Housing Benefit advice needed please

julia2012

Hi all,

I am currently in receipt of housing benefit as both my husband and I claim working tax credits (plus child tax credits etc...)

We are privately renting in England.

We are shortly moving to Wales (family all there) and will be carrying on with the same WTC etc...

The thing is, we have a slightly bad credit rating and my husband is self employed and finds it difficult to prove his income to prospective landlords.

We have been told that the only way we will get a rented property is if we pay them 6 months rent in advance.

A friend has very kindly offered to lend us the 6 months rent so we can do this.

My question is : How will this affect housing benefit? The deal will be that we pay the 6 months rent in advance and then pay the friend the equivalent rent every month. Will I still be able to claim housing benefit in this circumstance?

Any help is very much welcome

Julia.

HappyMJ

The money will be considered a loan and you can spend it on the rent...

Make sure it's all in writing.

Yes you can still claim housing benefit. It's paid in arrears so you should pay the first month's rent using your own money and the remaining 5 months using your friends generous offer so that you don't fall behind.

julia2012

Hi HappyMJ, thanks for the advice but i'm not sure I understand what you mean.

How can I pay the first months rent myself? The estate agent will just want the lot up front?

I will be paying the bond myself though.

HappyMJ

julia2012 wrote: »

Hi HappyMJ, thanks for the advice but i'm not sure I understand what you mean.

How can I pay the first months rent myself? The estate agent will just want the lot up front?

I will be paying the bond myself though.

What I mean is using your own money...let's say you move in on the 1st Feb paying 6 months upfront. You then get housing benefit in arrears and repay your friend on the 1st March, April, May, June and July. Your next rent payment would also be due on the 1st August so you won't have the money to repay both your friend and the landlord so you should really only borrow 5 months of rent from your friend and pay 1 month using your own money....unless of course you can save it over the next 6 months and repay both your friend and the rent on the same day.

julia2012

We are hoping that by the time the 6 month period arrives we won't be claiming WTC etc... Hubbies business appears to be taking off and it would be lovely to not have to rely on handouts :j

I was just wondering how we present it to the local council? IE: Are they going to say that they can't give us the benefit as we have managed to pay it all upfront?

Our friend doesn't want any interest and we were kind of taken aback when this was offered to us! We never asked for any help but he was there like a shot when he found out what the problem was. We still can't believe that there are people out there who will base things on trust!!

My hubby phoned him back about 30 minutes after he called us. He explained that he didn't want to appear ungrateful on the phone (hubby was VERY subdued when our friend first phoned to tell us) - it's just that he was in total shock that someone would offer to put up about £3k for us with no security! It doesn't happen much these days!

HappyMJ

julia2012 wrote: »

We are hoping that by the time the 6 month period arrives we won't be claiming WTC etc... Hubbies business appears to be taking off and it would be lovely to not have to rely on handouts :j

I was just wondering how we present it to the local council? IE: Are they going to say that they can't give us the benefit as we have managed to pay it all upfront?

Our friend doesn't want any interest and we were kind of taken aback when this was offered to us! We never asked for any help but he was there like a shot when he found out what the problem was. We still can't believe that there are people out there who will base things on trust!!

My hubby phoned him back about 30 minutes after he called us. He explained that he didn't want to appear ungrateful on the phone (hubby was VERY subdued when our friend first phoned to tell us) - it's just that he was in total shock that someone would offer to put up about £3k for us with no security! It doesn't happen much these days!

Just explain it to council they come across this all the time. HB is something paid in arrears so you actually have to have paid (or have a liability for) the rent to claim it back.

julia2012

That's great - I have another question actually as well : Do we have to tell the estage agent/landlord that we are claiming housing benefit?

HappyMJ

julia2012 wrote: »

That's great - I have another question actually as well : Do we have to tell the estage agent/landlord that we are claiming housing benefit?

Well....they are going to want to know how you are going to pay the rent going forward...yes the first 6 months of the contract will be covered but what will be used to pay the rent after that. If you show them your last self assessment return showing a very low income then it may not be enough to cover the rent so yes if they ask. If they don't ask then don't volunteer the information.