benefits when living with ex-partner

davethecue

A long story....My ex-partner began her tenancy with Lambeth in 1983. We met in 1992 and got married. I moved in and became legal stepfather to her 2 children.I was classed as an authorised occupant. We seperated in July 2004 .We are still friends. Our daughter left home but our son continues to live at home.
Since then my ex has been on sickness benefits. I continued to work and have been paying 50% of everything(rent,c/tax etc)
I have since become unemployed(August). The housing office are refusing to grant me housing benefit as they are already paying a claim on this address for my ex. I am not allowed to become a joint tenant as we are now in arrears. Also my ex will lose lots of rights as she is a long standing tenant.
If my ex claims the whole amount by including me on her claim it means that she will be limited in her job opportunities as I would lose my entitlement (?) to housing benefit.
Our son is an apprentice motor mechanic on a low income and is expected to contribut 25% by the benefits office to rent/ c tax.
My ex is met with lots of comments from the housing officers that she should throw me out. She does not want to do this
Help.. Are there any precedents to help me ?

jobbingmusician

My dh had this problem before he moved in with me. He couldn't claim IS because he was still sharing a house with his ex, even though the relationship was so bad that he was suffering physical and mental abuse. She expected him to pay half the bills from his DLA and IB. He couldn't move out as he was advised that he'd be put into B & B, and separately, advised that this would be really bad news for his health. Given his problems (eventually solved by moving in with me - an eventually happy outcome but he did in fact nearly die from the stress and was rushed to hospital.) I don't think you are going to win this one, sadly, without moving out.

Fran

If she is already claiming HBen then she would have had you as a non-dependant (I'm not clear whether you have been living there all the time?). She should now contact HBen to say your new income as the non-dependant deduction would have been based on your employed income. The amount taken with you on JSA would be the minimum (£7 it used to be) which you would pay her to make up the full amount of rent.

She (as the liable one for council tax) should ask about a Second Adult Rebate, though as it says "second" I'm not sure how it works with 2 non-dependants (I am assuming son is 18 or over?).

The question here is whether you are a couple, by including you on her claim as part of "her" household, it implies that you are.

If you are still separated, then you should keep your claims separate too.

How has it got into arrears? She should get it paid direct to the landlord so that this can't happen. She should contact CAB to see how to deal with her arrears.

davethecue

Hi Fran
Thanks for the input
The arrears have happened because I have been unable to pay my share. My jobseekers claim has so far taken 6 weeks. I have no money.
If my ex claims for me as non-dependant it will affect her if she gets a job as 'my part of the rent' will not be taken into account.
Our son is 19 years old
As we are not a couple , we dont think that this should be treated as one claim but as 2 claims so we can each get on with our lives and not have to be dependant on each other's circumstances.
Any ideas?

Fran

Ring the Jobcentre and chase the JSA situation tell them this has caused arrears on the property and that 3 people could end up homeless. Contact CAB if they don't sort it out straight away (or in any case) as they can negotiate on your behalf and often get better results.

Has she informed HBen and Council Tax Ben about your drop in income?

If you have two separate claims you will be treated as a non-dependant for benefit purposes and she might still be entitled to some HBen/CTaxBen if she has a low income. If you both get work and there is also a contribution from your son then it shouldn't be a problem.

She can do "permitted work" while on Incapacity Benefit if that's what she is on, if she is on Disability Living Allowance it is not related to anyone's income so the payments would continue whoever is employed or not.

Ross01

Sorry I dont understand??? If you are seperated but still living in the same property as your Ex. Then you would already be on your Ex - partners claim as a non dependant. By loosing your job all that would happen is your non dep deduction would decrease down to £7.40 a week They would previously have been taking a high deduction from your partners claim because you were working, so you would be much better off.

You say you are not a joint tenant. Therefore I dont understand how you can be held liable to pay 50% of the rent and council tax. As you are not a joint tenant Lambeth should be assessing your former partners claim based on 100% of the rental liability (minus of course the correct non dependant deductions for yourself and your son as non dependants). If they are assessing your ex partners benefit on only 50% liability then Lambeth have been making a major mistake, as you have no legal liability to pay rent. They should always have been including you as a non dependant.