Housing Benefit

[HelenPapa]

Hi everyone. Here is my situation:
I will be moving to a new house in a couple of weeks in Orpington and I need help deciding how the contract will be in order for me to get the maximum Housing Benefit I'm entittled to.
I am a single parent and I'm entittled to the 2 bedroom rate (which is 824.98/month) but i will be living with my sister (20 years old - working part time).
We found a 3 bedroom house and i'm wondering, should both of our names be on the tenancy agreement or only mine? If both of our names are on, will they give me only half of the rent or they will still concider the fact that i'm entitled to 2 bedrooms? (1 for me and 1 for my 2 young boys)
Anyone knows?

They will want to know full circumstances of everyone living in the premises. They can also ask for wage slips.

Are you sharing a room with your sister?

even if its only your name on the tenancy you still have to tell them your sister is living there, how much rent she is contributing etc.

They will only pay you the rate you are entitled to....regardless of how many bedrooms you actually have (I'm entitled to 3-bed allowance but privately rent a 4-bed as rent was the same as a 3 bed and they pay 3-bed allowance). They will want to know who lives in the property and this will be taken into account.

If the tenancy is in your name, they'll treat your sister as a "non-dependant" which means they'll reduce your housing benefit by an amount that depends on how much she earns. It won't matter how much she actually pays you towards the rent. I think they'll knock it off the 2 bed rate unfortunately though it's not a huge amount (around £10 a week for if she's a low earner). So if she can afford to actually pay you this shortfall, plus the difference between your £824 and the actual rent, then you'll be OK. If not you might struggle a bit.

I think the only way you could avoid this would be by not telling them she is living with you (which would be illegal) or getting the landlord to create two separate tenancies - one for the two rooms you want to occupy and one for your sister. But they're unlikely to want to do this, because it would leave them in a mess if one of you moved out without the other.

It might be worth contacting shelter for advice. They were really helpful when I had a query about housing benefit.