Lodger / boyfriend moving in, universal credit

[Shannab]

My friend says she is thinking of letting her boyfriend move in with her but he will be moving in as a lodger, paying her rent to occupy a separate room in her house, rather than a live in partner who contributes equally to the household expenses. She says this way as he is a lodger, and not a partner, her UC will not be affected as they have the rent-a-room scheme where UC remains unaffected by a lodgers income. So basically her boyfriend is her lodger. Do many people do this?

Do you think dwp just accept this and don’t do any investigation? They often investigate people and criminally charge them even if it doesn’t end up being that profitable because they want to make an example of them. If it was this easy every low earning partner could move her high earning partner in and charge astronomical rent.

Under UC you can have a lodger without the income being counted but you won't, if renting, get an extra room under LHA/bedroom tax.

As to whether they are a couple or not DWP's term is Living Together as a Married Couple. If they're eating together, sharing domestic tasks, socialising together and having sex DWP will almost certainly see them as a couple and it'll need to be a joint claim. If it's not then she's in fraud territory.

His name isn't Roger is it?

Why should she get UC paid for by tax payers if she is slso getting an income from a 'lodger'?

Judging by many threads in here, there are many married couples who do not meet that criteria!

and sharing domestic tasks is standard on a house share.

The usual Mumsnet nonsense. Whether or not they are having sex is irrelevant, not only irrelevant, but they are not allowed to ask. A couple is defined as two people maintaining a common household, going together the things you would normally expect a couple to do, such preparing meals for each other, doing washing/ironing, DIY etc. On their own, each one could have an explanation, but they are taken together to build up a picture of their relationship and whether they sre a couple. The only thing excluded is sex!

Update: I told her about the comments on here. She phoned UC and explained her situation. They said if he is occupying a spare room and paying her rent then he is a lodger. Because they don’t have a joint tenancy or joint mortgage or joint finances at all.

@Shannab you are the friend aren't you.
Also many couples don't have joint finances and only have one person on the tenancy but they are still counted as in a relationship for benefits.

No I live with my parents who would never allow a man to live with us 😂 this is a genuine situation. I am genuinely curious. Why can’t I be nosy?

Even if it's a loophole this is morally wrong.

Expecting the state to support her instead of her and her partner standing on their own feet. The relationship is either ready for the living together commitment, including the financial commitment, or it's not.

This is just a way to scrounge as much money as possible, and it's wrong.

Surely he will pay even as a lodger which will increase her income as she would need to declare it and therefore reduce her universal credit! So many people wanting to commit fraud it’s unreal!

If she rents she probably isnt meant to sublet. Not sure if she owns the house though. If they did take rent a room money into account I think we would have even more homelessness.

Income from a lodger is disregarded in Universal Credit, a reversal of the policy under legacy housing benefit.

She's either lying, confused or has received incorrect advice

If they are in a relationship, then he is not classed as a lodger. He is her partner and he would need to be added to her claim

There is no loophole - this is dangerous advice

The DWP's Advice for Decision Makers regarding Living Together as a Married Couple are here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7575a740f0b6397f35e96f/adme4.pdf

It seems he is already her boyfriend and is seen and accepted as such by family/friends. Their living arrangements are such that they likely to be seen as a household. They're sailing very close to the wind in claiming he is a mere lodger.

This. Honestly UC people are not stupid. If she says she's in a relationship with him they need to make a joint claim.

But he isn’t actually occupying the spare room, is he? They’re living together, sharing a bedroom and he is contributing towards rent.

Whatever she said to them today was twisted to make it fit what she wants but this is fraud and I hope she gets caught.

People like your friend really irritate me.
She knows exact what she's doing, and that's fraud.
I can guarantee that, regardless of what she told you, IF she actually did ring UC to ask for advice about her "lodger" and they said it was fine she omitted the fact that he is her boyfriend.

Perhaps she should put the same effort into improving her earning potential, as she’s currently investing in milking the system?! She’s benefiting from having another adult in the household. As a lone parent, paying higher rate tax on an income I very much need, I’m not a fan of dual income households screwing the benefit system.