it would go on the ammount of rent needed ?

Indie_Kid

No, it goes on the amount of rooms the law says you need and the LHA rate for your area.

dmg24

Would the landlord throw you out if you were unable to pay the rent?

Carlbrown_2

Yes the ladlord would throw us out if we couldnt pay the rent.. we would be renting it off him just the same as renting off anyone else, and because we are private renting the council have told us that once the babies born we can rent a house for 400 a month, now if her dad was charging us 400 a month for his 3 bedroomed house, would that make a difference.

System

That sounds like a contrived tenancy. If they give you LHA of £400 for a 2 bedroom then a 3 bedroom is a lot more expensive than that. Have a look in the local rags and EAs to find out the going rate for a 3 bedroom. That is the ballpark figure that your GF's father should be charging you.

Caz3121

Carlbrown wrote: »

Yes the ladlord would throw us out if we couldnt pay the rent.. we would be renting it off him just the same as renting off anyone else, and because we are private renting the council have told us that once the babies born we can rent a house for 400 a month, now if her dad was charging us 400 a month for his 3 bedroomed house, would that make a difference.

Is £400 a month rent because that is the max you can claim or is that the amount he would charge if he rented to strangers? If he would rent to non-family for more then it starts to look suss.

You said he evicted his mother from the property as he could not afford to keep paying her rent....did she have a lease and what was the rent for her and if he owns the property why was he paying rent to himself or does he have a mortgage on the property.

Also remember that the LHA amount is the maximum they will pay, student loans, wages etc will be counted as income and will reduce the amount...if it is assessed that you will get £300 a month housing benefit due to your other income...what will her dad charge for rent?