Privately renting whilst owning a property and on benefits

FBaby

It's a very dangerous thing to do. It's all well to say that you would get an agency to deal with the rental, but you can't trust agencies to do everything without you keeping an eye on what they do. They get things wrong, they don't manage things as you pay them to do, and you can still expect them to contact you every time there is a problem to ask you how you want it to be dealt with, all this for 10% of your rent income.

What happens if the tenants don't pay, what if they refuse to move out when you decide you are ready to go back? Being a landlord is extremely stressful and not something you'll want to take on if what you are looking for is less stress in your life.

11krage

I can only advise about UC if you end up moving onto that. If you rent and you also own a house, I'm afraid under UC the house you own would be considered as capital. This would take your capital over 16k which could mean you're not entitled.

The could being there are some exceptions to the capital rule. You'd still need to declare having over 16k capital in the form of the house. This would go to a decision maker who would decide if you met any of the exceptions to have this capital waived for x amount of time (usually up to six months before a review is needed).

I don't have the guidance for the exception criteria on me, so can't advise what this is. Someone else might be able to chime in.

If the decision maker decided you didn't meet any of the criteria, the house would be regarded as capital and you would not be entitled to UC.

If the house was disregarded as capital and you were to rent it out, things get even more complicated. Basically money you'd get from renting out the house wouldn't be treated as other income (it didn't make sense to me either when I learned this), but would be considered for capital. If the CM did their job they'd be required to check your bank statements and check for deprivation of capital with this extra income you're receiving in mind.

Throwing out ideas now. If you were to stay in your house, UC wouldn't take into account any extra income you received from renting out a bedroom to a lodger. Could it be possible to do that and use the extra income to get some help around the house? You also might find you qualify for someone to come from the nhs to help while you're recovering, so that might be worth asking the hospital about.

[Deleted User]

Or even offer a room at reduced rent in return for housework/cooking help, maybe even personal care.