Free rent instead of Child Support

sbill1856

Hi there .... some advice would be much appreciated. I have completed the Child Support online calculator and it suggests a weekly child support contribution of approx £90.

As my soon to be seperated Partner has no assets and a great deal of debt .... my idea is that I buy a second house reasonably close to my own house (so my 10 year old Son can easily walk between us) and rent the house out to my ex-partner FOC. The rental value would normally be £500-600 per month. Other than school trips and expenses there would not be any further regular payment made.

My Ex is unlikely to be able to get a mortgage and in my view it would be better having me as a Landlord as I will look after the renovations / maintenance etc and buy some of the furniture. It would also be a better financial proposition for me as I could sell the house once my Son has left home.

Does this sound a feasible plan and if so should I get a contract drawn up to reflect the Agreement ?

thanks for your help
Bill

System

Good idea but the downside is that she can always instigate a CM claim as she is getting none from you. They would probably consider the house being rent free as you doing something to help your child and not in lieu of CM

sbill1856

Thanks for the reply ... in that case presumably I could transfer £90 per week into her account and she could pay me a similar amount back in rent. The downside is that the rent would be taxed .... and am on the higher tax rate

Savvy_Sue

You definitely need a proper tenancy agreement if she's paying you rent, and some other kind of agreement drawn up even if she's not. This has a lot of ways it could go pear-shaped ...

System

sbill1856 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply ... in that case presumably I could transfer £90 per week into her account and she could pay me a similar amount back in rent.

And the chances of that based on

soon to be seperated Partner has no assets and a great deal of debt

Would you be prepared to evict her if she didn't pay?

HappyMJ

sbill1856 wrote: »

Hi there .... some advice would be much appreciated. I have completed the Child Support online calculator and it suggests a weekly child support contribution of approx £90.

As my soon to be seperated Partner has no assets and a great deal of debt .... my idea is that I buy a second house reasonably close to my own house (so my 10 year old Son can easily walk between us) and rent the house out to my ex-partner FOC. The rental value would normally be £500-600 per month. Other than school trips and expenses there would not be any further regular payment made.

My Ex is unlikely to be able to get a mortgage and in my view it would be better having me as a Landlord as I will look after the renovations / maintenance etc and buy some of the furniture. It would also be a better financial proposition for me as I could sell the house once my Son has left home.

Does this sound a feasible plan and if so should I get a contract drawn up to reflect the Agreement ?

thanks for your help
Bill

To me....no it doesn't seem feasible. I would help out by assisting with a deposit and first months rent on a private rental from someone else and that would enable the partner to claim housing benefit without any issues. Although your partner can claim housing benefit and pay you it does start to look like a contrived tenancy even though you don't intend it to be.

glentoran99

HappyMJ wrote: »

To me....no it doesn't seem feasible. I would help out by assisting with a deposit and first months rent on a private rental from someone else and that would enable the partner to claim housing benefit without any issues. Although your partner can claim housing benefit and pay you it does start to look like a contrived tenancy even though you don't intend it to be.

Would that be the case if they are separated?


in any case you cant claim HB if the landlord is the parent of the child

Guest101

You would still have the expense of being a LL, - such as gas safety certs, etc etc.


The Tax man would probably be interested as you are also avoiding tax (like you said it would be due on the rent)


For Child Maintenace purposes it could be an agreement a solicitor can draw up, that your ex partner agrees to accept this in lieu of maintenance, and that should she make a claim via the CMS, the rent would be payable at the rate of £x per month

glentoran99

Guest101 wrote: »

You would still have the expense of being a LL, - such as gas safety certs, etc etc.


The Tax man would probably be interested as you are also avoiding tax (like you said it would be due on the rent)


For Child Maintenace purposes it could be an agreement a solicitor can draw up, that your ex partner agrees to accept this in lieu of maintenance, and that should she make a claim via the CMS, the rent would be payable at the rate of £x per month

as someone asked earlier though would he be prepared to evict her if she didn't pay?

sbill1856

Thanks for all the replies ....

I'll probably need to speak to a Solicitor to see if a contract can exist between myself and the ex that states that free rent is in lieu of maintenence (I obviously didn't really mean child support !!).

If such a contract could exist it would negate the thorny subject of eviction

Prothet_of_Doom

Keep the 2 separate.