Housing benefit eligibility

Most claimants can no longer make a new claim for housing benefit unless:

• they or their partner have both reached state pension age

• they or their partner have been in receipt of Pension Credit since 15 May 2019

• they live in temporary accommodation

• their landlord is a charity of housing association and they provide care or support (for example sheltered housing)

In all other circumstances new claimants must make a claim for universal credit and their housing costs will be assessed and paid as part of this claim.

Potential claimants include council tenants, tenants of housing associations, housing co-operative tenants, tenants with private landlords, hostel residents, bed and breakfast hotel occupiers and shared ownership occupiers (on the rental element of their payments), croft tenants and Gypsies and Travellers (in respect of rent on council-run or private sites).  Housing Benefit can also cover mooring charges and berthing fees for houseboats.[1] It has been held that a narrowboat ‘fitted out as a dwelling suitable for permanent residence’ is a ‘houseboat’ for the purposes of the Housing Benefit regulations [2]. Housing Benefit can also be claimed for caravan and mobile home site charges, though not towards the cost of purchasing a mobile home.[3]

Joint tenants can claim housing benefit on their portion of the rent.

Regulations prohibits entitlement to housing benefit where the claimant has previously owned the property being rented, and less than five years have elapsed since it was sold, unless s/he satisfies the appropriate authority that s/he or her/his partner 'could not have continued to occupy that dwelling without relinquishing ownership'. [4] Where a person entered into a sale and rent back agreement because she had fallen into mortgage arrears, it was held that she could not have continued to occupy the dwelling without selling it because she would have lost possession of it to the mortgage lender.[5]

Housing benefit is not restricted to payments of rent. It also covers payments of: [6]

• a licence or permission fee to occupy the home

• ‘violent profits’ (see the section on payments other than rent)

• service charges which are a condition of the right to occupy the home

• contribution towards maintenance and essential services by resident of a charitable almshouse provided by a housing association payments

• under a rental purchase agreement.

• pitch fee for a caravan or mobile home

• mooring charges for a houseboat and continuous cruiser licence fees [7]

The following people can be treated as liable to pay the rent, even though they are not in fact liable: [8]

• the partner of the tenant

• the former partner of the tenant who has left and is not paying the rent

• someone who has to make payments to remain in the home because the tenant is not paying and it is reasonable to treat them as liable [9]

• a person whose liability to pay the rent has been waived by the landlord as compensation for repair or redecoration work that the claimant carried out her/his self. This only applies for up to 8 weeks.

Where a person goes into prison, they will need to make sure the rent liability continues to be met, for example where the person is a licensee rather than a tenant this can be problematic.

The Upper Tribunal has held that a person who lacked the mental capacity to enter into a tenancy agreement was found to be liable to make payments in consequence of the occupation of her home and thus eligible for housing benefit. [10]