Cohabiting and benefits

Killmark

Haily111 wrote: »

My other half

Up until we were going out I was a single parent, working, receiving Working Tax Credit, Child Benefit and help towards dental costs.

My partner has his own house which he pays all the bills on, his post goes there and he is on the Electoral Register as living there.

my Partner stays with us 7 nights a week and doesn't really stays at his house anymore.

From your wording it seems it seems as though you consider yourself partners and that you admit effectively living together fulltime.

Haily111 wrote: »

But as far as I am concerned we wouldn't be classed as cohabiting financially as he doesn't contribute to our household.

The thing is I will lose most if not all of my WTC if we officially move in.

It seems the real issue is you don't want to be financially dependent on him, but prefer to be on dependent on the welfare state.

The fact you shop for food together and I assume you prepare and eat meals together would make the case stronger that you aren't a single parent and haven't been for some time......

To be honest I think you know the answer to your own question.

Killmark

A radical suggestion if your worried about the loss of your benefits would be to have him rent his home out and use the income after tax to make up for the loss of your benefits.

FBaby

Haily111 wrote: »

I agree it is a very grey area hence why I don't want to be doing the wrong thing and get into trouble. We do share the the food shop but that is all. I only earn around 4 grand a year do I do rely on WTC to live. If he officially moves in it means I am more or less dependant in him, nit just me but my daughter as well (and she is not his). Just wanted the advice x

So it really all comes down with you having no problem being reliant on tax payers, but not your partner. You don't have to be reliable on him. Couldn't you increase your hours so you could earn a better salary if you are concerned about being reliant on him? I do understand how you feel, but in the end, you are now in a relationship, and it is clear that either your partner should be supporting you or your child, or like any other 'normal' family, if you want to increase your income, you will have to up your working hours.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Reading what you say, you and your boyfriend live together in your home, share the same bed and eat at the same table.

Yes, you are a couple, and you are defrauding the benefit system by pretending to be anything else.

zagfles

FBaby wrote: »

I don't understand how your arrangement can be financially beneficial. If he officially moved in with you (as really he has), he could rent his home and he would have more money to contribute towards your joint bills. Surely what he would get out of renting his house is more than what you are getting in tax credits every month?

She could be getting around £7000 in tax credits a year. Plus probably council tax benefit, maybe housing benefit though she didn't mention it. Plus free presciptions, dentist etc.

Income from renting a house, after expenses and tax, would likely be less.

But...

I understand how you feel about making sure you want to share your life with him before him officially moving in. I went out with my partner for 18 months before we made the move, but he was only at mine a 2 or 3 times a week, all his things were at his and he packed his bag to come and stay at ours (I think he did have a tooth brush ). I assume your partner has moved most of his clothes and things at yours. From what you are writing, i would say you are definitely living as a couple, even if your finances are still separate and should inform the HRMC accordingly.

Agreed - the OP is on dodgy ground with the arrangement.

Killmark

zagfles wrote: »

She could be getting around £7000 in tax credits a year. Plus probably council tax benefit, maybe housing benefit though she didn't mention it. Plus free presciptions, dentist etc.

Income from renting a house, after expenses and tax, would likely be less.

If she has a single person discount and/or in receipt of housing benefit/council tax benefit then she's on very dodgy ground.

Your right that income from renting the house may not match the decrease in benefits but it should enable her partner to minimize his own expenses on his property investment and possibly turn a nice profit, whilst he contributes to the OP's household.

I can't see many winners in the current situation except the OP, it is likely both her partner and the state are loosing out.

dseventy

Haily111 wrote: »

, my Partner stays with us 7 nights a week ....... as he doesn't contribute to our household.

So he stays 7 nights a week and does not contribute a penny to the house? Does he take showers? Eat food? Not a penny contributed?

Sounds like a right catch?

D70

Morlock

dseventy wrote: »

So he stays 7 nights a week and does not contribute a penny to the house? Does he take showers? Eat food? Not a penny contributed?

I think there are a few distortions in the OP due to the misguided opinion below.

Haily111 wrote: »

But as far as I am concerned we wouldn't be classed as cohabiting financially as he doesn't contribute to our household.

Sixer

OP: there aren't any hard and fast rules about cohabiting. The decision is based on the overall effect of a number of factors. These include:

Properties maintained between you
The extent to which your finances are linked
How other people see you
Whether or not you plan, cook and eat meals together
Whether or not you keep personal items (toiletries, clothes, jewellery, etc) at each other's places
Where you are registered to vote, what address your car is registered to, etc

Since you and your partner maintain separate properties and have separate bills and are registered at different addresses BUT you cook and eat together, likely keep personal items at each other's places and are probably seen by others as a couple (since even you refer to partners not boy/girlfriends), you can see that you are in a very grey area with the balance of probabilities. Personally, I would not like to maintain a situation where my benefits entitlement was a matter of borderline interpretation. If a decision went against you, there would at the least be a huge overpayment to cope with. I think you need to make a decision about this relationship one way or the other, for your own peace of mind.

haily111

Thank you for the replies.
We have been this way since November. So not for long. I think my question has been answered in the fact that we would be classed as living together and I would like to say thank you for everyone's advice. Can I just add that I am not sponging off taxpayers as someone put it, as until the start of the year I was a single parent working a lot of hours do that I could provide for my daughter and I rather than living entirely off benefits without working. I also think it is a bit sad how people form opinions on a person they don't even know, granted I am rubbish at explaining myself but that doesn't mean people should be rude. I do not want to be classed as a fraud nore do I want to get on the wrong side of the law and this is why I posted the question. Thank you for all of the answers, I do really appreciate it X