Universal Credit Review have I broken the law?

[lynG86]

Hi I rented a room out in 2019 in my council flat on Airbnb. I did not declare this and the payment is showing on my bank statement. I am worried sick I didn’t think anything of it. I am on PIP but I didn’t see it as wrong as it’s not working but I guess it’s income? Universal credit have asked for 5 years bank statements. Can anyone help I am worried sick I’ve sent the statement to them :(

They probably wouldn't have noticed a one off payment going in. If it was a regular amount going in they might have asked questions. Does it say who the payment is from on the statement? It could have been for anything or from anyone. I wouldn't give it too much thought.

This.

Payments from lodgers/boarders are not income. Payments from tenants are not income.

You've had so much bad advice on this thread! Please don't panic OP.

Thank you everyone for the nice comments there is some lovely people on this forum! So many different opinions on the subject which is interesting. I will stick to honesty and see what happens. Yes they want statements going back to start of the claim. Ridiculous really for being over the 6k limit by a small amount. I may of kept the listing up only that the one lodger I had gave me 1 star across the board for the cleanliness. So it was definitely a blessing the person did that.

They may want to see your airb account 😂
so if you can get hold of that as well and send them that just in case
if you can’t access your account message airnb and ask them for a statement of your account / boooking
they will still have it

There is also a really helpful benefit section and airnb section on Reddit if you need any help

keep your savings under 6k and you will be fine

Update @lynG86

Hi sorry for late update, they wasn’t fussed at all about the Airbnb payments, they was fussed about my account. It was over 6000k a few times and at one point 12,000. I was made to pay back over £3000 in overpayments and a £50 fine. I was underpaid at one stage but they wasn’t concerned. They stated the review was to see if I was under or over paid. It’s really just about overpayments.

I don't think it counts as income on UC but you should have declared a non dependent living there if they were there long term. It would have meant a £90 ish a month deduction on your rent element. They will scrutinise these bank statements very carefully for any unusual payments/ money coming in so expect to be questioned about it.

Sorry just seen your update. Glad you got it sorted.

Just wanted to clarify here that you are allowed to rent a spare room in a flat that you own to a lodger (including air bnb I have this confirmed in writing from universal credit). Any lodger income is disregarded as income for UC purposes. I've also had my statements reviewed and they were happy with it. However I don't know how this applies if you rent a flat and receive housing benefits. You do have to report anything above the 7500 rent a room scheme though to hmrc. You might have to pay tax depending on how much rent you earned in the year and whether you have other income. It is included in your overall tax free allowance so if you have no other income except universal credit it's unlikely you will go above your yearly tax free income allowance still. Unless you are charging like 2000k a month 😆