Housing Benefit when renting from family

Absoluutbeginner

Am I eligible for housing benefit when renting a seperate granny flat or annexe which is on the same property owned by my daughter and her husband?

nubbins

Absoluutbeginner wrote: »

Am I eligible for housing benefit when renting a seperate granny flat or annexe which is on the same property owned by my daughter and her husband?

I can't help you specifically but I am going to go and get some popcorn.

ANDR£W

Tin hat on

marliepanda

Absoluutbeginner wrote: »

Am I eligible for housing benefit when renting a seperate granny flat or annexe which is on the same property owned by my daughter and her husband?

Possibly. Possibly not.

Have they rented out the annexe before? Is it registered for its own council tax?

Are you paying a commercial level of rent ?

They will have to prove the tenancy is commercial, including being willing to evict you if you don't pay rent. They will need to comply with all landlord standards such as paying tax on the income and providing gas safety certificates etc

AndyBSG

Suggest the OP has a look at this link

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_benefit/housing_benefit_renting_from_family

pmlindyloo

Absoluutbeginner wrote: »

Am I eligible for housing benefit when renting a seperate granny flat or annexe which is on the same property owned by my daughter and her husband?

The answer is 'maybe'.

Is the annex entirely separate from your daughter's property? Does it have its own address and is subject to its own council tax?

Have they rented it out before with a proper tenancy agreement?

Housing benefit would only be awarded if you had a liability to pay rent (i.e it was an entirely separate property), it was set up as a proper tenancy agreement (i.e your daughter abided by her landlord's responsibilities - was willing to evict you if you went into rent arrears etc etc)

The council would be looking to see it wasn't a contrived tenancy - set up to receive HB.

In the end only the council can answer your question - but yes, it is possible.

Absoluutbeginner

Thanks for the advice above, (pop corn is a great idea!). The only snag would be unwilling to evict me if I fell into arrears with my rent. Hmmm, would have to ask our borough council.

tensandunits_2

As above, if you've got your own tenancy agreement it should be ok and above board. (You don't need to tell them that the landlords might not be willing to evict you!). If you haven't got a tenancy agreement you'd probably count as living with family.

HiToAll

and are family are allowed to charge £1000 more than the going rate for rent too, all paid for by the hard working tax payer. My friend is asking.

ctbfc

HiToAll wrote: »

and are family are allowed to charge £1000 more than the going rate for rent too, all paid for by the hard working tax payer. My friend is asking.

Either way taxpayers would only fund up to the local housing allowance rate...

McKneff

Are you able to find a job to pay your own rent oe share the place, so two people could pay.

Or your family could just charge you a small rent . You would have let them live with you rent free for yhe first 18 or so years of their lives