Parents moved abroard can I rent their flat

theplastickid

Ok, so my parents have just moved abroard. I am a 23 year old single male. I am self employed but don't have much work at the moment.

With a tenancy agreement would I qualify for housing benefit? And could I rent from my mother and father living in Southern Ireland.

Many Thanks.

rogerblack

theplastickid wrote: »

Ok, so my parents have just moved abroard. I am a 23 year old single male. I am self employed but don't have much work at the moment.

With a tenancy agreement would I qualify for housing benefit? And could I rent from my mother and father living in Southern Ireland.

In principle, yes, if it's seen as a legitimate tenancy, not a 'contrived tenancy'.
You would need to be paying a reasonable rent, and not only 'when you could afford it', but all the time.

zzzLazyDaisy

It also very much depends your local authority whether they would view this as a contrived tenancy, but some things they would take into account are whether the flat is already being rented out commercially to unrelated tenants (in which case they are more likely to view it as a business arrangement). Also if your were previously living in the flat with your parents they are much more likely to view it as a contrived tenancy.

Regardless, even if you qualify for LHA as you are under 35 it will be limited to the rate for a room in a shared house, so you will need to show where you are going to get the remainder of the rent from - if they only charge you the amount of LHA that you get, that will prove it is not a commercial arrangement - catch 22.