Benefits, living with ex partner

vapd

Hi,

I have been living with my girlfriend for 6 years in a house she inherited. I have been out of work since June but not claiming benefits (she works full time) because I had a few thou in savings and was hoping to set up a small business. Things between us have not been good due to her alcoholism, she has been in councilling for this but not for a couple of years and her drinking has become quite bad over the last 3 months. I have been trying to encourage her to seek help but she says she dose not want to stop. Partly because of this I have not made any great steps to start up the business.

Now she has decided we are to split up. I have been living in the spare room and using the spare bathroom since Friday. I do not want to move out because although the house was inherited and therefore in her name I have spent over 10k of my own money doing it up. I cant start up the business just yet as if she told me to get out I feel I would have to, although I would not end up homeless as I have a number of friends who could put me up whilst I sorted something out.

She wants £250 a week for me to rent the spare room (quite reasonable for the area and her argument is that if I was not in it she would let it out to someone else). So I decided to try and claim benefits until I know exactly what is going on/can get myself a job. Looking at the forms I am a bit worried that if I put down my previous address details as the same as the details of my now renting address then it could cause some problems, or for that matter if I said I was renting from my ex they might have some issues as well.

Any advice?

Sam____2

you might have a hard job proving that you are no longer a couple when your living arangements haven't really changed.
Wouldn't you be beter off renting somewhere privately on your own?
Living with an ex especialy one who's an alcoholic would be a nghtmare, what area are you in? as this would have an effect on how much LHA you would be entitled to.



ETA: even if you have spent 10k helping do it up, as she inherited the house I take it there is no mortgage, so if you weigh it up 10k over 6 years is only £32 per week, so you've done alright out of it really if she's expecting you to pay £250 per week now!!!!

mitchaa

vapd wrote: »

Hi,

I have been living with my girlfriend for 6 years in a house she inherited. I have been out of work since June but not claiming benefits (she works full time) because I had a few thou in savings and was hoping to set up a small business. Things between us have not been good due to her alcoholism, she has been in councilling for this but not for a couple of years and her drinking has become quite bad over the last 3 months. I have been trying to encourage her to seek help but she says she dose not want to stop. Partly because of this I have not made any great steps to start up the business.

Now she has decided we are to split up. I have been living in the spare room and using the spare bathroom since Friday. I do not want to move out because although the house was inherited and therefore in her name I have spent over 10k of my own money doing it up. I cant start up the business just yet as if she told me to get out I feel I would have to, although I would not end up homeless as I have a number of friends who could put me up whilst I sorted something out.

She wants £250 a week for me to rent the spare room (quite reasonable for the area and her argument is that if I was not in it she would let it out to someone else). So I decided to try and claim benefits until I know exactly what is going on/can get myself a job. Looking at the forms I am a bit worried that if I put down my previous address details as the same as the details of my now renting address then it could cause some problems, or for that matter if I said I was renting from my ex they might have some issues as well.

Any advice?

What a lot of rubbish, troll attempt.

Where do you live? Kensington and Chelsea? Where in the UK is a single LHA room rate priced at £250pw? Infact new legislation is soon to come in capping LHA at £300pw and that is I believe for 5bed+

As to benefit fraud, well that is obvious to see. You'll have a very hard time trying to prove otherwise. Just imagine how many couples who would be able to claim they had seperated whilst still living in the same room albeit in the bedroom next door (Yeah right, pull the other 1)

vapd

Hi Sam_, sorry, its £250 per month, not per week (as I said) and thats inclusive of bills. yeah been thinking about renting privately. I suppose I havent done too bad if you work out the 10k spent like that!

Trouble about private renting is I cant afford anywhere around here bigger than a small room, as a lodger say. All the jobs around are part time and not much above min wage. I have so much stuff. I would need to sell it from here, no chance of fitting it into anything other than a small house or large flat. I feel I need to be here to sell it. I dont even drive so renting in a cheaper area would mean abandoning £1000's of personal items. I could live without it out but dont want to abandon it.

So I have given myself 3 months to sell what I cant move, I know living with her could be a nightmare but am trying to get her to seek help for the alcohol. She might be fine for weeks and then go on a bender like the last one where she was drunk for a week and didnt come home for three nights running (staying with an alchy friend she works with, they egg each other on).

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I shall bear it in mind while I sort this mess out.

Dave101t

id go down the 'common law hubby' route and just try to take 1/2 the house, if she is an alcoholic and trying to con you, dont show her any misplaced loyalty.

vapd

mitchaa wrote: »

What a lot of rubbish, troll attempt.

Where do you live? Kensington and Chelsea? Where in the UK is a single LHA room rate priced at £250pw? Infact new legislation is soon to come in capping LHA at £300pw and that is I believe for 5bed+

As to benefit fraud, well that is obvious to see. You'll have a very hard time trying to prove otherwise. Just imagine how many couples who would be able to claim they had seperated whilst still living in the same room albeit in the bedroom next door (Yeah right, pull the other 1)

Honest not a troll attempt, just meant per month, not week. Not benefit fraud either. We are not a couple and do not share the living room, that is hers. I get the use of the old bathroom, she gets the new en suite we added. I get the spare room, just big enough for a double bed, desk and wardrobe. We do have to share the kitchen.

Of course proving we are not a couple is a problem.

vapd

Dave101t wrote: »

id go down the 'common law hubby' route and just try to take 1/2 the house, if she is an alcoholic and trying to con you, dont show her any misplaced loyalty.

When she asked me to move in I promised that if we split up I would not try to take her for half, I just felt that was the decent thing, as we had not known each other for that long.

Of course the drinking was not so bad 6 years ago. We used to go out together a lot and have fun. Then it got bad and she went into councilling for a year and was fairly sorted for about 2 years. And now this.... I think she finds it so hard to contemplate giving up the booze, which I want her to and so it appears easier, to her, for her to dump me so she can carry on drinking without reproach.

Anyway, we have got off benefits on onto alcohol abuse! Its not the right forum. So thanks for the advice but we better cease. Sorry about the wrong rent price I mentioned at the beginning.

cazzasmazza

Dave101t wrote: »

id go down the 'common law hubby' route and just try to take 1/2 the house, if she is an alcoholic and trying to con you, dont show her any misplaced loyalty.

There is no such thing in English law as a "common law husband/wife", despite popular belief. If you are not married, not engaged, have no children and you are not a joint owner of the house, you have no entitlement to a share in it, no matter how long you have lived together.

A possible route you may have would be to assert that you have acquired a "beneficial interest" in the house due to the £10k you spent on it. But it depends what you did with the £10k and whether the improvements can be classed as "significant", so that could be a tenuous argument.

You would need a solicitor to make the legal claim for you under Legal Aid, through the courts. Remember that you are only granted Legal Aid if your case has good merits in the first place. But it might be worth a first Legal Aid appointment with a family solicitor anyway, just to have a chat about it. If it goes no further, it won't have costed you anything.

I agree with the other posters on here that I think you are stuffed benefits-wise: they are never going to allow you housing benefit based on your current living circumstances, no matter how genuine you actually are.

bigjl

Dave101t wrote: »

id go down the 'common law hubby' route and just try to take 1/2 the house, if she is an alcoholic and trying to con you, dont show her any misplaced loyalty.

Actually that isn't a bad idea, a lot of women use the common law route to their advantage, why not do the same.

I was told you have the same legal rights as a legally married spouse.

Oldernotwiser

bigjl wrote: »

Actually that isn't a bad idea, a lot of women use the common law route to their advantage, why not do the same.

I was told you have the same legal rights as a legally married spouse.

Well - you were told wrong!

pickledonionspaceraider

Wouldn't a serious alcoholic would possibly have trouble holding down a full time job?