Potential Benefit Problem

[Rach63]

I live alone in a rented 1 bed flat work full time and receive housing benefit.

A few months ago a friend of a friend’s niece came to the UK & was desperate for somewhere to stay for a few weeks whilst she got a job and got on her feet. I have a large dining room that I hardly ever use so I let her stay there on a sofa bed. She is a masseuse & a hairdresser and regularly massages me & does my hair & we were getting on very well. I was in my head thinking that come October I was going to give her a month or so notice to leave as I feel she is getting a bit too comfortable & I wanted my house back and she has now managed to get casual work in various salons.

No there is no money been exchanged but like I say she has become my beautician and she pays for some food, household stuff & a bill here & there.

She has now announced that she is 5 months pregnant and is desperately trying to get council accommodation. I feel that I am in a very difficult situation; I no longer want her in my property as this was only temporary and definitely did not include a baby. She is now asking me to write a letter saying that I am evicting her…I have refused to do this as I am not a landlord, I am concerned about getting into trouble with the council as I know it looks as though I have subletted when this is not the case. Can anyone advise on what I can do? & can I write her a letter stating that she is temporarily staying with me as a favour and now in her situation she needs to leave in next 28 days without compromising myself?

[hc4361]

She should tell the council she is homeless and has been sleeping on various friends' sofas for a week or so at a time but this can't carry on as she is pregnant.

If the council requests it, you can write stating that your friend has been staying 'on and off' as a favour to her but this arrangement has now ended.

This is her problem, not yours, and as a single woman she will be given priority in the housing ladder.

[themas]

Two issues:

1. There could be a Housing Benefit problem as she should have been declared as a non-dependent, which would probably (based on her income etc.) have resulted in your Housing Benefit being reduced - the assumption being that she would have been paying you something towars the accommodation. I doubt whether there is anything you can do about this - you either just hope the benefit people don't find out, or you tell them now (with details of her income), find out how much they want to reduce your benefit by & get her to pay you that amount.

2. Your concern about sub-letting. To me, it doesn't look as if anyone could reasonably accuse you of that - what you've done is to have someone staying with you for a temporary period rent free. If you are a private sector tenant the council will not be interested anyway. If you are a social housing tenant then - if it is raised - you need to explain the situation, which seems to me to be little different from someone who has a friend come to visit them for a period. If you wish (& you want this person to leave), you could write something on the lines of what she is asking together with an explanation that she stayed with you temporarily & you can no longer accept this. In effect, you are saying the same as saying she is being evicted without using that word - & there is no reason why you should not tell her she has to leave - you have no legal obligation to her other than to give her a very brief period (probably no more than a week or two) of notice to leave.

[Peter Pedant]

hc has it:

If the council requests it, you can write stating that your friend has been staying 'on and off' as a favour to her but this arrangement has now ended.

Your friends issue is (where did she get prgnant for Chrissakes and wont the father help ?) that she has to be evicted or homeless to get council accommodation.

AS pregnant she may not whizz to the top of the waiting list
but with a babe-in-arms she will.

Council housing (rather than LHA) is in short supply (at least here in Manchester) and she may get a better deal with private letting. and then claiming LHA.

The other issue is that she is pregnant - as a male landlord, my record is bad with this lot - about half wont pay the rent - and they lie, rachel, they lie. The upshot is that I have evicted about half of them - while they protest that they have a right to stay in the house without paying rent..... All have been instantly rehoused whilst the authorities glare at me and I glare back with a you'll-see-she-wont-pay-the-rent look in my eye.

Good Luck - give me OAPs any time.

as for subletting - if anyone asks say you werent subletting -no money and anyway you were giving a homeless pregnant woman a sofa...