Rent Allowance Question

PurpleVintage · 28-01-2014 8:47pm #1

Heya, my sister's currently renting an appartment, she'll have the 9 months complete in March and will be eligible for Rent Allowance. She can't seem to find any houses/appartments for 375 euros (the rent price rent allowance covers for her), only 400+. Will she be able to rent a house for 400 euros, get rent allowance for a rent of 375, and then just pay the difference? The place she's currently renting is 550 p/m, and she's running out of money for the rent so it's not like she can pay the full rent price for an appartment until she finds one that's only 375 $:\$ .

Thanks

mrsbyrne · 28-01-2014 9:04pm

The answer to your question re rent limits is no.
Has she spoken to the CWO about rent supplement at all?

PurpleVintage · 28-01-2014 10:35pm

No she hasn't. What happens if she cant find a house for 375, after she has the 9 months completed and can't afford the rent for another appartment? Will they just close the doors on her, or is there anything else she'd be eligible for?

January · 28-01-2014 10:38pm

Is that for an apartment on her own? What about sharing?

PurpleVintage · 28-01-2014 11:01pm

It's for her own, as she'll be renting out to share it with someone she knows who isnt eligible to get rent allowance.

AlexDublin · 29-01-2014 4:07am

well sometimes places are advertised as a certain amount but that amount includes things such as heating or maintenance. so somewhere that is advertised as 400 euro could include 50 euro a month as heating. so your rent might actually be 350. maybe? just a thought....

mrsbyrne · 29-01-2014 5:42pm

PurpleVintage wrote: »

No she hasn't. What happens if she cant find a house for 375, after she has the 9 months completed and can't afford the rent for another appartment? Will they just close the doors on her, or is there anything else she'd be eligible for?

Its not 9 months, is 6 months and she needs to have been able to afford the rent when she moved in to the apartment in the first place.Thats just one of the many conditions for rent supplement Or be on the local authority housing list. She might apply to be on the housing list just in case.

Your sister really needs to speak to the CWO before she starts home-hunting. The CWO will be glad to go over her entitlements/or not with her.

PurpleVintage · 29-01-2014 8:31pm

Yeah 6 months, sorry not familiar with the full details myself. She was able to pay for the full 6 months, she's just not able to pay for more than that.
Thanks i'll tell her to talk to the CWO then.

January · 29-01-2014 9:09pm

PurpleVintage wrote: »

It's for her own, as she'll be renting out to share it with someone she knows who isnt eligible to get rent allowance.

I doubt she'll be approved to rent a dwelling on RA by herself and then to sublet to a tennant who is not eligible for RA.

What she could do is ask the landlord to rent the two rooms separately to herself and the other person.

mrsbyrne · 30-01-2014 1:04am

PurpleVintage wrote: »

Yeah 6 months, sorry not familiar with the full details myself. She was able to pay for the full 6 months, she's just not able to pay for more than that.
Thanks i'll tell her to talk to the CWO then.

No, when she moved into her accommodation was she in a position to afford the rent then?

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 1:07am

No, she'd be aiming to rent a house. Not share a room with someone who isnt paying rent, in a shared house illegally. It'd be a house/appartment/studio that she actually pays for. The other person won't be paying her rent, it's kinda like say... renting an appartment and then sharing it with your partner.

@msbyrne
Yeah she saved up, moved out and was able to pay for the rent but is now struggling financially and can't cope with all the expenses, so she's eligible for it. only thing is, there's no accomodation available for 375, so I was wondering what happens, in a situation like that when someone truly cant afford rent prices yet cant find a place that fits the requirements.

mrsbyrne · 30-01-2014 8:10am

PurpleVintage wrote: »

No, she'd be aiming to rent a house. Not share a room with someone who isnt paying rent, in a shared house illegally. It'd be a house/appartment/studio that she actually pays for. The other person won't be paying her rent, it's kinda like say... renting an appartment and then sharing it with your partner.

@msbyrne
Yeah she saved up, moved out and was able to pay for the rent but is now struggling financially and can't cope with all the expenses, so she's eligible for it. only thing is, there's no accomodation available for 375, so I was wondering what happens, in a situation like that when someone truly cant afford rent prices yet cant find a place that fits the requirements.

The CWO will say is that she moved into this place, with no reasonable expectation that she could afford to live there long term ie she didn't have a job or any other income. That will probably disqaulify her from rent supplement. So your sister needs to get on the local authority housing list, and she might quality for rent supplement that way. She needs to find a place within the limit.

January · 30-01-2014 10:45am

PurpleVintage wrote: »

No, she'd be aiming to rent a house. Not share a room with someone who isnt paying rent, in a shared house illegally. It'd be a house/appartment/studio that she actually pays for. The other person won't be paying her rent, it's kinda like say... renting an appartment and then sharing it with your partner.

@msbyrne
Yeah she saved up, moved out and was able to pay for the rent but is now struggling financially and can't cope with all the expenses, so she's eligible for it. only thing is, there's no accomodation available for 375, so I was wondering what happens, in a situation like that when someone truly cant afford rent prices yet cant find a place that fits the requirements.

I don't get it, will this other person be paying rent or not?

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 2:32pm

Her income is BTEA, basically. She hasn't found a part time job yet, so struggling financially.

No, the other person wont be paying rent, my sister will be supporting them until they get a job and settle down. Not sure how else to phrase it...

LegacyUser · 30-01-2014 3:11pm

PurpleVintage wrote: »

Her income is BTEA, basically. She hasn't found a part time job yet, so struggling financially.

No, the other person wont be paying rent, my sister will be supporting them until they get a job and settle down. Not sure how else to phrase it...

So your sister won't be able to afford the rent without rent allowance, but will be able to support a person "until they get a job".

You do know how odd that sounds?

Will the CWO be informed of this person living in the house? Because that will affect the amount your sister is entitled to. If not, then that's pretty fraudulent...

January · 30-01-2014 3:29pm

Ok so your sister could claim for this person as an adult dependant? If so she'd be entitled to more rent allowance but when the person gets the job she will lose that entitlement.

Your sister will not be able to rent a house and apply for rent allowance and support another person living with them if she does not claim for them, the CWO will not allow that.

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 5:18pm

I'm not sure how that sounds "odd", she could afford the rent and all her bills wwith the money she saved up + her btea. She wasnt able to find a job and her money's running out do she's going to apply for rent allowance. She can afford everything, but rent prices are too expensive so she needs to help until she finds a part time job. The other person will help out around the house until they too find a job. She'll of course be telling Social Welfare about it, not sure why there would be a need to hide it. It's like someone temporary crashing at your place, they'll be there for a few weeks max then be on their way. There isn't a massive difference in bill price and food expenses for 2, hence why she's able to afford it, kind of an obvious answer.

Furthermore, my question was simple, what happens if she cant find a house that fits the rent prices shes entitled to, and has no means to pay the rent. So unless you have something to add to what has already been said about that, then I don't really see the point of posting with half-arsed accusations and assumptions.

She's gonna talk to the CWO on Friday, hopefully by the date she has to move out, there'll be houses available for 375. If anyone has any personal experience with a similar situation, and would like to post if they were entitled to any help, i'll be grateful. Anything not related to that, is of no help to me

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 5:19pm

@ january
Even if it's a temporary thing? I suppose the adult dependant thing is worth looking into, thanks

would be temporary so not sure if it's worth it

January · 30-01-2014 5:20pm

Problem with temporary is, if they don't find a job within a few weeks, how long will they really be there for? I really doubt the CWO will allow this.

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 5:40pm

Well, she's only really helping out for max a month. Then they'll have to ask another friend to crash somewhere else. It's a month maximum, which is why I dont think there's any point in having her as an adult dependant. She'll just have to talk to the CWO about it, I guess, but if she's entitled to help even if the rent is a bit over the 375, and she cant get that help cause her friend is staying at her place for a month then she's gonna have to tell her friend to go stay with someone else.

mrsbyrne · 30-01-2014 7:22pm

PurpleVintage wrote: »

Well, she's only really helping out for max a month. Then they'll have to ask another friend to crash somewhere else. It's a month maximum, which is why I dont think there's any point in having her as an adult dependant. She'll just have to talk to the CWO about it, I guess, but if she's entitled to help even if the rent is a bit over the 375, and she cant get that help cause her friend is staying at her place for a month then she's gonna have to tell her friend to go stay with someone else.

I think myself and January are trying to tell you that in our joint , fairly extensive experience, your sister is going to be refused rent supplement, for a number of reasons.
You and she seem to have made assumptions about qualifying. Best always to look into these things before you make a move.

emg74 · 30-01-2014 7:52pm

Also she may not qualify for Rent supplement as she is getting BTEA -

Rent Supplement is considered to be a secondary benefit so if she was getting RS before she went on BTEA she would be able to rentain the RS but you don't necessarily get RS if you are on BTEA

From this document on BTEA

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/back_to_education/back_to_education_allowance.html

Keeping your secondary benefits

If you qualify for the Back to Education Allowance, you can keep your entitlement to any secondary benefits you already have, for example, Fuel Allowance, Rent Supplement and Mortgage Interest Supplement. However, any increase in income may affect your entitlement to Rent or Mortgage Interest Supplement or the amount of supplement you get. For example, this can happen if you have additional income from part-time work.

The doc on RS states

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

You won’t qualify for Rent Supplement if you:

Are in full-time employment (30 hours or more a week). However, if you are assessed as in need of housing under the Rental Accommodation Scheme and have been out of full-time employment for 12 months or more you may be entitled to the Supplement - see ‘Employment and Rent Supplement’ below
Have refused a second offer of local authority accommodation in an 12-month period. In this case, you cannot claim Rent Supplement for 12 months.
Are leaving local authority housing without reasonable cause.
Have been excluded from social housing by a local authority for reasons of good estate management or anti-social behaviour.
Are attending full-time education. However, if you are getting a Back to Education Allowance, are participating in the Back to Education Programme or in the Momentum Programme you may be entitled Rent Supplement.

Note the word "MAY" in the last point... Not guaranteed that she will get RS.

She needs to talk to the CWO as soon as possible to establish if she is eligible

PurpleVintage · 30-01-2014 8:05pm

Thanks i'll let her know that

she had already gone over all the information, not sure what made her think she may really be eligible for it. I don't know if she had talked about it before with someone at the social welfare or what, but she'll drop by on Friday and hopefully have her questions answered.

Rent Allowance Question

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