Can LHA be claimed?

princessdon

publicsectorworker wrote: »

Selling would not put too much over £16000 so could maybe probably sell for lower price to get under. But does the 5 year rule apply if he doesn't own the house by himself.

From what I have read (so this isn't 100% certain) but from other threads on here joint owners have been made to wait the 5 years. Most people are joint owners (partners or Ex Partners).

There was a thread recently where a son bought the fathers house and even AFTER the 5 years they were refused as they considered it a contrived tennancy.

publicsectorworker

Caz3121 wrote: »

If money is tight, instead of trying to work away around defrauding the benefits system, why don't you get a lodger into the spare room, or 2 rooms if the other brother is moving out

Trying to find out what circumstances lha can be paid is not fraud. neither is changing circumstances if it means he can be entitled to lha. other brother would only move if needed. good idea but dont want to rent spare rooms.

enabledebra

There really is no way this is going to happen.

Selling the house under market value or at market value and paying off debts - both may be seen as deprivation of capital.

Selling in order to rent back - mat be seen as contrivance and there's the 5 year rule.
edit- also, if you managed to get around all the other problems to be in a position where potentially your brother could be paid LH:

If you would be renting a 3 bed house to your brother for the equivalent of the shared room rate of LHA this would be unlikely to be seen as a commercial tenancy.

If you charged the going rate for a 3 bed house he wouldn't get enough LHA to cover it and if you didn't evict him for rent arrears it would be seen as a non commercial tenancy.

PippaGirl_2

troll ... surely?!

publicsectorworker

enabledebra wrote: »

There really is no way this is going to happen.

Selling the house under market value or at market value and paying off debts - both may be seen as deprivation of capital.

Selling in order to rent back - mat be seen as contrivance and there's the 5 year rule.
edit- also, if you managed to get around all the other problems to be in a position where potentially your brother could be paid LH:

If you would be renting a 3 bed house to your brother for the equivalent of the shared room rate of LHA this would be unlikely to be seen as a commercial tenancy.

If you charged the going rate for a 3 bed house he wouldn't get enough LHA to cover it and if you didn't evict him for rent arrears it would be seen as a non commercial tenancy.

the rent would be going rate for 3 bed. shortfall of rent would be payed from his own savings from sale which would cover several years rent before he had to worry abot top ups. this would also take care quite quickly of anything over £16000. he could be forced to sell for commercial reasons by other 2 owners then pay commercial rent at full rate.

enabledebra

The best thing to do if you think all the rules won't apply is to talk to your local council about your proposals and see what they say...

tomtom256

publicsectorworker wrote: »

Trying to find out what circumstances lha can be paid is not fraud. neither is changing circumstances if it means he can be entitled to lha. other brother would only move if needed. good idea but dont want to rent spare rooms.

Even if you changed circumstances he would still not have a liability to pay rent unless you "created" a false tenancy i.e. fraud in order to charge rent.

As other would say this would then be setup to take advantage of the benefit system and would still fall foul of the five year rule.

Why does he need to claim LHA/HB, is to pay his share of the mortgage by any chance?

And why would his family force him to sell his share to them for commercial reasons?

publicsectorworker

enabledebra wrote: »

The best thing to do if you think all the rules won't apply is to talk to your local council about your proposals and see what they say...

its best to make sure all the rules are covered before lha is applied for.

tomtom256

publicsectorworker wrote: »

its best to make sure all the rules are covered before lha is applied for.

You mean its best to work out the rules and how to twist them before applying for LHA, surely?

publicsectorworker

tomtom256 wrote: »

Even if you changed circumstances he would still not have a liability to pay rent unless you "created" a false tenancy i.e. fraud in order to charge rent.

As other would say this would then be setup to take advantage of the benefit system and would still fall foul of the five year rule.

Why does he need to claim LHA/HB, is to pay his share of the mortgage by any chance?

And why would his family force him to sell his share to them for commercial reasons?

there isnt a mortgage its owned outright in 3 shares. 2 of us could force him to sell and make him homeless as his share wouldnt buy another property. then we could buy another property that he hasnt lived in and rent him that one. obviously we dont want to do that as its in his and our intrest. rather than do that we may as well rent him the flat which he hasnt lived in, its just that means more moving.