Can 2 single parents share a house and both claim housing benefit ?

[Mosman]

Random question I know but we are renting out our house and need £950 to cover the mortgage.
I have a friend who going through an awful time and would like to rent the house but would only get about £500 in HB.
So I had the wonderful idea that she could get another single parent to share the house with her which she thought was great but for the fact that it occurred to us that the powers that be might htink they were in a same sex relationship ?
Has anyone ever come across this plan in action, did it work ?
Thanks

[fluffygal]

Bit different but my ex, his bro and his mum moved into a rented place as tenants. His mum struggled to find a job with enough hours as she had just returned from living in Lanzarote, and she was able to claim HB and council tax benefit on her third of the rent and council tax. People live in flatshares and bedsits and get hb so don't see why she couldn't? Just remember to check with your mortgage company that you can change to a buy to let mortgage first.

[pancakeboobies]

I am a benefit officer and this would be fine but they would need to sign a joint tenancy (have both their names on it). They would then be treated as 50% liable for rent and 50% liable for ctax. Their separate claims would then be assessed with the maximum 50% level.

[nailak]

but the housing benefit would presumably go down? as she wont be renting a whole house but half? the housing benefit is calculated on how many rooms your family has sole occupancy off is it not?

[Mosman]

Is it ?
I wondered about that, would it not be a case of half of the rent allocated to each of them ? Both are entitled to a 2 bedroomed place, it's a 4 bedroomed house so that should work ?

[nailak]

What is the maximum LHA amount for 2 bed in your area? Should be on council website. Then you will know how much they should get each and can see if it makes rent.

[debbiedebs]

Doesn't it depend on the amount of bedrooms calculated for the size of the individual family. Then this will decide the maximum Local Housing Allowance for each family. I guess the question is can they put these allowances towards the same rental property.

[Mosman]

I can't imagine 2 bedrooms each would be a problem for a mum and 2 kids x 2 can you ? They can't manage with any less.
I'm more worried about how realistic it is thinking they will get £450 each in housing benefit, both have a part time job, it doesn't seem to add up tbh. I want to help but it's got to add up financially.

[girlgonemild]

Agree with others HB is a little more complicated than that. You don't just get an allocation of money it is related to the property you rent as well as what you are eligible for.
If they are entitled to a 2 bed place the £500 most likely relates to them renting a 2 bed flat. It doesn't necessarily follow that they would get £500 towards a half share in a 4 bed.
In my area for example she would get £650 pcm for a 2 bed flat but £995 for a 4bed place in the scenario above. This site will help you work it out for your area

[girlgonemild]

I mean £995 between the two of them total so about £150 less each if they share because the cost of renting a bigger property isn't usually twice the cost of renting two smaller properties.....hope that makes sense!

[Mosman]

Yea that does make sense, not sure it's going to work then. If both are entitled to £550 say, they will both be awarded £225 as it's 50% of their allowance, does that sound right ?

[nailak]

no thats not right, they wont get 50% of the maximum 2 bed allowance.

they will get less then the maximum because the bathroom, kitchen, ,livingroom are shared occupancy. but not that much less.

and since they are working they will get less again.

they can still do it if they are prepared to top up rent. most people on HB have to top up rent.

[Mosman]

I don't think they can top up the rent, not from the calculations i've done, she works part time MW job so they are barely making ends meet even not paying anything at the moment - her ex is paying the mortgage.
I want it to work but I can't see how it can.
If the LA allowance for a 2 bed would be £475 they aren't even going to get that between them are they ? Then there's the additional bills for a bigger house.

[pancakeboobies]

If their LHA rate was for example £500 for a 2 bedroom property, this would be the maximum a claimant could get if they either had a very low income or were on Income Based JSA or ESA or Income Suptport. They will be unlikely to get full housing benefit if they are working part time. Their income for Housing Benefit will also include tax credits, but any child care costs will be disregarded which can make quite a difference.
Using £500 as an LHA example if they did qualify for full HB one person would get £500 and the other £500 max. However, if their rent was less than the £1000 it would be assessed on half of whatever the rent was.
Have you looked on entitled to? Stick it in google and put their circumstances in, it will give you the LHA for the area and you can put in their circumstances. Treat them as single claimants and run through the individual circumstances it is very accurate

[BertieBotts]

No they won't get 50% of the allowance, they can get up to 100% of their allowance, however if they're working then it will probably be less to take account of this.

Their best bet would be to both go onto entitledto.com and put their details in separately with the full 2-bed LHA allowance, and half of the rent when it asks for each of those details.

[Mosman]

Ah ok, that works then.

[artandcraftmum]

id things work out i would love to share with another single mum ?

[davedavies92]

if your still active could you maybe answer a question for me, last year my mother passed alway and left me and my older brother in a situation we live in a Cardiff council house he had right to succession but he could only be a sole tenant is this legal is their anyway I could have my name added to the tenancy as they said if he dies it will not pass onto me and basically ill become homeless if this happens any response would be great

[AndNowItsSeven]

Their local council should be able to work it out for them.

[fakenamefornow]

Have you found a second family willing to make up the numbers though? That could be the most difficult part.