Rent paid in advance - please help!

littleguyhi83

hello

i was receiving UC a couple of years ago but this stopped when I received a divorce payout. Fast forward 2 years and I’m now back under the threshold to be able to receive benefits again. However, I had to pay 2 year’s rent upfront to be able to rent a property. The first year was paid December 2023 and I’ve just paid for the next year. As part of the UC assessment, they want to see proof of savings. While I’m now well within the limit to be able to receive benefits again, I wonder if I’ll still be eligible to the housing element? Citizens advice said I would be but I’m concerned they’ll say it has been paid in advance so they’ll rule it out? I owe the money back to my parents who have been great and understanding and let me use the money to be able to secure a house.
Any advice?!

Newcad

That sounds an odd arrangement, what happens a year from now- are they going to want another year in advance?

There is only one sure way to find out what the DWP think about the rent being paid a year in advance - make a UC claim and see what they say.

PS. Don't expect UC to give you a years rent in advance. UC Housing Element towards rent is paid in arrears each month.

If this year in advance has brought you under £16k and has been paid from your capital from the divorce settlement then Deprivation of Capital may also be a consideration.

As said, we could speculate but there is only one way to find out for sure.

peteuk

What does your tenancy say?  Does it ask for a years payment in advance?  If not then why have you done this, knowing you’ll be back on UC and that to some degree there is a housing element to it.

Equally if your now under the threshold of £16K why has your parents lent you the years rent?  You seem to be trying to complicate things and when DWP start to see something odd then they question it.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

kkkklinky

I have never heard of having to pay a years rent upfront before...UC pays in arrears monthly so I can't see them making an exception. Can't you use what's left of your savings to pay the rent and then get it back monthly through UC from the Housing Element...although I'm unsure if that is possible or not. Even if they do you will still have problems in the future.

I would contact the landlord in order to pay monthly once your 12 months is up...expecting someone to pay yearly is extremely.

WelshPaul

While UC Housing Element for rent is paid in arrears, rent is usually due weekly, biweekly, every four weeks or monthly in advance. One still gets their housing element even if there is no rent is outstanding with the landlord during the assessment period because it was paid in advance. This is how we pay our rent, monthly, in advance.

However, if you had over 16K in savings and paid a year's rent upfront on a whim, I wouldn't be surprised if the DWP looked at it as deprivation of capital.

littleguyhi83

Thank you for your comments! And sorry if my original post wasn’t clear. As I’m on low income, nobody would agree to give me a rental. I was telling the estate agents that I had money I could use to pay but the only way my landlord would rent to me was to for me to agree the first year upfront which I paid for my first year and then the second year upfront 9 months in. This was written in to my 2 year contract (I had offered 6 months upfront but I was told I would have to agree to 1-2 years by the estate agent). I was so desperate for somewhere to live that I agreed to it as I couldn’t see another way to get someone to agree to rent to me.

HillStreetBlues

There are  two questions at issue, 1) can you paid your rent in advance 2) would it been seen a DoC
1) yes, you can, sadly at times it's required when on benefits I had to pay 6 months on my first rent, there were other places I offered 2 years in advance.
2) As you contact states when you have to pay then there is no DoC s you're only paying when the payment is due.

wakeupalarm

It will probably be the last time the OP will pay 1 years in advance if this because law.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/landlords-to-be-banned-from-charging-more-than-month-s-rent-in-advance/ar-AA1uRqOj

HillStreetBlues

wakeupalarm said:

It will probably be the last time the OP will pay 1 years in advance if this because law.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/landlords-to-be-banned-from-charging-more-than-month-s-rent-in-advance/ar-AA1uRqOj

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.