Can I rent house to my boyfriend?

bewilderedhelpneeded

I purchased a property to rent out using a BTL mortgage and remortgaging my current home. My boyfriend needs to find somewhere to live as his Landlord is selling the property he currently rents. My boyfriend is submitting a claim for housing benefit as he is currently on a low income. Will I be able to rent my BTL house out to him and he use the housing benefit (if his claim is successful) towards paying me the rent?

Catblue

How many bedrooms does the BTL house have?

Does your boyfriend intend to live there alone?

He would only be allowed the Local Housing Allowance for a one-bed place (and depending on his age, he might only be eligible for a room in a shared house).

Is there a reason why he doesn't just move in with you to your other house if he is short of cash? Surely sharing bills would be much cheaper for him than living alone?

McKneff

If you rent it to your boyfriend it has to be on a commercial basis (as if you were renting to a total stranger)
Otherwise it would be classed as a 'contrived tenancy'
You have to act as a Landlord, all legal and above board, gas safe certificates etc.
Would you evict him, same as anyone else if he stopped paying rent.

I presume youre not ready to move intogether yet.

bewilderedhelpneeded

Its a 3 bed BTL house that I have. He normally lives alone but does have his children stay a couple of nights a week so needs a 3 bed for that. We think that he will only be entitled to housing benefit for one bed house as children not with him permanently.

Unfortunately he cannot move in with me as if he does I will owe my ex an awful lot of money which we won't be able to find (my ex has % share of my property and one of the conditions for him getting this is me cohabiting)

Do you think my bf will be able to claim housing benefit to go towards paying the rent if I rent my BTL house out to him?

bewilderedhelpneeded

McKneff wrote: »

If you rent it to your boyfriend it has to be on a commercial basis (as if you were renting to a total stranger)
Otherwise it would be classed as a 'contrived tenancy'
You have to act as a Landlord, all legal and above board, gas safe certificates etc.
Would you evict him, same as anyone else if he stopped paying rent.

I presume youre not ready to move intogether yet.

It would have to be on a commercial basis with a proper rental agreement etc. Yes, I would have to ask him to leave if he didn't pay the rent as the house was purchased to rent out and use the rental income to pay the mortgage. Id have to rent it to someone else if he didn't pay in order to make the mortgage payments. No, we cannot live together at the moment for the reason ive put above

G_M

In principal yes. But quite apart from the issues of 'contrived tenancy' and the ratio of HB payment/rent, I would strongly advise against.

In my post to new landlords here I say:

"And don't let to friends or family - only to people you will be willing to evict if you have to, and losing whose friendship you are not concerned about."

Catblue

bewilderedhelpneeded wrote: »

Do you think my bf will be able to claim housing benefit to go towards paying the rent if I rent my BTL house out to him?

You would need to declare the relationship and it would be up to the Local Authority to decide.

What is the benefit of this to either of you? I just can't see it - there are only downsides and no upsides. You get a tricky relationship with a tenant and he gets a tricky relationship with a landlady and nothing else. If he only gets LHA for a one-bedroom place, and rents your 3 bedroom place then he will have to make up the difference himself obviously. And if he has no money now, then how on earth will he manage it month after month? And then you get to kick him out. How do you think that will affect the relationship?

Would it not be easier to let him rent another place entirely and you get a complete stranger as a tenant in? He gets his LHA paid and you get your rent with no strings on either part.

Another thing - if your ex finds out then he could make the situation look really quite bad for you. He will put a spin of "colluding with her new boyfriend to defraud the taxpayer" on it and it could really hurt you if you have ongoing financial ties with him.

Keep things separate.

Wee_Willy_Harris

bewilderedhelpneeded wrote: »

Its a 3 bed BTL house that I have. He normally lives alone but does have his children stay a couple of nights a week so needs a 3 bed for that. We think that he will only be entitled to housing benefit for one bed house as children not with him permanently.

Unfortunately he cannot move in with me as if he does I will owe my ex an awful lot of money which we won't be able to find (my ex has % share of my property and one of the conditions for him getting this is me cohabiting)

Do you think my bf will be able to claim housing benefit to go towards paying the rent if I rent my BTL house out to him?

Depends on the outcome of his own property dealings with his ex. If he has capitol in excess of £16k, then the answer would be "No". From your earlier posts, it appears that his share of the equity in that property would easily exceed this amount.

PasturesNew

How old is he? Might not even get the 1-bed rate if he's the wrong age (not sure if that's 25 or 35 these days).

bewilderedhelpneeded

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Depends on the outcome of his own property dealings with his ex. If he has capitol in excess of £16k, then the answer would be "No". From your earlier posts, it appears that his share of the equity in that property would easily exceed this amount.

Ah! We hadn't even thought about that! Does it still count as his capital if his ex continues to live in the house (ie he has no way of getting hold of the capital until the house is sold when the children reach a certain age?)

bewilderedhelpneeded

PasturesNew wrote: »

How old is he? Might not even get the 1-bed rate if he's the wrong age (not sure if that's 25 or 35 these days).

He is the right age to get the one bed rate!