housing benefit renting from family

henroo

Hi i'm looking for some advise please my partner has just been made redundant we've never needed claimed benefit before and we have rented from my sister from dec 2009 can we clam housing benefit?? Thank you in advance.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Yes you can.

You have a rental liability and if it is on a commercial basis. There may be some close scrutiny to ensure the tenancy is real and not contrived.

henroo

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Yes you can.

You have a rental liability and if it is on a commercial basis. There may be some close scrutiny to ensure the tenancy is real and not contrived.

Thank you for your answer, what do you mean by commercial basis? we have rent it to live in as our family home for the last 4 years.We pay rent every month by standing order. On the benefits form do we have to say that its rented from family or can we just say there is no relation? my partner filled in the online job seekers allowens form and i think it was filled in wrong because when it asked what relation to us he put none do we need to ring them and get it change? im hoping he'll get a new job in the next few weeks so we wont have to continue the claim .

Housing_Benefit_Officer

henroo wrote: »

Thank you for your answer, what do you mean by commercial basis? we have rent it to live in as our family home for the last 4 years.We pay rent every month by standing order. On the benefits form do we have to say that its rented from family or can we just say there is no relation? my partner filled in the online job seekers allowens form and i think it was filled in wrong because when it asked what relation to us he put none do we need to ring them and get it change? im hoping he'll get a new job in the next few weeks so we wont have to continue the claim .

In deciding whether or not the agreement is commercial, the local authority must look at the whole agreement, taking into account all the circumstances. For example, they can look at the agreement to pay rent. As long as there is a binding and legally enforceable agreement that rent has to be paid on a regular basis, a claimant does not need to demonstrate that it is a market rent (in other words, a rent typical of private rents locally).

The local authority should also not assume that just because a claimant is a relative of, or has a close relationship, with their landlord, that this automatically means that the agreement is non-commercial. For example, DWP documents drawn up to train Local Authority Housing Benefit departments state, amongst
other things, that it should be considered as reasonable that a landlord may want to choose to rent to someone that they know, in order to be certain of having a good tenant.

The council should also consider that a claimant might have good cause to move into a property, which has been rented to them by a close relative. For example, it may be to enable a young person to leave their parental home, or to provide a more suitable home for a person with a disability.

The council should consider and fully investigate all these facts and then show that the agreement is not on a commercial basis.

And yes declare your landlord is your sister - you have nothing to hide. By failing to declare the relationship it could open things up to a fraud investigation into the tenancy.

henroo

Thank you I'll get him to ring them in the morning your advice has been very helpful :-)

skibadee

My daughter and her partner rented from her Dad no problems at all, they only had to prove Dad was owner and they had no financial interest ( I think ), but yes you can do it.

chaz2489

Where I live you are able to do it but need to provide evidence of ownership along with a rental contract and/or a rent book to prove you have paid said amount each month.

Charlie