renting issue

doughnut-gal

My husband and I purchased a property in 2000 - he allowed his mother and father to move in rent free. Unfortunately in 2004 my husband committed suicide I received no insurance monies because of this but managed to sell a large house and pay two mortgages off allowing her to remain in the property and i managed to buy a smaller house for my daughter and I. The problem now is that financially I need to either rent or sell the property as I have no money. I have contacted her other sons who have just said this will kill her (she is 75 and has a few ailments) she has no money to pay rent and I contacted housing benefit who said they would not help her with rent as I am related. I don't want to have to evict her but she has no money and I cannot afford to carry this on any more. Any advice would be appreciated.

G_M

I'm afraid you have som hard choices:

* become a proper landlord and start charging rent. It does not have to be the full market rate, but any rent will make you a landlord.
* evict, then sell or rent at full market rate
* double check mum in law's benefit entitlement
* negotiate with her sons - can they pay the rent for their mum?

skintandscared_2

You poor thing, what a horrible situation to be in. I don't mean to sound harsh, but nobody can just live for free! If your ex mother-in-law moved to different accommodation I'm sure she would be entitled to some form of housing benefit or sheltered accommodation. Her sons should be looking into alternatives or at least coming up with some form of rent to pay you for her to live in your house. They cannot just say "it would kill her" and wash their hands of the situation!

PasturesNew

The alternatives are:

- try to persuade her to move into sheltered housing, where she can have friends and support around her; rent on that would be paid if she has no income.
- sell the house with her as a tenant, to another landlord, the new landlord would be able to charge/get rent from LHA (up to a 1 bedroom rate). Although this wouldn't work in reality as the house is bigger than 1-bed and the LL would probably put the rent up too high or give her notice pretty quickly
- persuade the other sons to come in with you on the ownership of the property. If you own it outright, and say it's worth £100k, then you could try to see if there's any mileage in the three of them putting in £25k each and all of you own 1/4 each. This'd give you £75k, less fees/costs. This might not be possible and might become tricky and complex in the coming years

Getting her into sheltered is the best bet really, and she'd benefit from a great social life being around people "just like her".

jjlandlord

doughnut-gal wrote: »

I contacted housing benefit who said they would not help her with rent as I am related.

As far as I know this is incorrect, as long as you do not set up what is called a 'contrived' tenancy, ie. only for the purpose of taking advantage of housing benefits.

Dunroamin

jjlandlord wrote: »

As far as I know this is incorrect, as long as you do not set up what is called a 'contrived' tenancy, ie. only for the purpose of taking advantage of housing benefits.

Now you're husband is dead I don't really see that you are related any more and certainly not the close relationship which would affect her ability to claim LHA/HB.

pmlindyloo

jjlandlord wrote: »

As far as I know this is incorrect, as long as you do not set up what is called a 'contrived' tenancy, ie. only for the purpose of taking advantage of housing benefits.

Live in a property owned by a family member



If you live in a property owned by a family member and pay them rent, you may be entitled to housing benefit. The council will want to take a detailed look at your agreement with your landlord. You won’t get housing benefit if:

• you're not paying rent on a commercial basis
• the arrangement has been set up to take advantage of the housing benefit system – this is called a ‘contrived tenancy’. For example, if your landlord only asks you to pay rent when you are not working (and so are eligible for housing benefit), but not when you are working (and earning too much to qualify for housing benefit), this would be a contrived tenancy. (Shelter website)

If you want to explore this scenario then you would need to set up a proper tenancy agreement with a commercial rent (you would need to look on Rightmove or similar to see what similar properties rent for.)

Your mum in law would only be entitled to the housing allowance rate for a one bedroomed property (you can check this on your local website) so it may not be a viable option.

I think the information you have been given was incorrect. Perhaps they thought you were living in the property as well - in those circumstances she would not be entitled to HB.

doughnut-gal

Thank you for all the advice - I am really annoyed with her other 4 sons who seem to think it is my problem - I think they feel I have pots of money which I don't - i wouldn't be doing it if I did but I have to look out for my daughter and I think 8 years letting her live rent free is enough. I know she gets severe disability allowance and pension credit she has no other income so it does not make sense for housing benefit it put me in the position of evicting her only for them to have to pay her rent somewhere else!! I am happy to accept a lower rental than the market value as it is a 4 bed property so she would obviously only get a 1 bed allowance but that would be enough for me until we can resolve the situation.

doughnut-gal

She really doesn't want to move - her sons claim they cannot afford anything they said she would become a "bag lady" if I evict her! It so hard because I have to consider my daughter if something did happen to her she might never forgive me although she does realise that all our money is tied up in that property!

sofaspud1234

Don't let the sons emotionally blackmail you into thinking it will kill her, it won't. My mother has just sold her house to go into sheltered housing and she is 85 with a dodgy heart. I feel for you but her sons should take responsibility.

doughnut-gal

I know that's what they are doing and I said my mum moved 180 miles to be near me last year and she's 85 and still going strong! Suppose I gotta harden up !