What would happen if i moved in to my partners council house?

Happydays,_gone_away?

Hi

We are now at that point in the relationship where we want to move into together. We are struggling to find an answer to all of our questions however.

I own my own home and have a mortgage. I currently have a lodger under the rent a room scheme.
She has just got a new council flat for her and her son to live in. She is receiving housing benefit, child benefit, income support and child tax credit. She is still in the introductory period of her lease.

I know that if we move in together she will lose her benefits. Because of her son its not practical for her to move into my home.

I earn 30k but salary sacrifice 15% to my pension. Its hard to work out what working tax credits we could receive if we jointly filed.
With all the costs of living between my debts and the 2 houses we would be significantly worse off living together if she lost all her benefits. I would have to convert to a buy to let mortgage to just about break even compared to our current position. That would mean my income would be around £42k.
I also have savings i could use to pay down my debts to imcrease our monthly income but would that be viewed as me trying to cheat the benefit system?
However if i did rent out my home would that be a breach of her lease. If not and we got married would it then be a breach of contract for her?
Does anyone know?

Diary

Happydays,_gone_away? wrote: »

Hi

We are now at that point in the relationship where we want to move into together. We are struggling to find an answer to all of our questions however.

I own my own home and have a mortgage. I currently have a lodger under the rent a room scheme.
She has just got a new council flat for her and her son to live in. She is receiving housing benefit, child benefit, income support and child tax credit. She is still in the introductory period of her lease.

I know that if we move in together she will lose her benefits. Because of her son its not practical for her to move into my home.

I earn 30k but salary sacrifice 15% to my pension. Its hard to work out what working tax credits we could receive if we jointly filed.
With all the costs of living between my debts and the 2 houses we would be significantly worse off living together if she lost all her benefits. I would have to convert to a buy to let mortgage to just about break even compared to our current position. That would mean my income would be around £42k.
I also have savings i could use to pay down my debts to imcrease our monthly income but would that be viewed as me trying to cheat the benefit system?
However if i did rent out my home would that be a breach of her lease. If not and we got married would it then be a breach of contract for her?
Does anyone know?

How would using your savings to pay off your debts be seen as trying to cheat the system when you state your girlfriend would no longer be able to claim anything?

There seems to be things you've kept from the forum to enable anyone to make even an educated guess. Among other things no one can guess what your girlfriends lease says.

Happydays,_gone_away?

Hi and thanks for the reply

I may have got the message mixed up.

Her lease states she cannot have another house that she could reasonably live in. So i meant would the fact that i owned a property be classed that way. For info she is in zone 1 of london and i am in zone 6.

The cost of paying debts equals an extra 150 pm per month that we could have if i paid them all off but would be over half of my savings. I know benefits are affected by savings. I dont know how tax credits are. The different calculators give differeent results.
I realise its difficult to give exact answers but any help is gratefully received

IAmWales

Happydays,_gone_away? wrote: »

Hi and thanks for the reply

I may have got the message mixed up.

Her lease states she cannot have another house that she could reasonably live in. So i meant would the fact that i owned a property be classed that way. For info she is in zone 1 of london and i am in zone 6.

The cost of paying debts could equal an extra 150 pm per month if i paid them all off but would be over half of my savings. I know benefits are affected by savings. I dont know how tax credits are. The different calculators give differeent results.
I realise its difficult to give exact answers but any help is gratefully received

Why can she not live with you? If she's on income support she's not working and the child is pre school age. You can tell your lodger to leave if you need the space.

Happydays,_gone_away?

you are correct she could but her support network is there and she doesnt want to move from the area they are in. They are finally settled and she doesn't want to disrupt his life.

I would love for them to move to mine. It would certainly be simpler but its not fair for her son.

Mojisola

Happydays,_gone_away? wrote: »

Her lease states she cannot have another house that she could reasonably live in. So i meant would the fact that i owned a property be classed that way.

That's a good rule.

Happydays,_gone_away?

Mojisola wrote: »

That's a good rule.

Yes it is a fair rule but would she be breaking it if i owned the house and lived with her.
I would not be the lease holder but we would be paying the rent.

I dont want to put her in the situation where she would be at risk of losing her home because i moved in.

IAmWales

Happydays,_gone_away? wrote: »

you are correct she could but her support network is there and she doesnt want to move from the area they are in. They are finally settled and she doesn't want to disrupt his life.

I would love for them to move to mine. It would certainly be simpler but its not fair for her son.

Children adapt in no time.

None of your reasons would be sufficient to justify her keeping her flat whilst you own elsewhere. It sounds like you need a conversation about her moving in with you. It's no great distance away, what does she have to lose?

FBaby

you are correct she could but her support network is there and she doesnt want to move from the area they are in. They are finally settled and she doesn't want to disrupt his life.

I bet not but she can't have it all. Her life is going to be disrupted with you moving in and she will have the best support network she can get, yours.

How long have you been together? Seems the timing of discussing moving in together when she got a council house quite convenient.

Happydays,_gone_away?

not really.
She has had the council flat for quite a while but not a year.
I spend a lot of time travelling back and forth between the 2 places.

TELLIT01

As long as the tenancy remains in her name only I don't see that any rules are being broken. Her tenancy states that SHE cannot have another house ..... SHE doesn't, unless she is named on the mortgage of your property. The lease doesn't ask if she has access to another property...
The situation would presumably change if you married because she would be assumed to have access to your current mortgaged property.,