To ask about housing/council tax benefit

[CoffeeAndBiscuitsPlease]

Hi everyone,

I know there is a finance thread but I need to find traffic to see if someone may have been in the same situation as me.

There is a chance my job may be on the line, and I am the breadwinner of the family, my partner works part time minimum wage.

We currently rent of my partners dad. His dad bought the house, and we have a proper tenancy agreement and we pay monthly by direct debit. It is the only house he owns as a landlord.

Does anyone know if housing and council tax benefit will be affected by this because the landlord is direct family? I can't seem to get a definitive answer and wondered if anyone had ever been in the same boat.

Coffee I can't link on this blasted Android app. However, my best advice to you is google the Shelter website.

They have a great helpline. It may take a while to get through but worth the wait. You can speak to them in complete confidence and then start looking at contacting council/benefits etc, when you're fully informed.

Just to let you know they will pay benefit from the Monday following the date of application. Do not get all the proofs together and then apply. Apply as soon as you need to, for example if you lose your job Friday apply Friday then you have a month to get the proof to the local authority.

Thank you!

I had a look on shelter but it's kind of vague because the councils can look at it case by case. That's why I was asking people so I can see whether people have been rejected and why.

Hopefully it will be fine, I keep all my paperwork straight so should have all the info they need

The only problem you may have is proving that the property would be rented out if you weren't living there. Usually, they ask to see (IME) proof that the property was put on the open market before you rented. From what I can understand, the property was bought and you were the first tenants? So could look as though the property was bought for you to live in.

However, I think that it will go massively in your favour that you have been paying rent for a year, have a proper tenancy and will only now be applying for housing benefit. So obviously you weren't trying to exploit the benefit IYSWIM.

I used to process housing benefit and to be honest I wouldn't really have qualms about paying you HB based on what you've told us.
Obviously I'd want to see paperwork backing it up but on face value, you should be fine.

It's worth bearing in mind that councils now set their own council tax reduction schemes rather than there being a single national scheme. Therefore there will be differences from area to area.

Hi OP - It really varies from council to council. Some will pay it no problem, and others will view it as a "contrived" (?) tenancy and not pay.