How Do HB Department Know Who Lives With You.

fed_up_and_stressed

mojos.revenge wrote: »

I don't make any money from his stays so I don't consider it any of their business.

You may not consider it their business as you arent making any money out of it ...however the tax payer is paying either a premium for an empty room whilst he isn't there or paying for someone whose income isn't being assessed for tax purposes. I think they'd be VERY interested and they would DEFINATELY consider it their business as they are ones paying!!!!

mojos.revenge

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

You may not consider it their business as you arent making any money out of it ...however the tax payer is paying either a premium for an empty room whilst he isn't there or paying for someone whose income isn't being assessed for tax purposes. I think they'd be VERY interested and they would DEFINATELY consider it their business as they are ones paying!!!!

But he doesn't work over here, he has no income, and can't afford to pay anything. He comes back to the UK to visit not to work or claim, that he can prove so how can he pay anything. It is ludicrous. I even have to pay for his flights or he would never get home.
I don't think anyone is subsidising him only me, and as his mother I see no reason why I should be restricted from seeing my family on a few occasions a year.

princessdon

So your income is low yet you can support him to fly home and have a holiday?

Either he lives there and none dependant deductions apply or he is a visitor in which case you pay the extra bedroom, you can't have it both ways.

midnight_express

mojos.revenge wrote: »

But he doesn't work over here, he has no income, and can't afford to pay anything. He comes back to the UK to visit not to work or claim, that he can prove so how can he pay anything. It is ludicrous. I even have to pay for his flights or he would never get home.
I don't think anyone is subsidising him only me, and as his mother I see no reason why I should be restricted from seeing my family on a few occasions a year.

sounds like it's the benefit system that is doing the subsidising.

dktreesea

mojos.revenge wrote: »

But he doesn't work over here, he has no income, and can't afford to pay anything. He comes back to the UK to visit not to work or claim, that he can prove so how can he pay anything. It is ludicrous. I even have to pay for his flights or he would never get home.
I don't think anyone is subsidising him only me, and as his mother I see no reason why I should be restricted from seeing my family on a few occasions a year.

Relying on benefits can result in some perverse outcomes. Say you have a child who stays in higher education until they are, say, 19, then can't get a job. They still live at home. But once their education is finished, they become non dependant adults. So you lose the part of the HB that is to cover their accommodation, yet they are still there. If they are on the dole, they won't get any help towards their accommodation, because they live at Mum and Dad's. They only have the JSA, so probably would need all of it for their own lives. Job hunting isn't always cheap.

To me, your son just sounds like a guest in your home, i.e. coming home for a visit.

missapril75

dktreesea wrote: »

So you lose the part of the HB that is to cover their accommodation, yet they are still there. If they are on the dole, they won't get any help towards their accommodation, because they live at Mum and Dad's.

Another advantage of the old Supplementary Benefit system.

In this situation the benefit claiming son or daughter would get what was called a non householder addition and that allowance would be deducted from the rent benefit.

As now, it would be a bigger deduction for greater income.

zzzLazyDaisy

mojos.revenge wrote: »

But he doesn't work over here, he has no income, and can't afford to pay anything. He comes back to the UK to visit not to work or claim, that he can prove so how can he pay anything. It is ludicrous. I even have to pay for his flights or he would never get home.
I don't think anyone is subsidising him only me, and as his mother I see no reason why I should be restricted from seeing my family on a few occasions a year.

The point is that he does not live with you. He lives abroad. You do not need a second bedroom, so you will be hit by the bedroom tax.

If you want him to be named as an occupier at your address, occupying the second bedroom, then you should declare him as living there, which means you lose the 25% single person's allowance on council tax, and his income will be assessed in the normal way for HB, as a resident of your household.

You can't have it both ways... either he lives with you or he doesn't....

You do not need a second bedroom subsidised by the tax payer, for an adult independent son who visits you a couple of times a year. You might want to provide a second bedroom for him, but in that case it is up to you (or him) to find the extra money to top-up your HB. YOU are entitled to HB to cover YOUR accommodation needs. HE is not.

Dx

mojos.revenge

princessdon wrote: »

So your income is low yet you can support him to fly home and have a holiday?

Either he lives there and none dependant deductions apply or he is a visitor in which case you pay the extra bedroom, you can't have it both ways.

I go without myself to save for cheap flights for him, so you think I should be deprived of seeing my child just because I am struggling financially.

mojos.revenge

midnight_express wrote: »

sounds like it's the benefit system that is doing the subsidising.

And you come to that conclusion how? How dare you judge me, I am claiming nothing that I am not entitled to, if my son lived here and didn't work he would be costing the benefit system far more than the price of a bedroom.
So don't be so quick to judge.
Maybe it would be better if he came home, signed on, found a flat, got HB in his own name. Got all the free things that go with the benefit system.
It's not I that can't have it both ways always is it. The difference in what it will cost the system is astronomical.
If the truth be known it's not how you get the money it's what bloody pot it comes out of.

zzzLazyDaisy

mojos.revenge wrote: »

I go without myself to save for cheap flights for him, so you think I should be deprived of seeing my child just because I am struggling financially.

It is entirely up to you what you spend your money on. If you wish to use it to pay for flights for your son, and to keep a bedroom available for him when he comes to visit, that is entirely your choice. But under the new rules, the tax payer will not be subsidising your choices.

It is worth pointing out that this has been the case for private rented accommodation for years - my cousin lost her HB (now LHA) for the second bedroom when her son went to uni aged 18yrs, regardless of the fact that most of his possessions were still there, and he still needed a home during the long vacations. But he was no longer classed as a dependent, and as he was away at uni for most of the year, he was not classed as living there. She needed to continue to provide a home for him, so she went without in order to top up her HB so she could continue to provide a home for him.

Housing benefits for Social housing is just catching up with benefits for private rented accommodation.