Rent help on uc

[AandD]

Hello everyone, may I ask a question please? My daughters boyfriend has just split up with her, and is packing his stuff to move out today, so now she’s on her own! She’s just made a single uc claim, but I was wondering if she had to specifically ask if there’s any help she can get with the rent, or is it automatically looked into? They’ve said they’ll tell her how much she’ll be getting paid on the 24th Feb, and her payment will be made on the 28th of Feb. She’s a care worker, and works about 35 hours a week at the mo. We have no idea how much she’ll be entitled to if any. So worried about her.

She has to declare her rent. They will look at how many bedrooms she has and what her entitlement is. If she's under 35, she'll only be entitled to the rate for a single room in a shared property.

Thank you, her house is a one bedroom, I’ll tell her to go on her uc journal. Yes she’s under 35.

Just to warn you, I've looked at my (fairly expensive but not London) area. The shared accommodation rate is £83 per week, whereas the one bedroom amount is £166 per week. So the shared accommodation rate ishalf that of the one bedroom rate.

Thank you, I’ve told her not to expect anything but it’s worth a go!

She would have had to declare on the application that she has rent to pay. They will need to see her tenancy agreement if private renting.
Everyone on Uc who has rent to pay gets a rent element, but that may not be equivalent to the actual rent as other have said it will be a shared accommodation rate dependent on the local housing allowance for her area. Her wages will then reduce the whole award so whether she receives any UC will depend on her total UC entitlement and her wages. Does she have children, I'm presuming not ?

If she has no children I don’t think she’ll get anything at all if she works 35 hours a week? I could be wrong.

Thank you, she doesn’t have children.

DD got help towards her rent - they awarded her the local housing allowance maximum (which was of course less than her monthly rent, even in a shared house). I seem to remember she got £280 and her rent was £375.

I think it's very unlikely she will get any Uc unless she lives in an area where rents are particularly high.

If she is over 25 then she will get £409.89 standard element and a rent element based on shared rate. Her wages will reduce the total Uc by 63p for each pound she earns.

Rent comes under “housing costs”. They will ask about any joint tenancy so if her boyfriend is on the tenancy try to get a new one or she must explain that he has moved out. If not then they would start with half the rent before then using local housing allowance rules assuming she is in private rent.

She has told them he has moved out, but they had a joint tenancy, privately rented, so I assume she needs to ask the landlord if he can just put the tenancy in just her name? She’s only 20.

@AandD

She has told them he has moved out, but they had a joint tenancy, privately rented, so I assume she needs to ask the landlord if he can just put the tenancy in just her name? She’s only 20.

Yes she either needs to do this and / or tell UC that she has an untidy tenancy and is liable for all the rent.

My friend went through similar. We went to her landlord and got a new tenancy agreement in her name. She is also a career and got awarded some UC. The tenancy agreement made a difference.

Thank you for your replies. We’re a little scared incase the landlord wants her out now her ex has gone. She needs to ask him if she can remain in the house without him.

Also she must contact the council separately ASAP to discuss her council tax. At the least, she should get 25% single person discount.

@AandD

Thank you for your replies. We’re a little scared incase the landlord wants her out now her ex has gone. She needs to ask him if she can remain in the house without him.

I would get her to do the calculation at entitledto.com rather than wait for the DWP.

Since she is working 35 hours a week (and because of her age is only entitled to housing help at the rate deemed enough to pay for a room in a shared house) it seems unlikely she will be entitled to any help at all. If that is the case, the better she realises that, the better.

It may be that she and her ex need to give notice to the landlord promptly to minimise what they owe.

Could she look for a shared house or come home to you?

Assuming £500 rent per calendar month (or less) and weekly net wage of £280, for example, she won’t get a penny. It’s not a generous system unfortunately.

If she cannot afford rent & Bill's on her own

Find out the earliest that landlord will allow to leave

Then move into cheaper shares accommodation with cheaper shares Bill's

It makes no sense to live somewhere that is unaffordable

Shared

She has house ferrets as pets, snd they are her babies, so she really wants to stay where she is, but we just don’t know what help she’ll get, maybe not much by the looks of it. We have no room at our house, as I have 2 little boys with my fiancé, another daughter, and my fiancé has his 2 children, and we’re in a 3 bedroom house, and using the downstairs living room as our bedroom, so literally have no room! I’m so worried.

If she's working full time then unless the rent is extortionate she should be able to pay the rent and have enough to live frugally surely ? Obviously things are going to be very tight and she will need to budget carefully, but it should be do-able. Does she have a lot of debts or something?

So much depends on what the rent is.

Her rent is £550, and no, she has no debts, she’s been very good with her money. So worried for her.

Hopefully she could manage if she got no help, and the landlord allows her to stay as a single person!