Housing Benefit help!

jamiekg

Hey all, i'm looking for some advice if possible!

Please bear with me as this could get long!

I'm looking to move to Leeds within the next few months with my girlfriend. I will be earning circa £212p/w and she will be doing an apprenticeship of circa £150p/w. We are looking to see first of all whether we will be entitled to housing benefit, and in which circumstance/s.

The first example would be sharing a 1 bed apartment.
The second would be sharing a 2 bed apartment but not declaring ourselves a couple, so each "living in one room".
The third would be to share a 2 bed with someone else.

Travel to work for me would be approx £9 a day.

For all intents and purposes, I will say that we have no savings.

Can anyone help as it's pretty confusing to first time renters such as ourselves!

I am looking to go to the CAB on monday but would prefer clarification before then!

Neither of us claim any benefits currently.

I apologise if this question has been answered a bazillion times but i'm looking for a definitive answer instead of piecing things together from google searches!

Thanks all

Mara69

Why not decide if you want to live with your girlfriend or not and take it from there?

cte1111

Scenario 2 would be fraud, so best cross this one off your list.

jamiekg

We do want to live together, but we're trying to work out what we would be entitled to, if we're entitled to anything at all!

Sorry if this is in the wrong section too!

jamiekg

cte1111 wrote: »

Scenario 2 would be fraud, so best cross this one off your list.

I am well aware of this, but all the same I am intrigued as I there is still every chance that we won't move in together, or we could break up at any stage.

Caz3121

The LHA for a one bedroom place in Leeds is £350 per month. All housing benefit calculations will be based on this rate. You will have a joint household income of over £1560 per month so without children or disabilities to factor in I would expect there to be no payment but you can check here http://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/entitlementcalculator.aspx using £80.77 as the weekly LHA

If your girlfriend was renting a room alone she would qualify for 36p per week housing benefit (as a guide), you would not qualify

BigAunty

You won't get advice on Scenario 2 as members here aren't inclined to support what is effectively a criminal offence (benefit fraud). You do realise that you can end up in court for this?

But what you can do, for the legitimate route, is identify the maximum LHA (Local Housing Allowance, housing benefit for a private property) for a 1 bedroom property on the Direct Gov or local council website. Then enter the information into the Turn2us online benefit calculator which will take into account her income and any income you may be claiming.

As you earn over £1500 per month between you, I doubt that there would be much in the way of LHA, if at all, in any of those scenarios. Since you can probably get a studio or 1 bed flat for around £100 a week in Leeds and your income is £362, this should be manageable with a bit of budgeting.

EDIT - those benefit calculators are reliable so if I were you, I'd cancel that appointment with the CAB.

cte1111

It says on the Leeds Council website:


Current local housing allowance rates
The LHA is set each month by the rent service who provide the “maximum allowances” for households who need up to 4 bedrooms.

Leeds has two sets of LHA rates Leeds and Tyersal.

The Leeds rates apply to all properties within our boundary except those in the Tyersal area.

The new maximum weekly Local Housing Allowance rates for Leeds from 1st April 2012 are

Shared accommodation £61.50
one Bedroom accommodation £99.00
two Bedroom accommodation £122.75
three Bedroom accommodation £150.00
four Bedroom accommodation £196.15
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageidentifier=5832b9f1-3792-4b1c-bffe-b455b41e533d

jamiekg

Thanks for the advice all, short and sweet is exactly what I was looking for!

I would like to say that I was in no way suggesting that I would commit benefit fraud as this goes against all my moral beliefs, but was just intrigued as to how things worked all the same!

Is there a cut off point for housing benefits wage wise? As in, what is the highest someone/a couple can earn before they're no longer entitled to it? Or is it a percentage of their wage after rent deductions and other outgoings?

BigAunty

jamiekg wrote: »

...

Is there a cut off point for housing benefits wage wise? As in, what is the highest someone/a couple can earn before they're no longer entitled to it? Or is it a percentage of their wage after rent deductions and other outgoings?

No, there's no such cut off that anyone here can advise you as regards a HB/wages scenario as the LHA rate varies by area, the age of the occupants, their relationship, if there are kids - simply too many factors to say that is £x sum in wages.

For example, someone under 35 who is single is only entitled to the shared accommodation rate, not the rate for a 1 bed property.

It's nothing to do with a percentage of their wage and no benefits at all take into account outgoings (how a person spends their money, their bill commitments) and will only use the household income as a measure.

Basically, a person is entitled to x maximum rate of LHA according to the make-up of the household and area and their income is taken into account as to whether they can all, some or none of it.

The rent they are committed to pay in the tenancy agreement is irrelevant - a person can live in a mansion if they like even if they only qualify for a fiver LHA - it's up to them to make up the difference themselves.

LHA rates are based on the bottom third (i.e. cheapest third) of market rents in the local area. It used to be the average rate but got reduced last year.

wiccanlou

I have also found this for you as you have stated your girlfriend is wanting to start an apprenticeship as long as it is not an advanced modern apprenticship she is entitled to a discount on her council tax http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Advice_and_benefits/Council_tax/Council_tax__discount/Council_Tax_apprentice_discount.aspx