UK Landlord Forum / Life

Disabled daughter is currently living in supported living  not going so well with other tenants, I've recently just got a property back that would be great for her, would she be able to claim housing benefit if house is owned by a parent? Anyone already doing this, best way to go with it..
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Possibly.  It's a contrived tenancy though.

A contrived tenancy is a term used in British housing law to describe a situation where a tenancy is created in order to take advantage of the housing benefit system. Contrived tenancies can occur where a family member 'rents' to a family member but on a non-commercial basis.

I think you need to do some research.

If the property was 'worth' £400 per month, and the LHA payable was £400 per month, and the rent charged was £400 per month, you would be OK, as this would not be taking advantage of the benefits system. Do some research, but also consider a meeting with the Council to ease the path. Some Councils may say it's not possible / allowable but some Council staff may also not understand the rules, this kind of thing has been successfully challenged.

http://www.housingandsupport.org.uk/renting-accommodation-to-relatives

Section entitled - "Where a landlord rents another property to their close relative" - says - "There is no legal rule which prevents close relatives entering into a legally binding agreement to pay rent and claim Housing Benefit where they do not occupy the same dwelling. The authority would again be looking at whether it is a commercial agreement and whether it was set up to take advantage of the Housing Benefit system." - and - "When considering the matter of whether the tenancy was set up to abuse the Housing Benefit system the local authority should look at the individual facts surrounding the particular case. For example they may look at whether the rent is very high compared to other properties in the area or whether the property is too large for the occupant/s. The fact that landlord and tenant knew that the tenant could not pay the rent without claiming Housing Benefit when the tenancy was set up would not be sufficient reason to refuse Housing Benefit on the grounds of abuse of the system."

And even, which was surprising to me - "If the rent payable exceeds LHA the claimant can ask for additional discretionary payments under exceptional hardship. These payments are from a cash limited budget and do allow the council to top up if the claimant can show they are in severe difficulty. People have no right to these and they can be withdrawn at any time."

And this is relatively clear, to me - https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_benefit/housing_benefit_renting_from_family

Hi guys,
Appreciate all your advice.. Thank you.
I've an appointment at my local citizens advice Centre tomorrow then on to local council office.
The reason I'm wanting to do this, is My daughter is autistic and with severe Learning disabilities, lives in shared 24/7 supported living for her needs, the other tenants living with her are not suitable and causing health problems to my daughter. Tried different senarios but comes back to the same thing, my daughter moving into a place of her own with her care support. I've just got My house back from a tenant that was found to be subletting and caused all kinds of problems! And just thought it would be best for her, as I'm the landlord i wouldn't be wanting the house back to sell etc, and I know the house will be well kept and the rent gets paid..or some of it if its possible and the council agree.
I was wanting to know if anyone has done this?
Many Thanks In Advance

I have heard of this but not in this exact way.
A guy I knew a lot of years ago had a horrible father. His father agreed to rent his son the house at a reduced rate.
The son paid all the deposits upfront and everything went as normal until the son was made redundant.
the son signed on for job-seekers allowance, and housing benefit. The housing benefit did pay out, but I think they requested huge amounts of evidence that the son had been paying previously. once they knew that the son was paying as a tenant they allowed the housing benefit.
However, from what I remember, this caused all kinds of problems and the son had to prove he was honestly paying the father.

Of course the laws may have changed dramatically by now. -oh, and I think the housing benefit may have only been payed for 6 months. I'm not sure.

Hi Thanks for all your advice.
I did my research, popped along to the local council, called shelter and visited my local citizens advice centre as long as I can prove i.e., tenancy agreement and a bond tthen it looks like it'll be OK to proceed. Great news
Many Thanks again 😉