Claiming housing costs on universal credit as a lodger

CrazyOne88

I was living with my friends last time I was on UC. I've been away for a while and just come back and when I've tried to claim UC they've told me I can't claim for housing costs as I'm living with friend or relative. 
Is this actually the case? As it was never an issue before and if so how am I supposed to pay rent? 
Do they expect my friends to let me live here for free just because we're friends?
Thank you

calcotti

You need a tenancy agreement to get help with the rent. If you are sub letting from a friend you need some form of formal agreement. Your post is not clear whether you are living with friends or relatives. You cannot get help if paying rent to a relative who lives in the same house.

huckster

You need to report housing as other type of Housing and there is an option paying rent or mortgage on two homes.  This triggers non standard Housing action on the UC side.  They will then ask you for proof that you are liable for rent or at least actual proof that you are paying it every week or month (whatever the arrangement is).

You cannot claim UC Housing, if you have no evidence to show that you are actually paying rent regularly. 

Report the Housing again and ask for mandatory reconsideration.  Get your friend to confirm in writing to you, that they rent you a room for £xx per week, what this amount of rent pays for i.e. rent of room only, with no responsibility for any household bills such as utility costs, when this arrangement started from  and that they would require you leave the property if the rent was not paid.  And have Bank statements available to confirm that you are paying the rent.
They will not pay towards Housing, if you are renting a room from a relative.

definedrisk

If you are entitled to two bedroom Local Housing Allowance Rate (single parent with child) then even if the person takes a single bedroom property (private rental) they still receive this capped two bedroom rate maximum. This has been confirmed in writing by DWP via the UC app (the problem is that private rental two bedroom property prices far exceed the two bedroom cap making them unaffordable). 

My question is: If the same parent and child couple instead take an excluded Excluded Tenancy Agreement (live as a lodger with shared household facilities) with a single bedroom with two-beds are they still entitled to upto this same two-bedroom capped rate? Or would they be limited to the shared accommodation rate (which is much lower)? The DWP replied saying that the case would need to be looked at on a case by case basis. I presume that if the contract clearly specified the rental was for room only and that a separate contribution towards bills was required then the payment would be made for the room only part. But if a single payment "including bills" was specified then they would reduce this by some portion to allow for bills (which are clearly not supposed to be covered by the Housing Payment)? Anyone have any experience of this?

calcotti

definedrisk said:

My question is: If the same parent and child couple instead take an excluded Excluded Tenancy Agreement (live as a lodger with shared household facilities) with a single bedroom with two-beds are they still entitled to upto this same two-bedroom capped rate? Or would they be limited to the shared accommodation rate (which is much lower)? The DWP replied saying that the case would need to be looked at on a case by case basis. I presume that if the contract clearly specified the rental was for room only and that a separate contribution towards bills was required then the payment would be made for the room only part. But if a single payment "including bills" was specified then they would reduce this by some portion to allow for bills (which are clearly not supposed to be covered by the Housing Payment)? Anyone have any experience of this?

Provided they are entitled to claim because they have a lodger agreement they are still entitled to two bedroom LHA rate as the cap. 

Jyana

I think, these days, that your proof of rent has to specify what the amount your 'inclusive bills' are, rather than just put down a lump sum for the month. So, a break down for water, energy, service charges, etc. Where as the only time I was in that situation, as a teenager back in the '80s when I had to move in an emergency accommodation, they assumed a figure out of the air which was a lot higher than it was in reality, leaving a lot of us even worse off during a time of stress. So hopefully that will help, especially with energy bills going crazy at present, they could well assume ridiculous numbers! 

KxMx

OP was posted in June 2020.

calcotti

KxMx said:

OP was posted in June 2020.

But a new query was posted onto the bottom of the existing thread today (it would have been better if new post had been made on a new thread to avoid that sort of confusion).

definedrisk

Hello Forumites😃... update on my post regarding Universal Credit claim of over a year ago... as a new lodger excluded license agreement that we are finally trying to start as a family in our house with .. the lady and her daughter as stated before would be eligible for a two bedroom rate UC which in Leeds is £775. However... she wants to live as a lodger in our family home and the only hurdle we can see is that this would be classed a shared living arrangement which is capped at £347... we are now testing this with UC and I will report updates. She has been living with us under a Home for Ukraine scheme and we are trying to understand what she is entitled to convert this to a lodger agreement upto the two bedroom rate (we are in a thankfully very fortunate position with good size house, just that she officially has only 1 large room for her and daughter).

Newcad

The "Shared" accomodation rate of LHA was originally for those who rent rooms in a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). What used to be called 'Bedsits'.

Nowadays, with UC it applies to under 35yo, single, renters whatever type of property they rent.

As your proposed arrangement is a lodger arrangement and your lodger is not single (they have a child) then the Shared Rate LHA will not apply to it and it will be the 2-bedroom rate..