Housing Benefit as a Joint Tenant..

Orville

Hi,

I'm thinking of house sharing with a friend from work. She has a daughter and i have a son. I have just been on the phone to the council who said that as far as housing benefit goes we each put in our own separate claim. She said that we each would put in a claim for the 2 bedroom rate. She then directed me to the entitledto website to get a rough estimate of what i may get. Now i clicked on the joint tenant when selecting the Share home box. I then went through the pages and then in-putted the 2 bedroom rate etc, wages and all the other info.

What i am not sure about is the amount of HB it says i am entitled to in relation to the rent. It says i am entitled to £61 a week. Now if the rent is say £140 a week in total and that's split does that mean i only have to pay £9 a week from my own pocket..? I see nowhere on the site where it asks for your actual rent so am not sure. I tried to ring the council back but as it's gone 5 they are now shut.

Any comments are appreciated.

CKhalvashi

This is likely to come under a lot of scrutiny from the council, especially in relation to two benefit claims for the same property.

The best thing to do would either be to check with the local council on this one, or speak to the Cllr with responsibility for housing (it could be one of a number, and this may not be their only specialist area, and therefore in my council at least, I'm not advertised as such, but rather for something else).

If not, check with the CAB, as whilst I don't think there's anything specifically in the rules to say it can't happen, it may be looked on as a single household from experience.

Sorry I couldn't help more.

CK

HappyMJ

Your share of the rent would be 50% so the maximum taken into account would be £70 a week. You can get the 2 bedroom rate if you have 2 bedrooms for you and your child's exclusive use. You should also have another 2 rooms in the property for your friend and child to use....so a 4 bedroom house.

CKhalvashi

HappyMJ wrote: »

Your share of the rent would be 50% so the maximum taken into account would be £70 a week. You can get the 2 bedroom rate if you have 2 bedrooms for you and your child's exclusive use. You should also have another 2 rooms in the property for your friend and child to use....so a 4 bedroom house.

I forgot to put this bit in there.

Thank you!

CK

Robbie64

Two benefit claims from the same property is not uncommon. Joint tenants share the rent therefore if both (or more) tenants are on a low wage or on means tested benefits then both (or more) can claim Housing Benefit. See the guidance at:

http://www.turn2ushelp.entitledto.co.uk/viewhelp.aspx?sid=13&helpfile=jointtenants

Orville

She said we would need a 4 bedroom house unless one adult were to share with their child (which will not be the case). She then said each person puts in their own claim for the 2 bedroom rate which in our area is £104. It does not give you the option on the turn to us site to put in the actual rent of the property so i don't understand how it works. I am on NMW @20 hrs a week. It says i am entitled to roughly £61 a week. She is on 32 hrs a week at a higher rate, we are not unemployed.

Now if the rent were say £900 a month, i gather it would be split 50 - 50 so £450 a month. This means i would have to pay roughly £200 a month from my own pocket if my LHA is £61 a week?. Is that right..? So does it then work the other way round if the rent was cheaper meaning my LHA stays the same but i just pay less from my own pocket?.


As for proof we are not a couple that doesn't seem to be a problem as she said all they would need is a separate agreement for each of us or a single one stating that it is a joint tenancy.

From entitled to.

To work out how much you can claim in Housing Benefit (HB England, Scotland and Wales) (HB Northern Ireland), you should enter the rent that you are meant to pay, not the whole rent.

It does not however give you the option to enter your rent, it only give the option to enter LHA.

Robbie64

If you rent a 4 bedroom property as joint tenants and both have a child each then the rent will be split 50 / 50 for HB / LHA purposes. You will be responsible for half the rent, the other joint tenant will be responsible for the other half. Both will qualify for two bedrooms under LHA.

You just need to enter your share (50%) of the rent when using any online benefit calculator. The maximum LHA you will qualify for can be found at https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

Edit: unless I am reading your post wrong, your maximum LHA will be a lot more than £61 a week. I live in a "cheap" rental area and the LHA here for two bedrooms is £99.92 per week or for a quick calculation £433 per calendar month.

Orville

Robbie64 wrote: »

If you rent a 4 bedroom property as joint tenants and both have a child each then the rent will be split 50 / 50 for HB / LHA purposes. You will be responsible for half the rent, the other joint tenant will be responsible for the other half. Both will qualify for two bedrooms under LHA.

You just need to enter your share (50%) of the rent when using any online benefit calculator. The maximum LHA you will qualify for can be found at https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

Edit: unless I am reading your post wrong, your maximum LHA will be a lot more than £61 a week. I live in a "cheap" rental area and the LHA here for two bedrooms is £99.92 per week or for a quick calculation £433 per calendar month.

Hi Robbie,

My apologies, when i say LHA at £61 i am refering to what the entitledto site says when i have gone through the whole process, entered wages etc and it gives me my final figures. The Actual LHA for a 2 bedroom in my area is around £103 a week.

I still do NOT see an option to enter the actual rent of the property only the LHA..?

paddedjohn

Orville wrote: »

Hi Robbie,

My apologies, when i say LHA at £61 i am refering to what the entitledto site says when i have gone through the whole process, entered wages etc and it gives me my final figures. The Actual LHA for a 2 bedroom in my area is around £103 a week.

I still do NOT see an option to enter the actual rent of the property only the LHA..?

What they are saying is that the maximum they will pay for a 2bed property is £103 and the maximum you would be entitled to regardless of the rent would be £61 so if your share of the rent was £100 you would have to find £39 but since your share will only be £70 then you will only have to find £9

Robbie64

Orville wrote: »

Hi Robbie,

My apologies, when i say LHA at £61 i am refering to what the entitledto site says when i have gone through the whole process, entered wages etc and it gives me my final figures. The Actual LHA for a 2 bedroom in my area is around £103 a week.

I still do NOT see an option to enter the actual rent of the property only the LHA..?

Ah, I see what you mean. The LHA would be the maximum you would get anyway. Some online benefit calculators do ask you to input both actual rent and the LHA amount.

I'm guessing the £450 per month is what you have to pay? With a payment of £61 per week (or again a quick calculation of £264 per calendar month) then you would have to pay an additional £186 per month, or about £43 per week. Could you afford that out of your earnings plus Working Tax Credit? If not, then I'm afraid the idea of sharing is probably a non-starter. Either way it would be a struggle.

Robbie64

paddedjohn wrote: »

What they are saying is that the maximum they will pay for a 2bed property is £103 and the maximum you would be entitled to regardless of the rent would be £61 so if your share of the rent was £100 you would have to find £39 but since your share will only be £70 then you will only have to find £9

It depends on the actual rent though. If the rent is £900 per month for a 4 bedroom house with rent split 50/50 (ie £450 per month) it would be a lot more than £9 per week.