Sister moving in - who do I inform?

honeypop

My partner and I have just (last December) bought our first house and currently have a spare room. My 18yo sister lives with our Mum but Mum is moving away this month and my sister wants to stay in this area to finish this year at college, before joining Mum in the new place and doing the 2nd year of the course at the local college down there.

Mum was going to pay for her to rent a room in a house/flatshare to stay around here but to save them money I offered for her to come and stay with us for the 4 months til the end of the college course and just pay an amount to cover the extra for gas/electricity/water used and cover her food etc...

She only attends college Tues/Wed/Thur and sometimes Fridays so will stay with us for those days and the rest of the time she will be down at the new house with Mum, so my house will not be her 'permanent' residence.

Before she moves in, I'd like to know who I should be informing of this (if anyone)?
Do I need to let Northern Rock know (mortgage lender, obviously) as on the paperwork we just said it will be us 2 living there?
What about the insurers for buildings/contents, as they also asked if anyone else was living at the address when we took it out.
The local council? Don't know if they would need to know about it for electoral roll purposes although it is only for a few months she will be here.
Anyone else?
If I need to let anyone know then I will do, I'm not asking with a view to not telling the truth about the situation.

One other question, my Mum was going to enquire about Housing Benefit for my sister if she was going to rent as per the original plan, am I right in thinking that as she will now be staying with family she will not be entitled to HB? If so, this is fine I don't want her to lie just to get it, but don't want her to miss out if she's entitled to something.

Also, if there is something glaringly obvious that I have overlooked here please let me know. It is just something I suggested at the weekend without giving it much thought.

pollyanna24

Goodness, I didn't know you had to tell anyone. My bf's 18yr old bro lives in our little room and bf's best friend is moving in soon. Their rent combined doesn't cover what the threshold for tax, so assumed we didn't have to tell anyone. It's my house after all!! (I know that's a childish answer, ignore the last bit).

prudryden

Sounds like she is just a visitor - probably leave it at that.

honeypop

Thanks Prudryden, that's what I thought at first so it puts my mind at rest.

pollyanna24 wrote:

My bf's 18yr old bro lives in our little room and bf's best friend is moving in soon.

Pollyanna, I think it may well be different for you if it is their permanent place of residence. I know for sure we had to let the mortgage provider know of anyone else living with us and also for insurance purposes.