Can a lodger claim housing element of UC

JKS$(

My daughter & her flatmate can no longer afford to live in their flat so will be moving in with me. They are both on the autistic spectrum & have struggled to live independently. They've run up debts & would be evicted if they weren't able to move in with me.

The friend claims UC & PIP & has been having most of her share of the rent paid by UC. She's unable to work at present due to additional MH issues. My daughter was working but has been fired because she kept leaving work to look after her flatmate. She started a claim for UC but hasn't heard anything yet. The friend's family are not in the picture.

What can we do about the friend's housing element? I'd like to charge some rent, to try & get them in the habit of understanding bills & so I won't be hugely out of pocket (I am disabled & claim PIP, CBESA & a much reduced occupational pension. Can she claim rent as a lodger with me?

They are moving from England to Wales - don't know if that makes a difference?

Thanks in advance. It's a difficult time, they are devastated to be leaving but the support they keep being promised either never happens, or they say they don't need it so it stops until the next crisis happens... 

Alice_Holt

My thoughts:

Your daughter would not be able to claim the housing element of UC as she is classed as a "close relative" and you are both living in the same home.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/claiming_benefits_if_you_rent_from_family

Your daughter's friend may be able to claim the housing element of UC as a lodger. You would have to draw up a lodgers licence agreement which needs to be approved by UC before payments can be made.

JKS$(

Thanks @Alice_Holt, I was getting very confused about the advice for lodgers. I found a lot about tenants & landlords, which doesn't apply, but the advice for lodgers seems (to me) quite wooly. It appears I can write up an agreement, or have a rent book, charge rent daily, weeklly or monthly, but I couldn't find official examples of circumstances that UC would be happy with. Advice about how taking in a lodger could affect the 'landlord's' UC claim, but that doesn't apply to me.

I've had issues with DWP & the benefits system over the years I've been disabled, & one staff mebers opinion can differ from another's opinion, so I wan't to give them the info they need in the format they want it. 

I wasn't expecting to charge my daughter anything for rent until she's both working & has paid off her debts that are still accumulating. 

sheramber

JKS$( said:

Thanks @Alice_Holt, I was getting very confused about the advice for lodgers. I found a lot about tenants & landlords, which doesn't apply, but the advice for lodgers seems (to me) quite wooly. It appears I can write up an agreement, or have a rent book, charge rent daily, weeklly or monthly, but I couldn't find official examples of circumstances that UC would be happy with. Advice about how taking in a lodger could affect the 'landlord's' UC claim, but that doesn't apply to me.

I've had issues with DWP & the benefits system over the years I've been disabled, & one staff mebers opinion can differ from another's opinion, so I wan't to give them the info they need in the format they want it. 

I wasn't expecting to charge my daughter anything for rent until she's both working & has paid off her debts that are still accumulating. 

Your  lodger needs to have some proof of agreement/payments to claim the housing allowance.  

Newcad

The rule is that to get UC Housing Element the UC claimant has to show a 'liability to pay rent'.

So the DWP will want to see something to show that such a 'liability' exists.

Which is fairly easy if the claimant has a Tenancy Agreement, but a bit less so with a lodger (or if there is no written TA).

With a lodger then a formal written "lodger agreement' (more properly called a 'licence to occupy') should do that, you can find templates online.

But UC  will often, usually, accept just seperate written statements from both the landlord and the lodger that rent of so much is payable each week/month.

The UC Housing Element that your lodger will be able to get is limited by the Local Housing Allowance. It's a cap and they will get the lesser of the LHA or the actual rent.

There is a LHA calculator you can use to see how much that would be, or just use one of the usual benefit calculators - that's more long winded but probably worth her doing anyway using her circumstances as they will be after moving in and becoming your lodger. (Sorry on my phone so giving links isn't easy).

poppy12345

LHA rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx she will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

Bigwheels1111

poppy12345 said:

LHA rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx she will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

From memory I thought it would be the room for rent rate.
Which can be better as no tax is paid up to £7,500 a year.

Spoonie_Turtle

Bigwheels1111 said:

poppy12345 said:

LHA rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx she will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

From memory I thought it would be the room for rent rate.
Which can be better as no tax is paid up to £7,500 a year.

No, for UC it's based on the bedroom allowance regardless of where they live.  Normally a single person under 35 would only get the shared accommodation rate but the daughter's friend claims PIP.

poppy12345

Bigwheels1111 said:

poppy12345 said:

LHA rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx she will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

From memory I thought it would be the room for rent rate.
Which can be better as no tax is paid up to £7,500 a year.

Shared bedroom rate would apply to housing benefit, not UC housing element.

Newcad

in UC shared rate LHA generally applies to singles under 35 for Housing Element. Unless PIP etc. is also in play.

Over 35's on UC-HE get 1-bedroom LHA regardless of whether they are sharing or not.
(In effect, for UC it's a 'single and under 35 rate' rather than a shared rate).

In Housing Benefit any single, of any age, who is sharing (say a room in a HMO) only gets shared rate LHA.
Unless PIP etc. is also in play.

In that respect UC-HE is more generous than HB is to single over 35's who are sharing.

eg. Until a couple of years ago I lived in HMO shared accommodation. I'm well over 35.
I was entitled to and got Housing Benefit at the shared rate LHA.
However if I had moved to UC at that time I would have been entitled to 1-bedroom rate LHA.
It didn't really matter in my case because my previous landlord deliberately set his HMO rents at shared rate LHA, so UC would only have paid that actual rent anyway.

(Shared rate LHA was below the market rents that he could have charged, but he was a decent guy and understood the system).

JKS$(

Thanks everyone for the advice - very much appreciated.

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

poppy12345 said:

LHA rates here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx she will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

From memory I thought it would be the room for rent rate.
Which can be better as no tax is paid up to £7,500 a year.

No, for UC it's based on the bedroom allowance regardless of where they live.  Normally a single person under 35 would only get the shared accommodation rate but the daughter's friend claims PIP.

I'm not sure I understnad why her friend would be allowed the 1 bedroom rate - is this a blanket rule because she gets PIP. As in, it doesn't matter why she gets PIP, simply getting PIP is enough to qualify. I'm not sure what her PIP award is - does it matter?

I've read the Rent-a-Room info on Gov.uk - I think that as long as my 'earnings' from the friend's rent are below £7,500/year (it would be well under), then I don't need to inform HMRC about this income. Is this correct?