Reply To: LHA rate
ok – a commpon household is a specific HB thing. It basically means that joint tenants who live in their property as it theey were a family/part of the same housegholsd get a bedroom for the other joint tenant.
they are brothers – so all goood.
Joint tenancies dont have a room each and share everything else – joint tenancies specifically have access to all of the property legally, they are sharing the rent for the whole place (whereas a himo is a renting a specific room with access to shared areas)
Generally,m youd wat to ask things like “do you split household chores between you/ sometimes cook for each other/split the household bills between you or do you manintain separate household (more akin to living in a shared house, where everyone has their shelf in the food cupboard./fridge, does their owen washing etc.
its waeasier if we do an example….
so Bob, 33 and Paul 47 are brother and joint tenants of a 2 bed property.
The rent is £1000 per month
The LHA rates for the property are Shared rate £375 1 Bed £525 2 bed £800 per month
Bob and Paul, split the weekly food shop and will take turns in cooking and cleaning.
for HB purposes they form a common houshold. Bob works full time and doesnt claim HB but Paul is on ESA IR and PIP . Paulsd hb is based on a 50% share of the rent, but his LHA rate is 2 beds ( because his joint tenant is deemed to be a member of his household) – so his HB would be £115.38 per week. (£50% of £1000 = 500 pcm x 12 /52)
(NB – if Bob was on HB, he would still only get the SAR rate because being under 35 trumps a common household!)
Next door live Doris 59 and Jill 27. They are aunt and niece
SAme rent, same LHA rates
Both are on HB, both on passported benefits
Jill is assessed on the shared accommodation rate ragardless of the set up because she is under 35.
We ask Doris about the living arrangements and she advises, the 2 rarerly get together, they split the household bills but everyone has to do that and they generally keep themselves to themselves. In this case, Doris’s HB is assessed on the shared accommodation rate, so her HB is £ 86.54 per week ( £375 x12/52)
generally,its often easier to call the customer and have a chat about the living arrangements – but if theres a way to legitimately pay a bit more HB then why wouldnt we?! 🙂
Hope that helps