Universal Credit and Rent

onceuponat1me

Hi there

I am currently renting from my friend. I pay £1000 per month, however, £400 I give him cash. My contract states £1000 which I sent to them when I applied for UC in 2022, but they will see on my bank statements that only £600 goes out. He doesnt want to write a letter to state our arrangement as he says he will then be charged tax and will have to increase my rent to cover the tax. 
Has anyone been in this situation? Will UC lower my housing element as they can only see £600 going out?

Ayr_Rage

You both can't have your cake and eat it along with committing tax and benefit fraud.

If your contract says £1000 a month then is he providing receipts for that amount?

It all sounds very dodgy.

Flugelhorn

OK if you have receipts from his saying £1000 - however it is then up to him to be honest with the taxman

onceuponat1me

Yes I do have receipts - there are a lot though as its from 2022 - do I just scan these in and submit as proof? Would that be accepted?

kimwp

onceuponat1me said:

Yes I do have receipts - there are a lot though as its from 2022 - do I just scan these in and submit as proof? Would that be accepted?

Definitely scan them in and save them electronically as well as paper backups. 

born_again

onceuponat1me said:

Yes I do have receipts - there are a lot though as its from 2022 - do I just scan these in and submit as proof? Would that be accepted?

I would guess that they will want more upto date than 2022.

You need to use this tool to find out how much UC will pay towards your rent.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

Spoonie_Turtle

born_again said:

onceuponat1me said:

Yes I do have receipts - there are a lot though as its from 2022 - do I just scan these in and submit as proof? Would that be accepted?

I would guess that they will want more upto date than 2022.

You need to use this tool to find out how much UC will pay towards your rent.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

OP said
"there are a lot though as its from 2022"
I read that to mean as it goes back as far as 2022 there are a lot of receipts.  Getting on for 4 years now (depending on when in 2022 it started) = up to 48 receipts.

sammyjammy

I would defo save them all but would only provide if they ask, they might not notice or be looking for that on your bank statements in which case you are just making trouble for yourself, presumably your bank statement also shows you withdrawing the £400 cash each month?

bazdvd

sammyjammy said:

I would defo save them all but would only provide if they ask, they might not notice or be looking for that on your bank statements in which case you are just making trouble for yourself, presumably your bank statement also shows you withdrawing the £400 cash each month?

they will see a 600 bank transfer and a £400 cash payment/withdrawal so the £1000 is part cash part transfer. Nothing wrong with that.

born_again

bazdvd said:

sammyjammy said:

I would defo save them all but would only provide if they ask, they might not notice or be looking for that on your bank statements in which case you are just making trouble for yourself, presumably your bank statement also shows you withdrawing the £400 cash each month?

they will see a 600 bank transfer and a £400 cash payment/withdrawal so the £1000 is part cash part transfer. Nothing wrong with that.

Till someone at DWP looks a bit deeper & decides to report to HMRC to check the landlord is reporting the correct amount of rent.