Housing benefit if living with a family member?

Chloe2932

Hi

I am 21 with a 9 month old son, previously worked 10 hours a week for minimum wage up until 2 months ago when the company closed so I am now on income support and plan to look for part time work in the near future.

I had to move out of my property 2 weeks ago as the landlord was selling up. I had no funds at all to relocate and I had no guarantor for housing benefit. I had to move in with my grandparents. My grandparents are both on state pension and have a mortgage to pay for a 3 bed house (they get no help for this) they could not afford it on their pension alone so they had two lodgers paying £300 a month each. However when I notified my nan that I would effectively be homeless she told them they needed to move out which they did.

Can I claim housing benefit if I am living with my grandparents in their home? I have checked online and it says that housing benefit do not count grandparents as close relatives. But I do not know if this means I can claim it whilst living with them or just means I could claim it if they owned the house but did not live with me (just charged me rent) Can I get it if they are just renting me the rooms out?

They have given me both rooms (one for me one for my son) and have asked me for £400 a week which will include all bills plus food. However, my combined income (all my benefits) is only just over that which means after I pay that I will have around £30 a month which isn't sustainable. I feel my only option if I can not claim housing benefit is too get re homed by the council or put in temp accommodation. I know my nan will be sympathetic if I can not pay it but she is struggling as it is, and she already has someone (family friend) asking if she is wanting to rent a room and is willing to pay £400 a month, income that she really could do with.

If I am permitted to claim housing benefit for rented rooms what do I declare differently on the housing benefit form? Do I clarify that I am just renting rooms?

missbiggles1

Chloe2932 wrote: »

Hi

I am 21 with a 9 month old son, previously worked 10 hours a week for minimum wage up until 2 months ago when the company closed so I am now on income support and plan to look for part time work in the near future.

I had to move out of my property 2 weeks ago as the landlord was selling up. I had no funds at all to relocate and I had no guarantor for housing benefit. I had to move in with my grandparents. My grandparents are both on state pension and have a mortgage to pay for a 3 bed house (they get no help for this) they could not afford it on their pension alone so they had two lodgers paying £300 a month each. However when I notified my nan that I would effectively be homeless she told them they needed to move out which they did.

Can I claim housing benefit if I am living with my grandparents in their home? I have checked online and it says that housing benefit do not count grandparents as close relatives. But I do not know if this means I can claim it whilst living with them or just means I could claim it if they owned the house but did not live with me (just charged me rent) Can I get it if they are just renting me the rooms out?

They have given me both rooms (one for me one for my son) and have asked me for £400 a week which will include all bills plus food. However, my combined income (all my benefits) is only just over that which means after I pay that I will have around £30 a month which isn't sustainable. I feel my only option if I can not claim housing benefit is too get re homed by the council or put in temp accommodation. I know my nan will be sympathetic if I can not pay it but she is struggling as it is, and she already has someone (family friend) asking if she is wanting to rent a room and is willing to pay £400 a month, income that she really could do with.

If I am permitted to claim housing benefit for rented rooms what do I declare differently on the housing benefit form? Do I clarify that I am just renting rooms?

How do you manage to claim over £400pw benefits with only one child and no housing costs included?

Londonsu

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/what_is_housing_benefit/housing_benefit_if_renting_from_a_family_member

Yes on this link Grandparents are not seen as close relatives


As or the council rehousing you , all councils have their own rules but it is very possible that as you left your last accommodation of your own free will it could be construed as intentionally homeless and the council wont actually be obliged to rehouse you, the general advise most councils will give if a tenant has to leave their home due to the LL wanting to sell is to wait until you are evicted or under threat of eviction, unfair on both tenant and LL of course but with limited housing stock and huge demand a lot of councils wont rehouse unless forced to.


Do your Grandparents get pension credit if so they may be entitled to help with their mortgage , even a small amount of PC would count as PC is passport benefit to other benefits it may be worth their while applying

baza52

missbiggles1 wrote: »

How do you manage to claim over £400pw benefits with only one child and no housing costs included?

its obviously 400 a month.
Why would the family friends offer of 400 a month for 1 room seem good if OP was paying 800 per month per room.

Caz3121

Chloe2932 wrote: »

They have given me both rooms (one for me one for my son) and have asked me for £400 a week which will include all bills plus food. However, my combined income (all my benefits) is only just over that which means after I pay that I will have around £30 a month which isn't sustainable. I feel my only option if I can not claim housing benefit is too get re homed by the council or put in temp accommodation. I know my nan will be sympathetic if I can not pay it but she is struggling as it is, and she already has someone (family friend) asking if she is wanting to rent a room and is willing to pay £400 a month, income that she really could do with.

assuming you mean £400 per month it is worth noting that HB would not pay for the bills or food part of this (IS, CTC are to cover these)
You may also want to check the benefits you receive as you should be receiving around £680 rather than £430 per month (between IC, CTC and CB) plus maintenance
It may be worth speaking to the council about getting on the housing list or finding whether they run a rent deposit scheme, they should also have a list of landlords that accept housing benefit.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Have you ever resided in the property rent free in the past?

Chloe2932

Yes I meant month and she would be charging me 400 pm not week. The other tenants paid £300 a month (did not include bills) but there was 2 and in both rooms therefore she was getting £600 a month from them.

These are my current benefits
CB- £80
CT-248
Is-228 = 556

I understand they will deduct food and Bill costs and when filling in the form ive given an approx honest cost of those bills (from my nans point of view)

GwylimT

If you are concerned about their finances why are you choosing to take two rooms and not paying the usual rate for these?

bloolagoon

Chloe2932 wrote: »

Yes I meant month and she would be charging me 400 pm not week. The other tenants paid £300 a month (did not include bills) but there was 2 and in both rooms therefore she was getting £600 a month from them.

These are my current benefits
CB- £80
CT-248
Is-228 = 556

I understand they will deduct food and Bill costs and when filling in the form ive given an approx honest cost of those bills (from my nans point of view)

I suspect some of those are 4 weekly not monthly. Your monthly figure is higher. Not that it's relevant to your housing question but it will help you work out your budget better

Caz3121

Chloe2932 wrote: »

Is-228

you may want to speak to someone about your Income Support too as it looks like you are getting the wrong rate - you should be getting £73.10 per week
https://www.gov.uk/income-support/what-youll-get

Chloe2932

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Have you ever resided in the property rent free in the past?

Yes I have. I lived here from the ages of 14-17 and did not pay rent (as was in education and she was getting child benefit for me) there was an issue between me and my parents and I went to live with her (she had no legal custody/guardianship over me, it was just a private arrangement I would live with her)

I then went to live with friends in shared and was working full time and then went to university a year later so moved out of shared house and away to a different town. When I fell pregnant I got a transfer to the university in my home town so moved back in with her. I was getting student finance at the time (no benefits) and paid her £40 a week. When I was 7 months pregnant I decided to quit uni and then shortly after I moved in to the private rented flat. At that time they were working so money wasn't as big of an issue to them as it is now but my granddads health deteriorated so he had to retire earlier than he wanted too (and refuses to claim DLA or careers allowance)

So I have lived here when I was legally a child rent free, and lived here for a period after that, not rent free but paying the rent myself and a considerably less amount to what they are asking for now.