Rent Allowance for single mother sharing

Mairead92

Hi there! I have a bit of a situation I was wondering if someone could help me with. I am currently living in a 3 bedroom apt with my best friend, we are both working. I moved in over a year ago and a few months later my friend moved in with me, we pay 250euro per room and the third single room isn't let as the landlord isn't pushed about it being so. About a month ago my friend who I live with found out she was pregnant and then a week ago I learnt that I was, very weird! Basically my situation is that I am working and so is my boyfriend, we were planning on moving in together in a few months but having a baby is going to fast track things! We want to live in this apartment that I am in now as the rent is cheap and it is close to both of our works. Although there is a problem, my friend living here, obviously we can't all live together. Her situation is that she is working but is single and is going to raise the baby herself. Last week we talked about our situation and basically what she had hoped was that I would move out and her sister would move into my room(250euro) and my friend would let out her room(250euro) and the currently unused room(150euro). Which I am totally against. My boyfriend and I wanted for me and him to rent the whole apartment and live here ourselves. I told my friend that she wouldn't be able to get rent allowance for the whole apartment living by herself as she is a single mother and the max amount of bedrooms she can have is 2, not 3. She then said she went down to citizens advice and said she could get rent allowance sharing but did not specify how much. I went then myself and saw that the rent allowance for single people sharing is capped at 230euro for a room. The woman working there said that she couldn't get the rent allowance as for just her room is 250euro and then the spare room is 150euro, that's 170euro over the cap. My friend doesn't know this though. I would like to know though if there is some special rent allowance for single mothers in shared accomodation? Since our pregnancies are both getting more into the months I would to figure this out before its too late gone, thanks a million! P.s maybe I should mention we live in galway city as rent allowance is different for each area!

biko

The people in State Benefits should know. From Galway city.