No longer together but living in his property - advice please?

Woolton

Hi, i've posted this elsewhere on the forum but was told I may get responses from people more knowledgable in this area on here?

Hi,

My ex and I split 5 months ago, we have a child together. We both moved from the property we shared, I moved in with my mum, he moved to a new house that he bought (he also owns the property we shared, it wasn't jointly owned)

My mum has asked my child and I to leave, there's not enough room, overcrowded etc... It just isn't working out. Trouble is I'm on a low income (work part time & a part time student) When ex and I were together he supported me with regards to bills, mortgage etc.. I'm on the council tax/electoral roll at my mum's.

Ex is a good guy, we get on great, very amicable, infact we are friends. unfortunately we aren't going to reconcile for a large number of reasons. He has offered for our child and I to move into his new property, he said he'll move back to the old property we shared, or even back to his mum's as it's a huge house and he'd have his own room & bathroom. But I think it's more likely he'll move back to the other property he owns as the tenant he has in there is due to leave next month.

Thing is, I can't afford to live in the property, I'll only be able to clothe & feed myself and our child, at least until my studies finish in 2015 & I can afford to work full time. He said this will basically be maintenance, he'll pay mortgage & all bills for as long as I need to live there.

So how does it work? can it work legally? I won't be claiming any housing benefit or council tax benefit, just child benefit & tax credits. Does ex ring HMRC, council tax etc and tell them he's moving out & I just ring them and tell them I'm moving in? I'm just worried because he owns the property and will still be paying the mortgage so won't HMRC assume we have reconciled?? I can't afford to have my tax credits stopped, I couldn't live.

Also I'm assuming I'd have to put all bills in my name, but they'd still be coming out of his bank account, is this legal? I think it's only the council tax bill that would come out of my account. That's all he expects me to pay but said if necessary he would keep it coming out of his account if I couldn't afford it. I can afford it and obviously it's the least I could do.

missmucksmum

Couldnt he be your landlord and write up a contract? you would then be able to maybe claim help with hb and ctb with being on a low wage and then the money he was going to pay on bills as maintenance he could actually give you in maintainence so all bills would be signed over to you cutting off all ties from ex other than him being your landlord x

Woolton

Hi, thanks for replying.

We didn't really want to go down that route, seems complicated & i don't need to claim hb or anything as he he owns the property. If i got a place elsewhere i'd have no choice but to claim.

I'm just worried that even though the bills would be put in my name, they'd be coming out of his account, is that legal? Does it look suspicious? Council tax would also be in my name & i would pay that out of my child tax credits.

He's either going to move to his mum & rent his other property out, or move back to his old property.

zzzLazyDaisy

You cannot claim LHA if the landlord is the parent of a dependent child living in the house. I will have a look for a link.

Edit:

Sorry just read your OP again.

It is possible to come to an arrangement whereby he pays the bills in lieu of maintenance. However, you are right to be concerned that this could look to the authorities as if you are a couple.

I would suggest that you agree that you can live rent free in the house, but put all the bills in your name, work out what the likely cost will be, and then he should pay that sum into an account so that you can pay the bills. If it makes things cleaner, you can open a separate bank account for that purpose. If you pay all bills on direct debit it will be easy to calculate the monthly out goings, and as the DDs change, he can alter the payment.

If he wont agree to this, you should probably go to a solicitor and get a maintenance agreement drawn up, to make it absolutely clear that the relationship has irretrievably broken down and setting out the arrangement for maintenance in a legal document. But to be honest, I would want a separation of finances to avoid problems further down the line.

The alternative is to rent privately, claim LHA etc and claim maintenance in the normal way (which is not taken into account when calculating means tested benefits)

Woolton

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

You cannot claim LHA if the landlord is the parent of a dependent child living in the house. I will have a look for a link.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is LHA?

missmucksmum

Would op be eligible for council tax benefit? I think it would look a bit dodgy as they would still technically be paid by him couldnt he just give you the money as maintainence? Just from an outside view it might look like you are living together as he pays all the bills and that you are just using the tax credits you get as a single person to pay the council tax bill, the best of both worlds if you know what I mean as I doubt if you were with your ex with him owning the 2 properties and being able to pay for 2 households (his own and yours) you wouldnt be entitled to tax credits. This isnt my opinion this is just what it could look like x

missmucksmum

Local Housing Allowance for tenants with private landlords http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/RentOfficers/LHADirect.html

zzzLazyDaisy

Woolton wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but what is LHA?

Local Housing Allowance - it is the equivalent of Housing Benefit for private rentals.

zzzLazyDaisy

missmucksmum wrote: »

Would op be eligible for council tax benefit? I think it would look a bit dodgy as they would still technically be paid by him couldnt he just give you the money as maintainence? Just from an outside view it might look like you are living together as he pays all the bills and that you are just using the tax credits you get as a single person to pay the council tax bill, the best of both worlds if you know what I mean as I doubt if you were with your ex with him owning the 2 properties and being able to pay for 2 households (his own and yours) you wouldnt be entitled to tax credits. This isnt my opinion this is just what it could look like x

This would be exactly my concern.

OP you should seek advice if you are going to go down this route. Shelter has a helpline (it is not just for homeless people) or CAB may be able to advise you.

labyrinth84

I've got to say, what nice amicable, honest sounding people both you and your ex partner are.
It's nice to hear an amicable story!

I would definitely look into it all, there must be many circumstances like this whereas an ex partner gives a property to live in and is able to pay the bills. He will also be paying the same bills for the property he lives in so that surely must prove he doesn't live with you?

Good luck to you all

missmucksmum

labyrinth84 wrote: »

I've got to say, what nice amicable, honest sounding people both you and your ex partner are.
It's nice to hear an amicable story!

I would definitely look into it all, there must be many circumstances like this whereas an ex partner gives a property to live in and is able to pay the bills. He will also be paying the same bills for the property he lives in so that surely must prove he doesn't live with you?

Good luck to you all

maybe not if he moves in with his mum x