Housing Benifit

[bryanwhsup]

Hi
I rent a property and split the rent down the middle with my partner. Unfortunetly she is being made redundent. Does anyone know whether she can get housing benifit to pay her half

Many thanks

Bryan

[sara3]

I expect you would be treated as a couple, so most likely no.. but this may vary for different Local Authorities.

[gbradfield]

i agree. because you live together as acouple they would class your income as a joint income, however you may still be entitled to help with rent and council tax as a couple because of only having one income betwwen you, but of course that all depends on what your earning. its worth conacting the benefits section at your local council to find out what you both may be entitled to

[Mr Veritas]

It's worth trying,as although they will take your income into account,that doesn't mean your partner won't get anything.
It's worked on a sliding scale so she may get something,she can also apply for Council Tax Benefit too.
Don't be frightened,get her to fill in the form.Even a little benefit is better than nothing!

[gelda]

They will also take into account any savings you or your partner have, if either of you have over �6000 in savings you won't be entitaled (sp) to any benefit. This happened to a friend of mine just recently.

[Ethel]

The savings limit is �16000, not �6000.

Savings over �6000 are taken into account and benefit is reduced on a scale - under �6000 you get full benefit, over �6000 reduced pro rata

[4star]

You will be treated as a couple. To get HB you must be treated as legally liable for the rent. I am assuming that both you and your partner are on the tenancy agreement. Unfortunately your partner will not get housing benefit for her share-although that doesn't mean you may not have an entitlment to a partial payment of HB based on the reductionin your household income. Your income and any income she has will be taken into account ointly regardless of how you work out the payment of your rent. You should still apply becuase you may get some assistance. If she has been made redundant she may qualify for job seekers allowance (JSA) -the contributions based one if she has ade NI contributions in the previous two tax years to this benefit year but her redundancy may affect anything she gets. For every �250.00 you have over �6000.00, you will get �1.00 reduced in your benefit entitlement. You're allowed capital of �6000.00 before it affecting your benefit. f you get working tax\credit you should get this reassessed too bcause you may have an entitlement to an increased amount. Hope this helps.