How Do HB Department Know Who Lives With You.

mojos.revenge

I live in a rented 2 bed property, and get full HB. My son is registered on the electoral roll at my address.

He works abroad a lot because of this he doesn't have another residence. Obviously he needs somewhere to stay when he comes home. He doesn't pay me any rent, and when he comes home he buys his own food, so basically contributes nothing, which is understandable as I don't supply him with anything.
As he is on the ER at this address will the HB accept that I am not over housed. I have not heard anything from them, I would have thought that I would have received notification of any pending change from them prior to April.

miduck

If you are on full HB I assume a non dependent deduction has not been made from your entitlement?

allen35

I'm not quite sure on the reg's for earning abroad but i'm sure when he's home you need to declare him as living at your address so non dependant deductions can be made and 25% sole occupancy can be removed.

You state he shouldn't contribute because you don't provide him with anything, i take this means you split all utility bills down the middle when he is at home.

Don't you think he would have to pay rent somewhere else if he didn't have you. Surely you can see your providing rent free accommodation which is being subdisied by benefits.

As long as your local authority have been notified of this arrangement you should be fine but you can't have it both ways.

Either you will have to pay bedroom tax on the room not being used or declare him as living there and pay towards your rent.

[Deleted User]

the answer may lie in how long he "visits"for,when my daughter was home from uni it had no affect on our benefits even when she was home for 18 weeks in the summer,it took a long battle to establish that inc solicitors letters

midnight_express

If he is living with you a non dependent deduction will be made from your housing benefit. THis means you will have been overpaid HB. If he isn't living with you then are under occupied and will lose 14% of your HB. Catch22. Nice try though.

missapril75

woodbine wrote: »

the answer may lie in how long he "visits"for,when my daughter was home from uni it had no affect on our benefits even when she was home for 18 weeks in the summer,it took a long battle to establish that inc solicitors letters

That would be because she had a home elsewhere.

I trust she didn't claim exemption from TV licence on the basis she was covered by yours at your home :rotfl:

bright_side

I found out about the 'bedroom tax' very shortly after my daughter moved out last year, meaning I had a spare bedroom. When I told her about it, she said 'just tell them I've moved back in mum' Bless her It would've cost me at least an extra £40 a week to 'pretend' she was still at home, opposed to the £14 a week for under occupancy :eek:

mojos.revenge

No we don't split the utility bills, to be honest he is only home for a matter of weeks, and I don't find my bills to be any higher, just as easy to heat the house with one as well as two people.
He doesn't earn very much abroad, basically he works for bed and board and a little spending money as he is an apprentice so he cannot pay me really.
I would class him as more of a visiting guest rather than anything else. My benefit has not been adjusted, merely because although he is a non dependant for the time he spends in the UK it would be an absolute nightmare to keep telling the DWP, you know how long they take, and anyway I am not getting any extra money. I don't make any money from his stays so I don't consider it any of their business.
My question was that as he is on the Electoral Roll do they use this to establish who is in a property, as as far as that goes I would not be over housed. They have not written to me so when am I supposed to know how much more to pay. I need to budget it that's the case.

[Deleted User]

I dont think they have written to anyone yet AFAIK

daimonde

The LA i work for havent written out to anyone yet. Its due in the next few weeks. We're looking at ringing people wherever possible, which is a bit of a mammoth task.

Dont know if its the same for other LAs but our figures for under occupancy are tied into a software update that hasnt been fully implemented yet.

It looks like theyll tie in this & the new CTS together - which noone in our LA have been trained on yet, people on here probably know more than some staff. Scary eh.


As for the electoral roll, your average HB processor, certainly ours, wont find out who is where using it. Info comes from all over, from DWP, HMRC, from data matching, from Council Tax. Now whether any of those use the electoral roll, i dont know.

mrs_motivated

When the organisation I work for, called under occupying tenants in to speak to them and explain the options we used the housing benefit system cross checked with the housing management system. The HB system shows who lives there, dates of birth and any other benefits you are in receipt of etc.

So if he is not declared as living there on the HB application, you will be required to pay the shortfall, unless you are in receipt of pension credit or are of state pension age.