# rent supplement query



## superfan (1 Feb 2014)

if anyone could give me any advice on this i'd really appreciate it.
i rent my house out to a young mother and her child and up to last november she was getting 710 euro a month in rent supplement,at that stage she asked me would it be ok to include her mother's name on the lease as she had nowhere to live so i agreed.i filled out 2 new forms for her and her mother.she told me that the cwo told her she could do that so long as i didn't put the rent up,i had no intentions of doing that so everything seemed fine.
last month she/they only got 400 euro and this month they've got nothing so far but she has informed me that they'll only be getting 500 euro a month from now on,300 for her and the child and 200 for her mother.
i find it hard to believe to be honest,does anyone know why they would only be getting that amount for 2 claims when my tennant was getting more for 1 claim?
i've tried to get some info from welfare but they wont discuss it with me.


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## gipimann (2 Feb 2014)

It sounds like the maximum rent limits for shared accommodation are being applied to your original tenant and her mother. For rent supplement purposes they are not treated as a family unit.
Maximum rent limits are lower for shared accommodation than for non-shared. The rent officer should have explained any changes in rent supplement to the tenant before she changed the tenancy.


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## superfan (2 Feb 2014)

Thanks for the reply gipimann.
I wasn't aware of that,do you know what the maximum limits are for shared accommodation?
As far as I can remember she said she was told the by the cwo that the benefit would stay the same,just that she/they wouldn't get any more so she was to make sure that I didn't increase the rent,which I didn't..
Is it possible for a single parent with 1 child to share accommodation with another adult and both claim RA?
I had my suspicions but my Tennant assured me it could be done..


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## gipimann (2 Feb 2014)

The limits are on the sw website:http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Rent-Supplement.aspx 
(Link about 2/3 down the page)
Yes, more than one tenant can claim Rent Supplement at the same property but they will be treated as shared accommodation tenants and different max rent limits can apply.


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## superfan (2 Feb 2014)

Thanks again.
Strange that it says €350 per month for a single person in shared accommodation yet my tennant said her mother is only getting €200.


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## gipimann (2 Feb 2014)

The maximum rent limit is the max amount of rent which will be considered for rent supplement, subject to other qualifying criteria.  People renting in excess of the limit may be refused rent supplement.
Tenants must pay a minimum contribution towards the rent - currently 30 euro or 40 euro per week if memory serves. The details will be in the link in my earlier post.  A tenant might have to pay more than the minimum depending on their income.


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## superfan (2 Feb 2014)

I suspect there's something fishy going on but as welfare won't talk to me I have to take my Tennant's word for it.
I've told her €500 a month is no good to me so hopefully she gets it sorted asap.


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## Bronte (3 Feb 2014)

superfan said:


> I suspect there's something fishy going on but as welfare won't talk to me I have to take my Tennant's word for it.
> I've told her €500 a month is no good to me so hopefully she gets it sorted asap.


 
She may not be able to sort it. What exactly did you fill out on the forms, how much rent on each form basically

Is the total rent higher than what is allowed by the social welfare rules? You mention that it's 350 Euro for shared accommodation, but is it 350 by two. The limit for the lady with the child would be higher. I've looked at the rates table and see 350 for 'Dublin/other' and on that table for shared accommodation but it says for a one parent family thte limit is 950 Euro.  That's way higher than for two singles sharing at 350 each.  

Are you sure she is telling you the truth?


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## superfan (3 Feb 2014)

I'm very suspicious.
The rent is €840 a month for her and her child,she got €710 from welfare and had to pay the rest herself.I only agreed to put her mother's name on the lease because she assured me that  the RA payment wouldn't be effected.
I filled out 2 new forms,as far as I know I put €840 per month on both forms.
I find it hard to believe that they would expect her and her mother to pay €340 a month towards the rent.


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## emeralds (3 Feb 2014)

superfan said:


> I'm very suspicious.
> The rent is €840 a month for her and her child,she got €710 from welfare and had to pay the rest herself.I only agreed to put her mother's name on the lease because she assured me that  the RA payment wouldn't be effected.
> I filled out 2 new forms,as far as I know I put €840 per month on both forms.
> I find it hard to believe that they would expect her and her mother to pay €340 a month towards the rent.



Did you not check with Dept Social Protection yourself to see if the rent would be affected?


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## Bronte (3 Feb 2014)

The rental rules state that people must pay part of the rent, bascially 30 Euro. So if you take the figure of 840 rent, and subtract 710 you get 130 which is the 30 Euro on a monthly basis, so that looks correct. 

Odd that you're not sure what you put on the form, don't you keep a copy?  And it's incorrect to put 840 on two forms.  It should be probably be 420 on each form, and of course that is going to cause problems. For example the 30 Euro minimium is now doubled. 

How long did she pay you the 710 rent plus her own contribution of 130? Was she reliable and on time.  Maybe she doesn't understand the rent allowance scheme, I find it hard enough to keep up with it for my own tenants and they change the rules every so often so I do find the tenant's get a bit lost on it.


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## superfan (3 Feb 2014)

She is almost 3 yrs in the house and has been fairly reliable.
I didn't keep copies of the forms but I definitely wouldn't have split the rent amount over the 2 forms so I must've put €840.I assumed the Tennant would've explained that figure on both forms to the cwo.
I honestly don't know why she didn't just leave things as they were and her mother just move in to the house,I was fine with that..


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## gipimann (3 Feb 2014)

If the total rent is 840 pcm, the rent officer may have assigned 350 pcm to the mother (as the max single shared accommodation rate - using Dublin as an example) and the remaining amount (490 pcm) to the original tenant and based the rent supplement entitlements on those figures.   The rent officer could not have based the entitlement for either of them on the full rent charged as neither of them are liable for the full rent.

Each tenant has to pay the minimum contribution of 30 euro per week (and possibly more depending on their actual income), so this will reduce the total amount of Rent Supplement paid.

Most SW rates are at least 2 euro per week above the basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance Rate, and this is also taken into account when determining entitlement to Rent Supplement.

By way of example:
Mother's rent = 350 pcm = 80.75pw (A)
Min contribution = 30pw (B)
Additional income = 2pw (C)
Rent Supp. Entitlement = A - (B+C) = 48.77pw = 211.30pcm

Daughter's rent = 490pcm = 113.07pw
Min Contribution = 30pw
Additional Income = 2pw
Rent Supp. Entitlement = 81.07pw = 351.30pcm

These figures sound close to what you've been told.   As I mentioned earlier, if there is any additional income, that is also taken into account so the entitlements would be reduced further.

NB: I cannot confirm if this is what has happened in your situation, so these figures are only a guide.  I have used the max rent limit for shared accommodation in Dublin for these calculations.  If you are in another part of the country the calculations will change.


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## superfan (3 Feb 2014)

Yeah I'm in Dublin.
Thanks again for the replies lads.
Disappointing when you try to help someone and end up getting stung.


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