6 month rent in advance and housing benefit

amywamie

Would UC pay housing benefit element of our rent if we have had to pay 6 months in advance? 

Myself and my partner are unemployed and have been asked to pay 6 months rent in advance in our new flat. We can lend the money to do so and secure the tenancy but are relying on housing benefit element Of UC In order to pay the money back. 

poppy12345

amywamie said:

Would UC pay housing benefit element of our rent if we have had to pay 6 months in advance? 

Myself and my partner are unemployed and have been asked to pay 6 months rent in advance in our new flat. We can lend the money to do so and secure the tenancy but are relying on housing benefit element Of UC In order to pay the money back. 

There's no rules against that. You'll need a tenany agreement to be able to the for the housing element in your UC. Do you already claim UC or will it be a new claim? Check here what your LHA will be for your circumstances https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

If you have savings/capital of £16,000 and over you'll be excluded from claiming UC.

If it's just you and your partner then you'll be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate of LHA.

calcotti

Payment of the housing element is based on your liability to pay rent. If the rent is paid in advance (or conversely if you choose not to pay it) it makes no difference to the housing element payable.

huckster

Just to make the obvious point, UC would only pay a monthly award including Housing taking into account all information at the time of issuing the monthly UC statement. So you might have paid 6 months Housing in advance but you would only get paid a monthly UC benefit amount, which is paid in arrears. So if you claimed on say 16/8/20, the first assessment period would be 16/8/20 to 15/9/20 with first payment due on or around 22/9/20. Second UC payment 22/10/20 etc.

UC Housing based on LHA rate may be less than the rent you paid. If so, you may want to look into discretionary housing payments with your local Council. Details may be found on your local councils website.

You can also use a Benefits calculator such as Entitledto or Turn 2 us to calculate UC amounts.