Moving out of mum's house as Universal Credit/PIP claimant.

marcus89

Hello everyone. I've seen a couple of posts on this topic but am looking to get a more detailed picture of the process.

My situation is that I am currently living with my mum and it is severely impacting my mental health. 

Without going into too much detail it involves me coming out as bisexual and being practically disowned as well as some trouble caused by a hostile housemate (my mum had to take in lodgers due to her financial situation) that nearly drove me to suicide.

While that housemate has left and the current lodgers aren't anywhere near as bad, I'm still jumping every time I hear a door slam.

I've been in therapy for a couple of months now which will be an ongoing thing and my living situation is discussed a lot.

My antidepressant medication has also been doubled since last year though it hasn't particularly helped.

I am 35 and claiming PIP so have been told I would technically qualify for the one bedroom rate of Universal Credit.

What I'm unclear on is how this applies to someone who is moving from a non-rent paying property to an actual private rental.

Would there be a detailed assessment like PIP and LCWRA where I'm assigned points based on need?

All information online points to claiming the housing element of Universal Credit as a simple tickbox exercise, i.e. if you have housing costs at the time you apply for Universal Credit you can get it covered based on the local housing allowance.

Yet I am told by housing advocacy organisations that the process is very complex which leads me to believe there is something I am not seeing.

Is there a minimum amount of time you have to have rented before you can claim the housing element?

I'd like to know if anyone else on here has been in my specific situation before and what the barriers were to moving out.

Was it mostly due to landlords not accepting "DSS tenants" or was the main barrier to entry the DWP?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

poppy123456

Who ever told you claiming housing element of UC is complex needs to understand more about benefits before they continue to give anyone any advice because what they told you is totally incorrect. 

It's not complex at all, far from it infact. Once you find somewhere else to live, though as woodbine correctly pointed out, this won't be easy then you'll be able to claim housing element. 

Once you move into a property you log into your journal and report a change of circumstances. Then click where you live and what it costs. Put the details of where you live into there. You will need to provide proof of liability to pay rent such as a tenancy agreement. Once they see proof of that then the housing element will be included in your UC. Privately renting you will be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate of LHA as you correctly pointed out. 

There's no assessments, or any minimum amount of time you need to be renting before you can claim, it's really as easy as that. 

If you're living in social housing then it's even easier because you don't even have to provide proof of liability because DWP will contact your social housing directly for proof. 

When I moved house middle of January, I reported changes for my daughters UC claim so she could claim her 50% share of our rent. I reported the changes on 13th Jan and the housing element was included in her payment on 24th Jan. Simple. 

marcus89

Thank you both for your very helpful replies!

I forgot to mention I will likely have to move to a different local authority, would this be much of an obstacle?

poppy123456

marcus89 said:

I forgot to mention I will likely have to move to a different local authority, would this be much of an obstacle?

No, because you're already claiming UC anyway. 

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @marcus89

Welcome to the community! I'm going to pop an email over to you