Council Tax Support denied because rent was paid 6 months in advance

rogerblack

bilabonga wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]No, becuase [FONT=&quot]m[/FONT]ost of the money was borrowed from a family member to pay that 6 months rent in advance[FONT=&quot], so he would not have too high savings, as those savings were not his[/FONT].[/FONT]

A particularly harsh interpretation would be as follows:
The claimant got money from a relative.
It was put into their bank account, with no legal requirements, so they were the beneficial owner of that capital.
There was no contract, or loan agreement, and the claimant was not legally required to spend that money on rent, as the relative could not take legal action against them if they did not.
They chose to spend the money on rent at least partly order to get more benefit.
Other properties must have been available to them where they did not need to pay 6 months up front.

All of these points are debatable in law.

Topcat1982

bilabonga wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]No, becuase [FONT=&quot]m[/FONT]ost of the money was borrowed from a family member to pay that 6 months rent in advance[FONT=&quot], so he would not have too high savings, as those savings were not his[/FONT].[/FONT]

Ah, did the relative pay the rent directly? or transfer the money to the tenant, then tenant to the landlord?

bilabonga

Topcat1982 wrote: »

Ah, did the relative pay the rent directly? or transfer the money to the tenant, then tenant to the landlord?

The latter.

BTW, is parent considered to be a member of the family for the purpose of those benefits? The disabled tenant is adult.

rogerblack

Topcat1982 wrote: »

Ah, did the relative pay the rent directly? or transfer the money to the tenant, then tenant to the landlord?

The test in law is that a 'significant operative purpose' of the transaction has to be in order to get more benefit.
That is - the only reason for the claimant doing this does not have to be benefit related - but it needs to be a significant one.

It does not rely on if the claimant would actually get more benefit - but if they thought they would.

The situation has to be looked at as a whole.

Most relevant would be if they have something from the landlord in writing saying 'yes, I required 6 months in advance'.

The 'nothing in law saying the landlord can request' is spurious as I understand it, as there is nothing in law saying they can't request and not allow the person to move in.
If there were special reasons leading to the availability of properties being reduced to the claimant due to their disability, and the council is neglecting this in their decision as there were other properties (but they were unsuitable) the decision may also violate the equalities act.

In short - very worth appealing.