An interesting one

Hi All,

Just looking for some thoughts on what others think about this situation.  I’ve decided how to proceed for now but am apt to be swayed…...

I’m dealing with a 19 year old who is in qualifying education and who lives with her grandmother.  The 19 year old receives no income of her own but her grandmother receives CTC for her.  Grandmother also receives PC(g).

The 19 year old is the tenant of the property.  She requested that the tenancy be assigned to her grandmother but this was refused because it was assigned the other way a while ago when grandmother was rehoused and moved out.  Grandmother has since given up the other tenancy and moved back in.  During the period grandmother wasn’t there, tenant received ESA as she wasn’t in education so no problem there.

HB claim is in 19 year old’s name. 

We could argue that 19 year old’s entitlement to HB be assessed on the basis of nil income and grandmother be non-dependent and there would be a non-dep deduction.

We could argue that grandmother not be treated as non-dependent as she is in fact part of the same benefit household.

We could argue that claim be treated as being made by grandmother (or that new claim should be made in her name) despite her not being the tenant and full HB be awarded.

Any thoughts?

Mairi

When you say the tenancy was assigned do you mean assignment in the formal housing law sense of the word or do you mean that the grandmother simply ended her tenancy and the landlord granted a new one to her granddaughter?

I mean assigned in the formal legal sense - 19 year old taking over grandmother’s tenancy.

Mairi

Once the tenancy is assigned the tenant is then freed from all the covenants in the agreement, including liability for rent.  If the grandmother has no liability for rent then she can’t claim HB.  However, there are exceptions to the freedom from the covenants rule.  Most notably where the tenant guarantees the immediate performance of the assignee.  If the grandmother did this then she would retain liability and could then, in theory, claim HB.  They should seek specialist legal advice.

Thanks for that Paul.

On the grandmother claiming I was thinking along the lines of her taking over payments to the rent because the liable person (the 19 year old) wasn’t paying (no income).

I think we’ll get it sorted as we’re putting in an appeal against the awards made to the 19 year old and it looks like we’ll get a sympathetc hearing about the 19 year old having no income instead of being treated as having the CTC as income which is the current position.

Good to get another viewpoint - reassures me that I’m not going completely wrong (I do sometimes wonder…..).

Regards,

Mairi

Yes- I think if it was me I would argue that Reg 8(1)(c)(ii) applies (and that the granny should be treated as the liable person). I’d like to think that a reasonable LA would agree to assess claim on that basis.

Is the grandaughter actually getting HB now?

Yes she is getting HB.  The problem is that the Child Tax Credit that her grandmother receives is being treated as the 19 year old’s income - probably because this is actually passed to her by her grandmother due to the way they’ve set up their household.

This has meant a reduced award of HB because the CTC is more than the 19 year old’s applicable amount and it’s that gap that we’re trying to avoid.

I discussed the options with our HB link person and she will be looking at the appeal when it arrives in their office.  She seems happy to accept that either the 19 year old be treated as having no income or that any amounts given to her by her grandmother should be treated as voluntary payments and disregarded.

There also won’t be a non-dep deduction for the grandmother (and hasn’t been) because she’s receiving Pension Credit.  That exemption for non-deps had passed me by so I’m happy to be educated by this process!

Thanks both for your help.

Mairi