Shared Room Rate?

IsThisReal

Hi
I would be very grateful if anyone can help
I am over 35
A joint tenant, in a private let, and share facilities with one other person. We are seperate households - it is a formal share of the whole property. The landlord is not resident.
I receive UC, PIP (Enh DL, Std M).

I keep reading conflicting information on how many bedrooms I am entitled to. Some say

Single people aged 35 or over and couples with no children

We'll use the one bedroom 'self-contained' rate (provided you live in self-contained accommodation) for:

• single people aged 35 or over, and
• couples with no children

We'll use the 'shared accommodation' rate if you live in accommodation with shared facilities.



Whereas others say

Local Housing Allowance shared accommodation rate will always apply in Housing Benefit even if you are not under 35 year's old. This isn't the case in Universal Credit, if you are 35 or older you will get the 1 bed rate of LHA even if you live in shared accommodation.

How many bedrooms should I be entitled to?

poppy123456

Housing benefit has different rules for the shared rate than housing element of UC does if you're sharing the property you live in. As you're claiming UC then you'll be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate of LHA and not the shared rate.

IsThisReal

Thanks for that. I'm pretty worried about this stuff.

poppy123456

Are you receiving the 1 bedroom rate? You can check what that is for your area here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx it will be the weekly rate here so you'll need to convert it to monthly, to do this you times the figure by 52 and then divide by 12.

IsThisReal

I am receiving it but I had to notify them of a change (rent increase). They are kinda reacting like something is wrong and its got me worrying. 
I did get Severe Disability Premium and always assumed that was why I got 1bed rate, sharing in multiple different Local Authorities without an issue.
But 2 years ago I moved to a new Local Authority and thus SDP was swapped for transitional protection. My manic googling of exemptions to Shared Rate only seemed to address SDP or under 35s with no mention of TP.
I am so confused by everything Ive googled, plus I have a PIP reassessment form hitting my doormat in next few weeks. I dont understand how LA can be so disingenuous on their website (the first quotation in OP) - if everyone on UC over 35 is eligible for 1B Rate they should just say, rather using sophistry to dissuade people from pursuing what they are entitled to. 
Rant over!
Thanks again for your answer

Just as a postscript, I thought to add
The property is a whole house, not just a bedsit with a shared bathroom for example. More googling not helping ...

calcotti

IsThisReal said:... I dont understand how LA can be so disingenuous on their website (the first quotation in OP) - if everyone on UC over 35 is eligible for 1B Rate they should just say, rather using sophistry to dissuade people from pursuing what they are entitled to. 

The LA don’t deal with the housing element of UC. LA only deal with those claiming Housing Benefit.