Complicated Housing Benefit query

rorysdad

Hi

I live in a private house with the tenancy in my and my partner's name. Our two kids live with us.

My daughter's boyfriend who is 18 has started to stay at our house 4 days a week (Mon-Thursday)- as he has got an apprenticeship on £95 per week with a business across the road from my house. He goes home and stays with his Mum in her private rented house for the other 3 nights of the week (Friday/Sat/Sun) when he is not at work.

He stays with us for convenience as his Mum's house is 6 miles from his new job and he has no transport.

He pays us £20 for the 4 nights he stays - which is for food.

I have informed my landlord who is fine. I have told the Council.

Anyone know how this will affect my and his Mum's Housing Benefit claims?

Rorys Dad

BigAunty

If you use the Turn2us online benefit calculator, there is a section there where you can declare other people who live with you and it will perform the necessary calculations for you.

Also, your local council website should have a table that lists non-dependent deductions for council tax and housing benefit, showing how much they reduce the benefits received by the tenants if they have someone living with them in employment. It runs on a scale according to income and whether or not the dependent is on benefits or is a student, for example. I can't remember how apprentices are treated.

The fact that he splits his time between two locations is going to be irrelevant to the calculations, I think - people get treated as if they have one primary location, I believe.

Also, how you put his keep towards certain things is also irrelevant - benefits are based on income, not expenses, so the local council will not treat his keep any differently because he's paying towards food only.

pmlindyloo

I believe that your daughter's boyfriend will not be counted as a non dependant but as a lodger/boarder.

For HB purposes they will discount the first £20 and half the remainder of his 'rent' and use the rest as income.

I do not know if they have a formula for working out the amount that a boarder would pay in your daughter's boyfriend situation.

However, it might be something like.....

Boarder pays £140 per week (all inclusive) - only using that figure to make the working out easier!

So he pays for 4 out of 7 days so £140 divided by 7 = £20 per day times 4 is £80.

The first £20 is disregarded so £60 and then they take half the remainder so £30 - and they will treat this as income.

Hope that makes sense! (and hope my example is correct!)

So basically if they lower you HB by so much then you are going to have to ask the boyfriend to raise the amount he gives you (he may want to discuss this with his parents so that he can lower the amount he gives them)

Having said all that, since he is only only earning £95 per week the situation described above is in theory only since he could not possibly afford to 'board' with you.

To be honest this is one for the Housing Deparment to sort!

BigAunty

Good point - the council website should explain if the lodger is classed as a lodger/subtenant or non-dependent or another MSE poster can explain the difference.

Here's a link to the unearned income disregard on the DWP website - seems complex.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/rr2-a-guide-to-housing-benefit/working-it-out/income-and-capital/#aa33

McKneff

I believe the OP is asking for the boys mother who is on benefits, not his own household

BigAunty

McKneff wrote: »

I believe the OP is asking for the boys mother who is on benefits, not his own household

I've re-read and it seems he's asking about both households, though I missed this ("Anyone know how this will affect my and his Mum's Housing Benefit claims")

Assuming that his household is considered the primary residence of the boy, then I believe that if his mum is a private tenant, then it's possible that her LHA will go down as she has no entitlement to his bedroom, assuming he was the sole occupant and didn't share it with a sibling.

She can find out the affect on the Direct Gov or local council website which will tell her how many bedrooms she's entitled to and what the LHA rate is.

If she is a social housing tenant (council/housing association), receiving full HB, for example, then she is not currently affected - unoccupied rooms aren't penalised in the same way experienced by private tenants. However, next year the govt are planning to reduce the HB of social housing tenants with unoccupied bedrooms - 14% for one bedroom.

So is she a private or social housing tenant?

I still believe that the split across households is irrelevant - he must live at one or other place as a primary residence when it comes to a benefit claim of the tenant of that property.

pmlindyloo

McKneff wrote: »

I believe the OP is asking for the boys mother who is on benefits, not his own household

Anyone know how this will affect my and his Mum's Housing Benefit claims?


Good point I read it as to how it would affect the HB where he is boarding and now I think about it, how it also would affect the boy's mother's HB.

Very complicated situation - hope they get it sorted and come back and tell us.

McKneff

Sorry BA, I missed the 'my' lol

rorysdad

Thanks for all the replies.

Daughter's boyfriends Mum lives in private rented property.

I and my daughter live in social housing - I have already called my landlord and they have confirmed that it is OK for boyfriend to stay as the property will not be over occupied.

I think boyfriend's Mum is worried that as he no longer occupies his bedroom in her house for 4 nights per week that she may be classed as 'under occupied' and that will reduce her housing benefit?

The other question is council tax benefit - where does he 'live' for that purpose?

Rory's Dad

BigAunty

rorysdad wrote: »

..

I think boyfriend's Mum is worried that as he no longer occupies his bedroom in her house for 4 nights per week that she may be classed as 'under occupied' and that will reduce her housing benefit?

Yes, as I have explained, she canno claim HB for him if it's not his primary residence and she can find out if his moving out reduces her Local Housing Allowance in the way I previously mentioned.

rorysdad wrote: »

..



The other question is council tax benefit - where does he 'live' for that purpose?

He's not going to be at one place for HB and the other for CT, is he?! He has one primary residence - you and his mum cannot timeshare him for benefits purposes. I know he divides his time across two locations but he can't divide his benefit impact between them.

pmlindyloo

Think this might help:

If a person if forced away from the property that would ordinarily be called 'home' due to employment, but still occasionally return to that property, then it is still classed as your main residence. In Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council v Stark [3], Mr Stark, an RAF serviceman, only returned to his matrimonial home when on leave. Mrs Stark attempted to obtain a 25% single person's discount but was, successfully, refused due to the property being considered Mr Stark's main residence also. This was decided because the property was where Mr Stark would live if not for the demands of his work.

Therefore I would say that the boyfriend's main residence is at his mum's house and should not affect her HB and CTB.

So OP he would be 'boarding at your house' and you need to ask the relevant department if this affects your HB and CTB.