Question regarding rent allowance on BTEA

brokenaudio

Hey all, I'm hoping to return to education as a mature student later this year. I've been unemployed long term and in receipt of JSA so am entitled to receive BTEA and after some research have come to the conclusion that seeing as from this year on you can choose only BTEA or maintenance grant, BTEA is the better option.

For this to work for me though, I would need to qualify for rent allowance as well as the weekly BTEA payments. I have heard varying reports on criteria for rent allowance and have been unable to get any clarity on the matter. I've been told that to qualify for rent allowance one has to be paying rent at a residence for 6 months previous to the claim. Does this apply in regard to BTEA or is it just the case for JSA? The thing is, currently I am living at home and whilst I do contribute to rent I am not down in any official capacity as a rent payer. I realize that from now I have roughly six months before college starts and if this was the case, I'd need to get out and get my name on a rent book. Of course this would be extremely hard for me as trying to afford to rent somewhere on JSA alone would be a crippling, almost impossible task. My other option I guess would be to try get my name down on the rent book of my mother's (council, rent supplemented) house, would that work??
Many thanks for any help...

brokenaudio

I mean, I'm only looking to claim rent allowance because the college I'm hoping to attend would require me to move from home (Carlow) to Cork and I would need the supplement. Surely the 6 month thing doesn't apply in this case?

RoyalMarine

as far as i remember it does apply. i was renting for 1 year before going on BTEA and it was one of the requirements when i applied for rent allowance for college.

The best solution for you would be to contact either Carlow or Cork rent allowance offices and ask them if going on your mothers rent book would qualify you.

Otherwise, bite the bullet and find somewhere cheap to rent for the next 6 months.
remember, it does not have to be somewhere on your own, you can house share and you could easily find somewhere for less than €60 a week.

When you start college on BTEA, you will also be elligable to work when your not in college so it might be a good idea to start looking for a part time job either in Cork or Carlow.
While on JSA you can work part time too, so if you were able to say find a job in Cork, move down soon, get to know the place then you could keep the job going while in college.
This would also help you fund college.

brokenaudio

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I guess my first action will be to find out whether going on the rent books at home would suffice and if not, as you've said, I'll just have to bite the bullet and find somewhere cheap.

Am I right in saying it seems a bit unfair that the 6 month thing applies to the BTEA when in a lot of cases I would imagine that the rent allowance is only required as a direct result of having to move (to start college)? Previously, before BTEA, you would not get rent allowance if going back to education. As I understand it, rent allowance is there for someone who is currently renting and has experienced a change in circumstances or is faced with adversity and is forced to seek the assistance. However, I believe that this setup should only apply to JSA as there are different underlying motivating factors/reasons behind someone on BTEA seeking to claim it. As it is unexpected adversity upon which rent allowance on JSA is given, this is highly unlikely to be the primary motivation for someone on BTEA, having to move to go to college is.

RoyalMarine

well put it this way...

the BTEA is €188 per week (+ €500 book allowance paid in the first few weeks of the year)
Plus you can sign on JSA during the summer months + you can work evenings/weekends and it wont affect your BTEA payments, the BTEA is paid very quickly from when you start college, its paid to your bank account, and its paid weekly, you can also apply to the county council to have your registration fee's paid for you.

students on the maintanance grant get heavily means tested and most of them get screwed over by their county councils with huge delays (some even waiting until the year is practically finished before seeing a single penny!), the grant is paid monthly.
Students claiming the maintanance grant are not elligable to apply for rent allowance, they are not elligable to sign onto JSA during summer months, and any income they earn from working evening/weekends will result in their means test being delayed longer and possibly result in them not qualifying for a grant the year after!

So, personally i would count myself lucky that i was accepted on BTEA and not forced to use the grant system.
if i didnt get rent allowance, I wouldn't really give a hoot as €188 is still FAR more than the majority of students get in this country.

cruizer101

You'll find with a bit of budgeting 188 is enough to survive. You should be able to rent somewhere for 200 a month, its not going to anything fancy but you shouldn't be expecting it to be. So say thats 50 a week. 50 a week on food, maybe 20-30 a week on heating and electricity. Obviously there are other expenses but thats your basics covered, then if you supplement with a bit of part time work you should be grand. Royal Marine can I ask two things firstly whats the story with this book allowance, I never heard anything about that. And secondly you seem to know a bit about BTEA, do you know if you have to re apply in the September after the summer break, and if so does that mean you can't work over the summer at all. I've to try go in myself and ask but its a case of having a bit of time off to get a chance to go in, be great if you could give me an idea.

bensonx

nah theyre very strict about the rules for rent allowance,
you are entitled to apply on back to education but there are two ways to qualify
1) as you mentioned to be renting privately for 6 months prior to applying
or
2) apply to the county council for a council house and get your housing needs assesed
chances are you will be refused the second option as you still live at home and have no dependents........
so if i was you id get renting if you do need that extra bit of money because im telling you now they are seriously strict!
good luck

hdowney

here is the thing for me. i applied to the council i think it was the year before last. had my needs assesed and am on the council list.

so from my reading of the ra infos - you need to have been assessed as in need the year you apply for ra, well the council are not gonna assess me again when nothing has changed.

also you are supposed to be assessed in the area you are applying for ra. well i live here now (wicklow) but have applied to colleges all over the country. if i get a place, then i will need to move there. i don't want to apply to their local authority for housing though as i want to stay on the list here and if i apply somewhere else i get taken off the list here.

what do i do. i want to apply for ra for college as i could REALLY do with the money.

bensonx

no why would you need to apply in the same year?
if your on the list, your on the list
you dont need to do it over again
you are entitled to rent allowance when your on council list or have been renting 6 months, thats it

hdowney

so do you think if i am on council list in wicklow and i get offer of college in galway i can apply for rent allowance in galway and being on housing list in wicklow not galway wouldn't go against me?

cheers for the reply btw

bensonx

yes absolutley,
you cant go round being accesses everytime you want to do a course or something you know, if you have been proved as having a housing need you are intitled to rent allowance

hdowney

cheers. nearly had a fit today. got letter from my council (who have assessed me as having need) and they are making me reapply cos they have changed their rules, terms or something. so big ass form again, send stuff off to the revenue (they sent it off before if i remember! ) all of my documents. not happy. oh and another interview - in the next couple months!, i may be in college somewhere else by then - which i bet will affect any application for ra :mad:

bensonx

oh right, what are the new rules?
i didnt hear nothing about that,
it might affect the ra then, i dont know
let me know about the change, thanks

hdowney

it might only be in my area i am not sure. income thresholds have changed, so i have to resubmit. and also choose 3 areas i would like to live in aparantly. but it is a hell of a lot of rigmarole to be going through - again, (and at the moment when i am trying to prepare for college) but i guess if i wanna stay on the housing list i am gonna have to jump through their hoops