Universal Credit Tenancy Agreement Occupancy Issue

Newcad

Dave1UK said:

Seeing the UC statement again, there is a deduction for my brother -£93.02.

Good, that's exactly what we needed to see on the statement.

That is the non-depemdant decuction that is being made for your brother, and so all is correct as far as that goes.

And yes, despite what you have probably heard, in some aspects UC is more generous than Legacy benefits were; and this is one of those aspects - UC takes less for a non-dependant deduction than HB might have done.

PS. 

He was paying that weekly under HB,

Just because UC is paying more towards your parents Housing Costs than HB did does not mean that you brother should now start paying any less than he did previously.
It's their UC award and they should benefit from it - not your brother who is working.
Your brother should pay them at least the same as he was paying before, or find a place of his own to live.

Robbie64

^

Newcad, I think the poster means the non dep deduction was around that amount each week under HB.

Newcad

I had realised that, and the parents should benefit from it being less in UC not the son.
It is their UC not his.

As one of three adults in the property then he should be paying at least 1/3 of the rent+service charges, regardless of what the non-dep deduction is from the parents benefits.
What his parents get from UC should not reduce what their working son pays as his share of the rent.
(Some might say he should pay them half the rent, 1-bedroom each half rent each).

Their UC statement has been taken down now but from my (addmitedly dodgy at times)  memory of what the rent and charges were then a 1/3 share would be somewhere around £370 a month, maybe a bit less, that he should be paying towards the rent - so around £85 a week.

Dave1UK said:

Seeing the UC statement again, there is a deduction for my brother -£93.02. This is extremely minimal? He was paying that weekly under HB, 

Remembering that HB was 4 weekly not monthly then £93 a week would be £372 every 4 weeks, so if what has been said there about him previously paying £93 a week is right then that was about right for his 1/3 share of the rent. (and is not far off the £370 that I was remembering/estimating above).

And he should continue to pay his 1/3 share of the rent regardless of what his parents are now getting as benefits.

Dave1UK

Newcad said:

I had realised that, and the parents should benefit from it being less in UC not the son.
It is their UC not his.

As one of three adults in the property then he should be paying at least 1/3 of the rent+service charges, regardless of what the non-dep deduction is from the parents benefits.
What his parents get from UC should not reduce what their working son pays as his share of the rent.
(Some might say he should pay them half the rent, 1-bedroom each half rent each).

Their UC statement has been taken down now but from my (addmitedly dodgy at times)  memory of what the rent and charges were then a 1/3 share would be somewhere around £370 a month, maybe a bit less, that he should be paying towards the rent - so around £85 a week.

Dave1UK said:

Seeing the UC statement again, there is a deduction for my brother -£93.02. This is extremely minimal? He was paying that weekly under HB, 

Remembering that HB was 4 weekly not monthly then £93 a week would be £372 every 4 weeks, so if what has been said there about him previously paying £93 a week is right then that was about right for his 1/3 share of the rent. (and is not far off the £370 that I was remembering/estimating above).

And he should continue to pay his 1/3 share of the rent regardless of what his parents are now getting as benefits.

You make a fair point and I will definitely be discussing this with my brother and parents and the 1/3 arrangement would be the sweet spot, even though if he was in a similar rental situation elsewhere (i.e. not family related but in the open market) then yeah the split would definitely be closer to the 50% mark depending on room size etc of course, similar to HB estimates.

Apologies the site I used to upload the documents to only allows it for 24 hour period before automatic removal. With the figures converted to monthly as opposed to weekly, rent + charges for the property is £1058.55 monthly. Under HB he was contributing £560.73 monthly. So under 1/3 contribution would be ~£352.85.

Appreciate the help from everyone on this, now just need to solely deal with and go back and forth with UC in regards to the now alleged overpayment letter to be cancelled as well as no housing costs received the previous month to somehow be paid/backdated.

Dave1UK

Rather than starting a whole new thread, and as this query is related and a lot of the backstory is already here thought it may be better to repost here.

My brother became unemployed last month from his full-time employment, so he has now signed up to Universal Credit.

Now there is some confusion as to the housing element. My parents have him down on their claim as "1 adult living with you who is expected to pay towards the rent -£93.02". The full rent for the property is covered by their joint UC claim, my brother was making his own contribution towards the rent whilst he was employed.

Of course now he is no longer is full-time work or any work, he can't afford to do so. He has started his own UC claim and put down in regards to the "About where you live" the option "I live with close relatives - for example, my parents or my partner's parents", we are unsure whether this is reflected correctly?

Several years ago, housing benefit would cover his share of the rent when he was unemployed, however this is no longer the case as housing benefit isn't involved and it's directly with UC.

Is/will UC help with his share of the rent? Or are my parents expected now to pay the full rent as UC is covering it on their claim?

Appreciate any assistance.

8dayweek

No - if he’s not liable for Rent (i.e. a joint tenant) then he can’t get help with Housing Costs.

The Non-Dependent Deduction you refer to on your Parent’s claim is flat rate - UC use that rate regardless of circumstances (bar exemptions for those receiving certain disability benefits).

UC in this respect is actually generally more favourable than Housing Benefit which had a sliding scale for Non-Dependent Deduction amounts (plus that kicked in from age 18 upwards, not 21 like under UC).

sammyjammy

It would seem that if he is over 25 the non dependant deduction still applies, he can still contribute to the rent out his UC if he wishes/is able.

Non-dependant rules - Entitledto