Surely this can’t be right? Child maintenance

[MintGreenPolo]

My ex doesn’t pay any maintenance and never has since we split 6/7 years ago. He doesn’t work and instead rents out the rooms in his flat. He lives in central London so the rooms go for quite a bit and if he was declaring it he would have to pay £380 a month maintenance, but of course he isn’t so he doesn’t have to pay anything. Recently he went on to benefits, I thought this would be fraud but apparently not?! Apparently he can claim benefits as not working AND rent out the rooms and not have to declare it and it’s totally fine? How is that right? Surely this can’t be right? He doesn’t have to declare no matter the amount apparently. This seems so wrong

How do you know so much about his income?

Feel free to report him for benefit fraud.

He told me. It’s the reason he won’t have the children overnight because he is renting the rooms out, he has been open about this a regularly mentions his lodgers to me.

You can call the DWP and report him for benefit fraud.

He is clearly not father of the year.

I'm sure you can earn a small amount per year from a lodger without it affecting you for tax purposes but on UC you have to declare all income so he would presumably be over the threshold with multiple rooms?!

Not classed as an income apparently

Well,.. feel free to report him for benefit fraud.

He hasn't got a lodger.

You can only earn up to around £7000 a year frump a lodger. Anything g over that and you have to declare it in a tax return and to the benefits folks.

Why do you think he hasn't got a lodger? On what basis do you think he is committing benefit fraud?

I'm sure there's a limit on income from having a lodger.

@MintGreenPolo You can apply to the CMS for a variation on the basis that his lifestyle is inconsistent with his declared income.

I think you have posted about your ex before as you are upset he won’t take the DC overnight ?
The answer is the same - you can’t force him . It’s not fair but that’s the situation.

I can’t prove that as we don’t have any contact anymore

No I can’t force him to have contact but I can try to do something about this as he is currently paying £7 a week whilst raking it in from renting his rooms out

Surely income from lodgers is still relevant for the purposes of CMS and, if over threshold, for income tax.
(Even if it doesn't affect universal credit).

That is exactly what I had to do.

Anyone can rent out rooms in a property up to £7,500 per year with no need to declare to HMRC but above that a self assessment tax form needs to be completed www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme. The benefit system will be a different set of criteria as is CMS. What benefits does a single male qualify for who owns property (presumably)? Look at the benefit rules and report to whichever of the three authorities you think he might be breaching rules for.

He's got more than one tenant.

So how do you know so much about his income?

£7000 a year is hardly “raking it in.”

It's not £7000 a year where are you getting that from? It's £2000 a month he

Lives in central London and has 3 lodgers where are you getting £7000 from?

@00100001 he's got more than one lodger but that doesn't mean they are tenants. If they are sharing his living space, they are still lodgers regardless of how many there are.

He doesn’t have to declare it if he has one lodger and is earning less than 7.5k.

For three he does. If it’s more than 7.5k a year he does.He has to declare it to UC and HMRC.
Also in most places four unrelated people would be a HMO and need a license - even with the landlord living there.

You should report him. The HMO will get his local authority acting quickly. And HMRC don’t like people hiding income.

Because he told me he won't bother working whilst he earns the same amount as his friend from renting his rooms I've also done some digging and found him advertising on spare room. Why do you keep asking me how I know? We were in contact and he told me why he won't have the children and why he can only see them at mine he also told me when we split that this is what he would be doing. I've cut contact if he isn't going to bother with seeing the children

This.

And he may live in an area where proliferation of HMOs is not allowed meaning the council can refuse to grant him a license. Definitely report him to the council.

@MintGreenPolo

He's committing tax fraud - the max you can earn from lodger income is £7500, everything over that has to be declared for income tax and thus cms would be calculated on it. That said £2000 a month isn't a high income, you wouldn't get awarded much. Now he has benefits they will be hassling him to get work!