Does this look suspicious? Contrived tenancy help please!

[WishYouWereMine]

Hi everyone, hoping you might be able to advise!

I currently live with my mum and 18 month old daughter in a 4 bedroom house.
My mum has recently bought another house and will be moving in to it in a couple of months.
We'd like to stay in this house and pay rent to Mum.
I'm just a bit concerned about claiming housing benefit because it might look suspicious?
Obviously we'd only get the 2 bedroom LHA rate, but the market rate for this house would be about 50% more as it's a 4 bedroom. Mum would only charge a bit more than the 2 bedroom LHA rate but I understand this is not allowed?
I've been on Income support since before my daughter was born, but hoping to be looking for work in the new year when I will have graduated.

Thank you :)

Could you pay your mum a low-end market rate and she could pay for your shopping/bills/etc with the difference between the HB rate and the market rate?
You'd need to tell the benefits people that you are related to your landlady, but they should be ok with this.

I was under the impression you couldn't get housing benefit if your related?

I'm sure I've read on MN about HB being granted, as long as applicants are upfront about the link.

Your mother / landlord can charge whatever rent they want to! You would need to declare that you are related and be prepared for extra questions and to have to provide extra evidence.

I think you can claim HB provided you are not living with your Mum. I would speak to CAB or your local housing officer about the rules and regs for your local authority.

Thank you. I thought it would appear suspicious if she was charging say £450pcm when the LHA was £400 (for 2 bed) and she would get around £625 if it was someone else renting it?

Another thing I'm concerned about is bank statements. I understand they will probably want to see 3 months worth? There are a few payments from my daughter's father (around £100 worth over the course of a fortnight). We don't get any maintenance really but he chips in now and again. Will this look suspicious too?

You would only get HB if paying full market value in rent, if it was a small difference you could potentially be ok but £200 per month is obviously below what she would charge someone else so its unlikely that you would be eligible for housing benefit.

Your mum should check with an accountant that, by undercharging rent, she is not infringing any income-tax rules.

I think your biggest problem is that you are already living there without a rental agreement.

Your mum would have to prove that she is charging market rent, that she has a BTL mortage (unless owned outright), the deposit in a legal scheme and the gas checks etc done. Even then, they may turn it down due to the fact its not been rented before and is unlikely to be rented to a non family member. Its very hard to claim HB when the property is owned by family unless they have a chain of properties as their business.

If you will be working soon, then can you not come to some agreement for those few months and when you are paying your own rent it wont matter anyway.

Maintenance is disregarded anyway

I rent a property to my sister; she is a single parent and claims housing benefit. We had to provide plenty of evidence about the situation but she had no problem claiming the benefit. We do charge market rate but it is the only property we have that we rent out (bought specifically to rent to sister to give her some security).