Cost of living payment, what's fair?

mariel_3

Two years ago I allowed my son's friend (M.23) to move in as he needed to be on tag, was homeless so the other alternative was prison. For most of the first year he barely paid any of the £25 a week rent we agreed, he just gave me £10 / £20 here and there, building up a debt of about £900 that he still owes me.
After a year I helped him start a Universal Credit claim and as he doesn't have a bank account it gets paid into mine - I keep the rent and pass on the benefit to him in cash.  Of course, now the COL payments have gone into my bank account. Do I give it all to him? keep it all? split it? Would it even be legal to keep it? ethical?
He owes me hundreds (which I have little other prospect of getting back)  so I could keep it and knock it off that - and also it's for cost of LIVING. (obvs I pay all the household bills plus he uses my toiletries and household cleaning products and often takes our food, has a long shower or deep bath and uses a clean towel each day generally being a 20-something lad). He says that thats what he's paying me rent for and the things he needs to buy (clothes, beer bus fares) have also gone up so i shoudl pass it all on . . . . . I keep deleting and retyping this as I can't decide if I'm a stupid pushover or an evil abusive landlord.

[Deleted User]

Well I won't call you a pushover but maybe over-kind?. Make it clear that the rent is only for the room, have you done this? If not you need a contract to say what ( if anything) other than the room  is included. No one pays only £25 for a room, let alone having bills etc inclusive in that.  If that's not acceptable to him, he will have to find somewhere else. Rents for a single room in a shared house incl' of bills are around £330 a month. 

[Deleted User]

By the way, I wouldn't knock the COL payment off what he owes you!  You don't need to, he still owes you what he hasn't paid.  

poppy12345

My advice.... show him the door and shut it behind him.

SuzeQStan

Wow [Deleted User]- there are perhaps more constructive ways to respond on here.

OP - you have done a kind thing and this kid doesn’t know how lucky he is. Time for some home truths - like @[Deleted User] says he is way underfunding his rent/keep. 

That said not sure about the legalities around keeping a COL payment meant for someone else….will be interesting to hear some other thoughts about that on here from those in the know hopefully….

[Deleted User]

 Personally if the COL payment is in his name, albeit coming via your bank account, I would give it to him and make him leave asap, it will just about cover his first months rent somewhere else! Obviously you should  Inform the DWP ( and whoever you need to) that he is no longer with you and that he must make arrangements to get his UC paid some other way. 

mariel_3

[Deleted User] said:

Well I won't call you a pushover but maybe over-kind?. Make it clear that the rent is only for the room, have you done this? If not you need a contract to say what ( if anything) other than the room  is included. No one pays only £25 for a room, let alone having bills etc inclusive in that.  If that's not acceptable to him, he will have to find somewhere else. Rents for a single room in a shared house incl' of bills are around £330 a month. 

thanks; I have put it up to £45 this year as bills have risen, it was £25 the first year. It's really helpful to have that comparison.

[Deleted User]

There is an online calculator which may be of use to you/him for " local housing allowance rates", see https://www.gov.uk/housing-and-universal-credit/renting-from-private-landlord   ( note in my general area the maximum allowance single room, shared house, under age 35 is around £92 a week. )

sheramber

mariel_3 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Well I won't call you a pushover but maybe over-kind?. Make it clear that the rent is only for the room, have you done this? If not you need a contract to say what ( if anything) other than the room  is included. No one pays only £25 for a room, let alone having bills etc inclusive in that.  If that's not acceptable to him, he will have to find somewhere else. Rents for a single room in a shared house incl' of bills are around £330 a month. 

thanks; I have put it up to £45 this year as bills have risen, it was £25 the first year. It's really helpful to have that comparison.

If he is not paying it , it won't make any difference what you increase it to.

TELLIT01

Not answering the question, but he should have his own bank account by now.  It's a few years since I left DWP, but at that time banks were offering basic accounts with no overdraft facility specifically for those on benefits.

HillStreetBlues

I am assuming that there is no official tenancy agreement.
How I see it is there is no contract between you and your son's mate. You would have to have a tenancy agreement and all the landlords checks involved.  So legally he doesn't own you anything.

As it's his money (even if it's in your back account)  then legally it's his, so you shouldn't withhold it.

If you are thinking about letting him stay, say to him  he agrees to give you the COL payments if he doesn't agree tell him to find somewhere else to sleep starting now.