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

zzzLazyDaisy

Woolton wrote: »

Trouble is I'm on a low income (work part time & a part time student).

treac wrote: »

Hi Woolton, if you are a full time student you would be able to claim an exemption for Council Tax, as you would be the only over 18 year old in the property.

OP says she is a part-time student.

Although you are right, she should check that her course really does meet the definition of 'part-time' as some courses which only require attendance for a few hours a week are still defined as full-time owing to the number of hours private study expected.

princessdon

She is there 3 days a week so I'd say FT.

Op if you post the course and the awarding body I can check LARA and get the status for you.

Woolton

Hi,

With regards to council tax, I assumed because he owned the property I would still have to pay it. I know I'll get a reduction though.

So basically, when I move in, all bills will need to go in my name, his name can be on nothing bar the mortgage? I will have to pay all bills out of my account but he can legally give me the money as maintenance?

I spoke with him before, he said if I move in next month he will definitely move back to his old property rather than his mum's. she won't have him!

zzzLazyDaisy

Woolton wrote: »

Hi,

With regards to council tax, I assumed because he owned the property I would still have to pay it. I know I'll get a reduction though.

So basically, when I move in, all bills will need to go in my name, his name can be on nothing bar the mortgage? I will have to pay all bills out of my account but he can legally give me the money as maintenance?

I spoke with him before, he said if I move in next month he will definitely move back to his old property rather than his mum's. she won't have him!

If you look at the situation as if he is your landlord and you are the tenant of the property, it will make more sense.

It is his house so he pays the mortgage, that is nothing to do with you.

But if it is your home, the bills should be in your name, and yes, that includes the council tax. If you are officially a f/t student then you get an exemption and you are not eligible to pay council tax, otherwise you get a 25% discount for being a single adult householder.

To keep things clean and separate for DWP/HMRC purposes, you should agree a voluntary maintenance figure and it is worth putting this in writing - since it is all amicable a letter would be fine, just confirming that you and he have agreed that he will pay you voluntary maintenance of £x per month for the child, by standing order directly into your bank account. To be extra careful, the standing order should have as it's reference 'child maintenance' so it will show up as that on your bank statements.

The fact that he will be maintaining a separate home, with utility bills, council tax etc in his name will also help.

You should make sure also that you register on the electoral roll straight away at your new address, and that he does the same at his new address.

The more that you can do to show that these are two separate households the better.

Good luck

Dx

Edit - there is a way of involving the CSA, just to register a voluntary arrangement with them. I don't know enough about that to advise you, but if no-one else comes along with more info, it might be worth phoning the CSA helpline and just asking the question. If you did it this way, this would also be evidence that the payments he is maing to you are genuine maintenance payments.

Woolton

That was a very helpful post zzzLazydaisy thank you. When you say putting it in a letter, do you mean through Solicitors or just do it ourselves and both sign it?

zzzLazyDaisy

Since everything is amicable, he could write to you saying something like,

'this letter is to confirm that I have agreed to allow you and [child name] to live at [address] rent free, and that I will pay you £x per month voluntary child maintenance into your bank account for [child name]. This arrangement will be reviewed in January each year. I am enclosing two copies of this letter, please keep one copy for your own records, then sign and date the other copy, and return it to me to confirm your agreement to this arrangement.

You would then keep one copy, sign and date the other and give it back to him (keeping a copy of the letter with your signature on it as well as the original that he sent to you).

However, benefits is not my specialist area, so I suggest that you speak to the CAB just to check if there is anything else you need to be aware of.

Icequeen99

As everyone else has said you need to formalise as much of this as possible which includes:

* tenancy agreement
* maintenance (as suggested above a letter, but more important is that you have a paper trail showing the set figure transferred each month
* bills all in your name (he can adjust the maintenance figure to cover whatever you need)
* council tax in your name
* he needs to move himself to the electoral role elsewhere and also needs to make sure he changes things like his driving licence, bank, any loans and ensure he doesn't take any credit using the address of that property.

Is there a mortgage on the property? Is that in his name? If it is that might be a sticking point. Presumably he has the relevant permission from his mortgage company.

IQ

zzzLazyDaisy

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Is there a mortgage on the property? Is that in his name? If it is that might be a sticking point. Presumably he has the relevant permission from his mortgage company.

IQ

I am not 100% certain but since the arrangement is intended to provided a home for his former partner and their child following a relationship breakdown, the lender's normal rules concerning letting might not apply. However it is a good point and he should certainly check this out. The lender may want OP to sign something to say that she does not have a beneficial interest in the property and has no right to remain in the event of a repossession.

princessdon

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I am not 100% certain but since the arrangement is intended to provided a home for his former partner and their child following a relationship breakdown, the lender's normal rules concerning letting might not apply. However it is a good point and he should certainly check this out. The lender may want OP to sign something to say that she does not have a beneficial interest in the property and has no right to remain in the event of a repossession.

And op should want some kind of tenancy rights in case a new girlfriend comes along and wants her out or they disagree over christmas visitation

Woolton

again, thanks so much for all the replies, but this is getting really complicated now!

it's a temporary arrangement until 2015, i don't want to stay any longer than that, ex will have done more than enough by then, it will be my turn to support our child once i'm working full time and he can just pay some maintenance on a weekly or monthly basis.

i was really happy with the agreement, i was just worried that tax credits would put 2 & 2 together and assume we had reconciled, which we haven't and unfortunately never will. ex and i agreed it would be informal and casual, no tenancy agreements etc.. all i was going to do was transfer bills to my name, put my name on council tax/electoral roll and inform HMRC i had moved to this property, meanwhile ex would put his name back on his old property electoral roll/council tax etc..

is everything else necessary? it seems like alot of hassle for a temporary arrangment. will they really start investigating me if his name is no longer on anything? (except the mortgage) it just seems like if it's likely they will, then it's not worth it with having to try and prove things and having my tax credits stopped until it's proven we don't live together. i'd be better off just finding a small flat and having him pay standard maintenence.