Can I claim housing benefit for renting my daughters house

pastmybest

I recall posts that have said you can't but will it make diffrence that my daughter is not married and it is her partners house.

Oldernotwiser

pastmybest wrote: »

I recall posts that have said you can't but will it make diffrence that my daughter is not married and it is her partners house.

Partner as in Civil Partnership?

mitchaa

So you're moving in with your daughter and partner and want HB to pay basically?

As far as i am aware the change over to LHA is now in effect.

Wouldn't you only get single person shared room rate if this is the case?

pastmybest

mitchaa wrote: »

So you're moving in with your daughter and partner and want HB to pay basically?

As far as i am aware the change over to LHA is now in effect.

Wouldn't you only get single person shared room rate if this is the case?

No my daughter and her boyfriend need to move to another part of the country so not living with them. They are not keen on trying to sell in current housing market but would need rental income from someone and it would suit us. It is only one bed which is all the LHA would pay for anyway.

pastmybest

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Partner as in Civil Partnership?

No just daughter and her boyfriend.

Conor_3

It is extremely hard to get. It would need to be done as a proper tenancy agreement. Only problem is this has ramifications with her mortgage company as it would need to be allowed by the mortgage company. It also would have ramifications for her in regards to any benefits and tax credits she gets and she'd have to declare it to the inland revenue as the rent would be classed as taxable income. In short, she'd need to set up as a proper landlord.

Renting the house isn't the same as the IR's "rent a room" scheme which allows ~£4k rental income per annum for a room.

ickster

Yes you can provided it is a "commercial arrangement". This means there needs to be a written tenancy agreement in place, a market rent charged (with a rent book or something similar) and your daughter would need to chase you for arrears etc if you fell behind. She must treat you like a tenant, not like her mother. If there was any suggestion that she would let you stay there free or give you a rent holiday if times became hard, they are unlikely to hold that it is a commercial agreement.

It is best to get the prior approval of the Housing Benefit team in your local area. If you are up front about everything, they are unlikely to object.