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Rent from family and on partial housing benefit - considering purchasing share
snowdown
Posts: 17 Forumite
We are renting from family and receive housing benefit which covers a third of the rent and we pay the rest. Would it be feasible to purchase a 50% share in the property and claim housing benefit on the rent we would pay to our relative on their share or is this against housing benefit rules? We have a 5% deposit although we could save for longer and come up with more.
The other problem is we have never actually declared to housing benefit that we are renting from family. Although I now know it is allowed at the time we were under the impression it was not and so we didn't tell them. I don't see anyway we can tell them now without it looking bad and possibly getting us into trouble.
I have worked out over the years we have paid around 20k in rent to our relative and we have nothing to show for it which is just depressing.
The other problem is we have never actually declared to housing benefit that we are renting from family. Although I now know it is allowed at the time we were under the impression it was not and so we didn't tell them. I don't see anyway we can tell them now without it looking bad and possibly getting us into trouble.
I have worked out over the years we have paid around 20k in rent to our relative and we have nothing to show for it which is just depressing.
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Comments
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i'n sorry to tell you that the simple answer is -
Not a chance.0 -
Would it be feasible to purchase a 50% share in the property and claim housing benefit on the rent we would pay to our relative on their share or is this against housing benefit rules?
No.I have worked out over the years we have paid around 20k in rent to our relative and we have nothing to show for it which is just depressing.
You had a roof over your head.0 -
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Helvetica_Van_Buren wrote: »No.
You had a roof over your head.
Yes but had we been paying off a mortgage we would at least have paid off part of it. As it stands when we retire we will still be paying full rent. If we are able to part buy then at least when it comes to retirement the mortgage will be paid off and we will only be paying half the rent we would otherwise.0 -
We are renting from family and receive housing benefit which covers a third of the rent and we pay the rest. Would it be feasible to purchase a 50% share in the property and claim housing benefit on the rent we would pay to our relative on their share or is this against housing benefit rules? We have a 5% deposit although we could save for longer and come up with more. .....
Forget HB. You can't get a mortgage on half a house. It's all or nothing. So it is not feasible to purchase a 50% share in the property with a mortgage.
Plus, of course, if you plan on saving, you have to remember that you will loose HB once your savings exceed £16k.0 -
Yes but had we been paying off a mortgage we would at least have paid off part of it. As it stands when we retire we will still be paying full rent. If we are able to part buy then at least when it comes to retirement the mortgage will be paid off and we will only be paying half the rent we would otherwise.
no you won't because you are on housing benefit. Why should you get it both ways?0 -
Can you elaborate on why? I am aware that there are shared ownership schemes that exist and people are able to claim housing benefit on the part they pay as rent. Is it simply because we rent from family?
You can certainly claim HB on the rent component of shared ownership. But "shared ownership schemes" meet a specific legal definition, they are sold through Housing Assoociations. I don't know whether a private landlord can offer a 'shared ownership scheme'; I suspect not.0 -
Did you not read the part where I said I only receive a third of my rent as housing benefit? That means we pay two thirds of monthly rent out of our own pocket.
Buy into shared ownership with a housing association if that's what you want to do.
The housing benefit you will get will be based on the rent you pay the the housing association on the share you do not own which will mean you will probably get nothing in housing benefit.
You will also need to pay for service charges and buildings insurance out of your other income.:footie:
Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. 0 -
Shared ownership schemes are provided through housing associations, I take it your relative is not a housing association.
As someone else has already pointed out you cannot get a mortgage for half a property (outside of shared ownership schemes and you are outside of a shared ownership scheme).
When you pay rent you are paying for the roof over your head and for someone else to be responsible for maintenance & repairs, it has nothing to do with someone else's mortgage. There's more to home ownership than just paying the mortgage so if you are in the situation where you need assistance to pay your rent you might find the reality is that you are not in a financial position to be a home owner.0
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