Allowed to let someone stay in your house?

onthefence12

Hi, I have recently bought my first home with a residential mortgage. Am I allowed to let my parents live in there with me? It would be nice if they could contribute towards the mortgage and bills but if that is not allowed I would be happy to just let them stay there for free. Is there anything that would stop me being able to do that without having to hide it or walk on eggshells? I know lots of people who move their boyfriends or girlfriends in, are they technically allowed to do that? Would this be technically classed as having a lodger (even though there are two of them and will be sharing a room)?

Currently my parents have an unscrupulous landlord and I think the house they are staying in is also too big for what they need. At the moment they get some help with benefits and I think they can only work so many hour before they would actually get less money due to a loss in benefits. My main motivation is to help them break out of this trap. The stress of it is causing my dad to have some health issues and they are basically screwed for retirement. Would they still be able to claim benefits in this situation? Am I correct in thinking that I would not need to switch to a buy to let mortgage in this situation? Could I still give them a tenancy agreements for claiming any benefits they need for themselves? I am in no way interested in breaking the law or doing anything dodgy. I am just wondering if I could help my parents out without doing something that I am not supposed to.

Any help or advice you could offer would be gratefully appreciated.

IAmWales

What benefits do they claim, how old are they?

Being on benefits doesn't mean they have to limit their work hours. If they increase their hours they will lose some benefits but will become more independent. That might help your father's health?

Your parents cannot claim housing benefit to live with you.

PasturesNew

You can have them move in with you, but they'd not get any housing benefit. Anything they pay you would have to come from their JSA.

onthefence12

Thanks for your help. I am keen to get them off housing benefit. They do have low paid jobs, i.e. part-time cleaning, would they still be eligible for some of the other benefits? From a mortgage point of view am I allowed to just let them live with me without mentioning it to the lender or having to switch to a BTL?

Mojisola

onthefence12 wrote: »

They do have low paid jobs, i.e. part-time cleaning, would they still be eligible for some of the other benefits?

From a mortgage point of view am I allowed to just let them live with me without mentioning it to the lender or having to switch to a BTL?

You could help them put their details into one of the benefit calculators as if they were only receiving income from their jobs and see what it says. Are there any health reasons why they only have part-time jobs?

As you will be living in the house, you couldn't get a BTL even if you wanted to. It's your home and you can have visitors/family stay with you.