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Original poster

Pls help ! Benefit fraud ?

36 replies

Stressedoutttt · 04/05/2023 14:28

Pls help I do not know if I am/have done something wrong. I am currently claiming Uc and working full time each month

I’m currently renting from my mum who has a commercial property ( tenancy agreement in place etc).this is because the kids school are right opposite the house so works so well for me as a single parent. This was all declared to UC since the start of my claim in 2018.

Because of the relationship btw my mother and i and how close we are , she lends me money which I have to return and sametimes vice versa

Because of this I casually take off any loan from her rent or if she wants to help me when I’m im struggling I pay her some but make sure I pay the rest. Eg rent is 1k but she has borrowed 200 from me , I end up paying her 800 that month or she borrows me 300 I end up paying her 700 and balance her the rest later. This has happened like this severely over the years but of course there are whole payments of £1000 some months

It’s only just occurred to me as I read an article on renting from a family member , would this be considered benefit fraud because I’m not paying her the whole amounts some of the months over the years even though there is evidence of other amounts between us that may have been a loan?

This was done ignorantly and innocently because it’s family . There’s definitely no fraud here as she is always being paid . It’s just that it’s scattered all over the place in small payments Sometimes

OP posts:
CaloriecountMay2023 · 04/05/2023 20:14

Stop panicking and worrying what’s done is done. You work and bring in 2500.00 and they top you up £600.00. Your Mum can’t be expected to rent you the accommodation for free. Just get a receipt book and go back in your bank statements and write the cash receipts for the months you paid some of the rent in cash. You’ve done nothing wrong. Not sure about your Mum and her tax though but that’s not your problem.

Original poster
Stressedoutttt · 04/05/2023 20:15

TeaKitten · 04/05/2023 20:08

You sort of said the opposite to it being ‘most months’ in your OP, you said ‘some months’

This has happened like this severely over the years but of course there are whole payments of £1000 some months

So I would imagine it looks dodgy if anyone were to look.

Show quote history

It’s happened over the years sorry don’t even know if it’s “most” or “some”. Don’t want to contradict myself.

unless I sit down to analyse it over 5 years, it I has been happening severally over the years like I explained in the OP. There are so many transactions of between 10-50 pounds too which I send her for favours and vice versa. So if they were to look there are other thousand number of transactions between us and that’s why it got so casual

but from now on I will separate them definitely.

OP posts:
Lennybenny · 04/05/2023 20:20

Yeah it is. You recieve a housing element based on your rent. You have said your rent is 1k so you recieve every month a percentage of that say £900. If you're paying £700 or £800 etc, then your uc should reflect that but it doesn't because you're saying you always pay 1k. Your uc is a few hundred extra every month...thats not right.

Definitely not right. Plus renting off your mum as well. I'm surprised they accepted it as a tenancy tbh.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 04/05/2023 20:21

The easiest way to make it make sense, if just paying 1000 every month isn't an option, is if she needs a 'loan' you always, always, do it by bank transfer with 'rent' in the note. So you'd have 2 payments that month of 300 rent and 700 rent.

If she loans you money, she should do it either in cash and you pay back in cash, or she does it by bank transfer with "loan' and you send it back by bank transfer with 'loan repayment'.

What you must do is have money travelling between you one way as cash and the other way as a bank transfer. That'll look really dodgy and be impossible to prove it's legit.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 04/05/2023 20:22

Must not do!

User63847484848 · 04/05/2023 20:24

Keep your rent payments separate and do a standing order. Be careful that your mum isn’t overall giving more money back to you otherwise that could be viewed as fraudulent and a sham tenancy.

Original poster
Stressedoutttt · 04/05/2023 20:33

Lennybenny · 04/05/2023 20:20

Yeah it is. You recieve a housing element based on your rent. You have said your rent is 1k so you recieve every month a percentage of that say £900. If you're paying £700 or £800 etc, then your uc should reflect that but it doesn't because you're saying you always pay 1k. Your uc is a few hundred extra every month...thats not right.

Definitely not right. Plus renting off your mum as well. I'm surprised they accepted it as a tenancy tbh.

Well I do pay her the balance so I’ve not cheated in any way

OP posts:
Original poster
Stressedoutttt · 04/05/2023 20:34

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 04/05/2023 20:21

The easiest way to make it make sense, if just paying 1000 every month isn't an option, is if she needs a 'loan' you always, always, do it by bank transfer with 'rent' in the note. So you'd have 2 payments that month of 300 rent and 700 rent.

If she loans you money, she should do it either in cash and you pay back in cash, or she does it by bank transfer with "loan' and you send it back by bank transfer with 'loan repayment'.

What you must do is have money travelling between you one way as cash and the other way as a bank transfer. That'll look really dodgy and be impossible to prove it's legit.

I admit this is the right way but it just seemed a lot long winded that’s why but will just have to do this now cos of transparency

OP posts:
Dolly2021 · 27/06/2025 02:07

What was the outcome of this x

FlowerPower2525 · 28/06/2025 16:39

I was told by uc that toy can't claim the housing element renting off a family member, tenancy agreement or not. As I was going to rent off dh uncle. May have changed , this was about 18m ago

LavenderLavenderBlue · 04/07/2025 12:32

Your DM will need a proper paper trail for the rent, because she will must complete an annual self assessment tax return for the income th
at she receives from your rent.

Your DM can then loan you some money as a separate issue
However you should pay your rent in full

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