Universal Credit & Rent Issues

GaryY

Bradden said:

Is there any way you could increase your income to help your mum? part time work etc?

The dream/plan would be part-time work but unfortunately, I don't have one atm so no.

comeandgo

GaryY said:

Bradden said:

Is there any way you could increase your income to help your mum? part time work etc?

The dream/plan would be part-time work but unfortunately, I don't have one atm so no.

Could you look for one?

calcotti

GaryY said:

I pay £50 a month and that's my contribution towards all bills. Also yes I pay for my own food, travel expenses etc. but she still wants me to pay the full amount of the rent aka £78 roughly, which I cannot do obviously. 

As advised in my earlier reply, if mum claims UC, and if neither of you get PIP, then her UC is being reduced by £78/month because you live there. It seems reasonable that she should ask you to reimburse that.

KxMx

Perhaps you could draw up a budget to show your Mum that what she is asking is unaffordable for you, and negotiate a fairer amount, is she aware of how low UC is for under 25's?

GaryY

I am looking for work and she is also aware of how much I get and still wants the money either way.

Doom_and_Gloom

You receive £265.31 a month in UC and you are saying that £78 would be unaffordable for you?
When I was 18 (I'm 33 now) my income was less than what you get on UC and my share of the rent alone in a flat share was £130 a month and I had bills, food, travel etc to pay out on top of that. It was tight yes but I managed and was usually able to save a few pounds a month.
Sorry to say but I don't think what your mother is asking for is too much, indeed it is rather low. I doubt even £80 a month would cover all of your share for bills to be honest. 
Sure sit down with your mum and try and state your side however I personally believe you may have to have a look at your spending habits. Learning how to budget now will help you massively in the future.

KxMx

The £80 is to cover the rent reduction his Mum has on her benefits, OP already pays towards bills as well and buys own food etc. 

Personally my Mum didn't expect me to make up that rent shortfall when she had to go onto UC, as I was already paying a high amount towards bills and keeping myself entirely otherwise. Plus doing nearly all the household cleaning and organisation. 

Indeed when I moved out she still had a rent reduction due to over occupying the property, and she no longer had my bills contribution either.
Would have been even more of a financial shock for her had I previously been covering the full rent reduction as well.

Doom_and_Gloom

So £50+£80=£130. Still don't see a problem with that. Bills are getting very expensive and it is entirely possible that even that would just cover the OPs share.

GaryY

Doom_and_Gloom said:

So £50+£80=£130. Still don't see a problem with that. Bills are getting very expensive and it is entirely possible that even that would just cover the OPs share.

Just because you had it different in the past doesn't mean anything about my situation right now and things were a lot cheaper in the past too so really you had it easy and I am very very good with my money I don't go out or get anything for myself all of that £135 is not enough to cover food these days and travel expenses and that doesn't account for clothes or anything like that. 

tomtom256

You could always move to your own place and then see how affordable it is?

If you are not working, not really sure what travel expenses you would have, other than to jobcentre appointments. If you had any job interviews, you should be asking your work coach to reimburse the travel from the flexible support fund.