Housing Benefits for young parents.

Wee_Willy_Harris

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.

No, you would still get the 2 bed rate, whatever the size of the property. If you could find a 15 bedroom mansion for £400 a month, they would still give you £400. Equaly, if you found a 1 bed flat for £600 a month, they would still only allow £400.

However, your main issue is that her father owns the property and has not previously rented it out as a commercial enterprise. It is unlikely that the LHA would be paid under these circumstances as it is, arguably, a contrived tenancy. If you wait until you have a tenancy agreement, then your GF father would have to take you to court to evict. If you were lucky, and he was foolish, this could easily take a considerable amount of time to achieve. Should he evict you illegally, he would be guilty of a criminal offence which carries the possibility of a prison sentence if convicted. Most Local Authorities prosecute for illegal eviction, but would you be prepared to act as a witness against him? If the answer is, as I suspect, "no", then you are clearly not a tenant in your own mind.

Have you approached your Local Authority for re-housing? That may be a safer avenue to go down.

Wee_Willy_Harris

!!!!!! wrote: »

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.

Any LL can charge any amount for a property. In some areas, 3 beds fall below the 2 bed LHA rate.

Carlbrown_2

Caz3121 wrote: »

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?

Well, 400 is the maximum we can claim when the babies born and thats how much he would be charging us rent, i dont think his mother had a lease she was just living there rent free, and he is still paying off a mortgage on the property.

I have no student loans, i was studying joinery at college it was a part time coarse which i have now finished, and the only way i can continue to the third year of my coarse is if i get an aprenticeship myself, but i dont know what the affect of me getting an aprenticeship will have on the housing benefit will be, i will only be getting paid 90 pounds from an appreticeship but il worry about that in the future as its not certain that il be doing that.

Carlbrown_2

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

No, you would still get the 2 bed rate, whatever the size of the property. If you could find a 15 bedroom mansion for £400 a month, they would still give you £400. Equaly, if you found a 1 bed flat for £600 a month, they would still only allow £400.

However, your main issue is that her father owns the property and has not previously rented it out as a commercial enterprise. It is unlikely that the LHA would be paid under these circumstances as it is, arguably, a contrived tenancy. If you wait until you have a tenancy agreement, then your GF father would have to take you to court to evict. If you were lucky, and he was foolish, this could easily take a considerable amount of time to achieve. Should he evict you illegally, he would be guilty of a criminal offence which carries the possibility of a prison sentence if convicted. Most Local Authorities prosecute for illegal eviction, but would you be prepared to act as a witness against him? If the answer is, as I suspect, "no", then you are clearly not a tenant in your own mind.

Have you approached your Local Authority for re-housing? That may be a safer avenue to go down.

If you mean, we were living there and he all of a sudden kicked us out, then i would take him to court, just as with anybody else, the only difference being that he is her father and is unlikely to evict us randomly.
and yes we have spoke to local authority but they will house us far away from her family in an area we arnt familiar with, and with my girlfriend being so young she would need family support, which is why we would prefer to go private rented, we have found a few privately rented houses nearer to her mother but we, of course, would prefer to live in her fathers house because we would have peace of mind knowing that her father wont just kick us out for no reaso.

dmg24

What is the three bed LHA rate for your area? How much do other three beds properties cost in the area?

Wee_Willy_Harris

Carlbrown wrote: »

If you mean, we were living there and he all of a sudden kicked us out, then i would take him to court, just as with anybody else, the only difference being that he is her father and is unlikely to evict us randomly.
and yes we have spoke to local authority but they will house us far away from her family in an area we arnt familiar with, and with my girlfriend being so young she would need family support, which is why we would prefer to go private rented, we have found a few privately rented houses nearer to her mother but we, of course, would prefer to live in her fathers house because we would have peace of mind knowing that her father wont just kick us out for no reaso.

Your local authority won't just re-house you "far away from her parents". In most cases, you will retain the choice of where to be re-housed. The only exception is if you use the homeless route, which of course you wouldn't. However, if overcrowding is an issue (and you would count towards that even if you didn't live there) then the choice would be yours.

There is a good possibility that your GF father grants you a tenancy (for a minimum of 6 months) then LHA refuse to pay. You have a tenancy and a right to remain, the GF father ain't getting paid. What happens then?

I will say that it is very unlikely that the LHA will be awarded. The property hasn't previously been let on a commercial basis, the tenant is the child of the LL, the rent is below market rent but such as to take full advantage of the LHA rates. At the end of the day, the Housing Benefit/LHA system is not in place so that taxpayers can subsidise his property empire while housing his immediate family. If he wants to be a LL he should rent the house to an unrelated tenant at the full market rent and take the profits/risk from that like any other LL would. Or, he can sell if he can't afford to keep it.

Jowo_2

Phone up Shelter on their free advice line or see if they have a local drop in office as they can review your situation and advise you of your housing options, plus verify how the local council is supposed to help you, versus how they say they will.

thorsoak

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

. At the end of the day, the Housing Benefit/LHA system is not in place so that taxpayers can subsidise his property empire while housing his immediate family. If he wants to be a LL he should rent the house to an unrelated tenant at the full market rent and take the profits/risk from that like any other LL would. Or, he can sell if he can't afford to keep it.

Or the other alternative - shocking to the very extreme - he could support his 16 year old daughter and grandchild by allowing them to live in the property rent free!! After all, in "normal" circumstances one would expect a father to be continuing to support and keep a 16-year old! NB: I am not suggesting that he supports her partner - he should be attempting to support his partner and child himself!

Carlbrown_2

thorsoak wrote: »

Or the other alternative - shocking to the very extreme - he could support his 16 year old daughter and grandchild by allowing them to live in the property rent free!! After all, in "normal" circumstances one would expect a father to be continuing to support and keep a 16-year old! NB: I am not suggesting that he supports her partner - he should be attempting to support his partner and child himself!

Or maybe, he is unable to carry on paying a mortgage without renting his house out, he is still going to put his house up for rent, he was when HIS mother left because he couldnt afford to support his mother anymore because he isnt a millionnaire who can pay out a mortgage on top of worrying about providing for his other children.

People like you are better off keeping your opinion to yourself, His daughter, my girlfriend is 17 and if you took the time to read the original post before thinking of a way to bash her dad you would allready know how old she is.

And '' he should be attempting to support his partner and child himself!'' IS this aimed at me? because i cant afford to pay 400 pound rent a month im 17 years of age, this is one of the reasons benefits are there, when im fully qualified as a joiner and im able to pay rent myself il be paying taxes and im sure il more than make up for the money i claimed in benefits.

The whole point in making this thread was to get advice and see if i am able to rent a property off her dad, and even if its not possible he will still rent his house out and we will still be renting another house, I really do wish i was as smug as you and knew somebody who would put me up in a house rent free but not everyone in the world has that luxury, in future keep your pointless opinions to yourself, Thanks

Carlbrown_2

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Your local authority won't just re-house you "far away from her parents". In most cases, you will retain the choice of where to be re-housed. The only exception is if you use the homeless route, which of course you wouldn't. However, if overcrowding is an issue (and you would count towards that even if you didn't live there) then the choice would be yours.

There is a good possibility that your GF father grants you a tenancy (for a minimum of 6 months) then LHA refuse to pay. You have a tenancy and a right to remain, the GF father ain't getting paid. What happens then?

I will say that it is very unlikely that the LHA will be awarded. The property hasn't previously been let on a commercial basis, the tenant is the child of the LL, the rent is below market rent but such as to take full advantage of the LHA rates. At the end of the day, the Housing Benefit/LHA system is not in place so that taxpayers can subsidise his property empire while housing his immediate family. If he wants to be a LL he should rent the house to an unrelated tenant at the full market rent and take the profits/risk from that like any other LL would. Or, he can sell if he can't afford to keep it.

I know where the attraction would be for some people to just buy a house and rent it to a family member purely to pay off the mortgage with no intention of renting it to anyone else, But it was just a coincidence that he was about to start renting his house out at the same time his daughter got pregnant and needed a place to live.

Also i would have thought it would make it easier for the council to just let us rent it from her dad because it means they dont have to look for a place for us and its not like she only got pregnant so she could claim housing benefits to rent her dads house purely so he can get free money, although i know some people probably do that kind of thing, il have to ring my local council and ask them for advice.