lodger

Hello,
me and my wife are both retired and both receiving OAP, guaranteed pension credit and work pension for my wife only. we receive housing benefit in the form of the council pays the council tax.
my wife underwent major surgery and could not work anymore and decided it would be best to retire at 60. We still have a few yrs left to pay off the mortgage and receive SMI (support for mortgage interest)
The amount we have each month is just about enough to pay all bills, mortgage, food etc which leaves us barely anything to spare. so any repairs and maintenance of the property is not possible.

I would like to know if i take a lodger, would that affect the benefits we receive?

many thanks for your help

Comments

  • Thanks poppy12345. I have read this already but can't work out if it would affect us or not, hence the reason why i thought perhaps someone on here could give us a bit more information/help.
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958
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    Thanks poppy12345. I have read this already but can't work out if it would affect us or not, hence the reason why i thought perhaps someone on here could give us a bit more information/help.

    Not sure what part you can't understand, it's pretty straight forward, you have a mortage, so may need permission from the lender, the 1st £20 of lodgings does not affect your benefits, so if for instance you were getting £50 per week lodgings then £30 of that would be adjusted in your benefits.
  • TBagpuss
    TBagpuss Posts: 11,198
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    edited 31 July 2017 at 2:49PM
    Have a look at the pension credit calculator.

    https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

    There is a question about lodgers and borders, so you should be able to fill it in once using your current financial details, and once with the details of a hypothetical lodger, to see whether you would be better or worse off.

    I think Council Tax benefit is based on whether you are getting Pension Credit Guarantee so would depend on whether you're still eligible.
    All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
  • TBagpuss
    TBagpuss Posts: 11,198
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    DUTR wrote: »
    Not sure what part you can't understand, it's pretty straight forward, you have a mortage, so may need permission from the lender, the 1st £20 of lodgings does not affect your benefits, so if for instance you were getting £50 per week lodgings then £30 of that would be adjusted in your benefits.

    That's only for Housing Benefit, which OP isn't claiming. The situation may be different with Pension Credit and Council Tax Benefit.
    All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,841
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    It will affect any Income related benefits you recieve for EG your guaranteed pension credit because the rent would be classed as income. It may also affect your SMI payments but i'm not 100% sure on that. You would also need to get permission from your Mortgage company, as stated in that link above. I'm sure someone else will come a long and add to this if need be.
  • poppy12345
    poppy12345 Posts: 17,841
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    TBagpuss wrote: »
    That's only for Housing Benefit, which OP isn't claiming. The situation may be different with Pension Credit and Council Tax Benefit.
    Well it would be classed as Income and Pension credit is Income related benefits so pretty much the same thing.
  • sleepless_saver
    sleepless_saver Posts: 2,741
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    This site explains how the reduction in pension credit is calculated for income from lodger. https://myspectrum.co.uk/custompage.aspx?id=43 . It's consistent with the DWP decision makers guide, but this is a lot easier to read
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