Housing Benefit and LHA confusion

spring_chicken

Hi, have tried looking online, but can't seem to find what I need. Basically, I am in the process of renting a property privately, and although I have sufficient funds to put down the required deposit and rent in advance, it seems that as I am on a low income (under 10k pa) I am also entitled to housing benefit and working tax credits, however I understand that the local housing pays a benefit if you rent from a private landlord and you are on a low income, but I am confused, is that separate from the hb? when I checked how much benefits I was entitled to on entitled2.co.uk it only said £3000pa (thats housing benefit and working tax credits) a salary of under 13k a year still seems a rather low income for a full time worker, I am separated from my husband, and hope to divorce eventually, have an 18 year old son who only works part time on a low wage (12 hours a week, but he is trying to get more hours) so was wondering if I would qualify for any other funding to help towards my rent. Thanks for reading

Housing_Benefit_Officer

You qualify for the 2 bedroom rate of Local Housing Allowance rate for your area. Your award would then depend on your applicable amount, household income, non dependant deductions and any income disregards you might be entitled to.

Your applicable amount would be for a single person. Your sons non dep deduction would depend on his income.

spring_chicken

Hes only part time at the moment and earns under the £186 per week that it states for non dependants on the benefits calculator - as I will be renting privately, my rent will be around 800 per month, but at present I only take home about that each month, as I earn under 10k

Housing_Benefit_Officer

The rent charged isn't the figure that will be used to calculate your Housing Benefit - it is the LHA rate for a 2 bedroom property - what is your local 2 bedroom LHA rate?

Do you pay anything towards a pension from your wages?

Your son's wages is that the take home figure or gross figure before deductions?

spring_chicken

Its £636 a month - my son takes approx £470 a month home, I earn around 750-800 the house I am renting is £775 per month

Housing_Benefit_Officer

spring_chicken wrote: »

Its £636 a month - my son takes approx £470 a month home, I earn around 750-800 the house I am renting is £775 per month

How much tax credits do you receive?

Caz3121

was there any equity in the FMH?...if your share is over £16k, means tested benefits would not be paid?

spring_chicken

There was equity, 10k plus will be paying the yearly rent in advance, 2k to pay off mum the money she lent me when I was struggling with debts, 15k which is my half of a loan we had when we took out our mortgage (ex still needs to repay his share, but I have paid mine) then approx 3000 to clear debts, including fully paying off my credit card in full, after all thats done I will have approx 3k spare, but will be totally debt free. According to the benefits website I would get £25 per week working tax credits

spring_chicken

For all of the above, I have receipt to prove the money didnt get spent on a lavish holiday or frittered away.

WillowCat

Receipt or not, you may find that some or all of those repayments would be considered deprivation of capital.

Was the £15k loan you repaid tied to the mortgage/house sale? When was it due to be repaid if you hadn't repaid early?

I don't think you can exclude the £10k rent in advance - you would be deemed to have this sum until it becomes due.

I'm afraid you may not be entitled to HB at all.

spring_chicken

The loan was from a family member who lent us the money to reduce our mortgage, now the house is sold, the money needs to be paid back, so it has been (well my share anyway, and I have a receipt from the bank as I did a direct transfer from my equity. I had to pay the rent in advance as I am on a low income, and the lettings agencies around our area won't rent to you if you earn less than 25k and won't accept hb/dss tenants, so I had no other choice but pay up front. I did the sensible thing in clearing my debts and credit card, as I had gotten into serious debt when my husband left us, and never paid any maintenance or helped towards the mortgage, so I had no other choice than to borrow and get into arrears, hence why after a couple of years of worrying myself sick that I had accrued so much debt, the first thing on the agenda was to secure somewhere to live and clear all of the debts I owed, at least I can start with a clean slate. I would not consider that as deprivation of capital. As I said before, I have bank receipts showing these transactions.