Can you claim UC without the housing element?

TeddyB22
TeddyB22 Online Community Member Posts: 178 Contributor
in Universal Credit (UC)
I'm asking this for my brother who lost his job for of all things smoking!
He has been suffering from migraines and feels he is being descriminated against. 
He rents off sometime who is not registered as a landlord (they say that declaring it will put them in a higher tax bracket and so will have to pay more tax). He wants to claim UC without the housing element. Will he be able to do this? Will they not require a tenancy agreement and details of his landlord? I know people who do this and claim HB but have it paid to themselves. I told him to obey the law, it's not worth being caught. 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    HI,

    Yes you can claim UC without it, not everyone rents their home. Your brother isn't breaking any laws by not claiming the housing element.

    Standard allowance if under 25 is £251.77 and over 25 is £317.82. Whether he will be entitled to anything will depend on his circumstances.

    If he does want to claim for the housing element then yes he will need a tenancy agreement. Are you saying he doesn't have a tenancy agreement?

    What was the reason he lost his job? depending on the reason, he could be sanctioned for up to 26 weeks. If this happens then he won't be able to claim UC.

    May i also ask if he's looking for work? or is unable to work because of a health condition?

    He may not need to claim UC if he's paid enough NI Contributions from working in the tax years April 2017 to March 2019. If he has then it will be either New style JSA if looking for work or New style ESA is unable to work because of a health condition but for this he'll need fit notes from his GP.
  • Chloe_Alumni
    Chloe_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 10,506 Championing
    Hi @TeddyB22, is there anything further we can do to help?
  • TeddyB22
    TeddyB22 Online Community Member Posts: 178 Contributor
    I'm sorry Chloe I honestly thought I had replied to you. This keeps happening to me. I reply but it doesn't post for some reason. 
    My brother is claiming for ESA and only just made a claim for UC. He was sacked for gross misconduct. Smoking or something. He said he got no severance pay and no holidays. He's taking them for descrimination. He seen me get PIP and the back pay and thinks its a gravy train. He doesn't realise that I had to fight for that for 27 mnts  and at one point was living on £60 a week. He would spend that in one day. He's fit and healthy and has no ailments. My brother who owns his house has given him a month to get a new job or he's put out of the house. 
    Families. Who'd have em. 

  • Chloe_Alumni
    Chloe_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 10,506 Championing
    Hi @TeddyB22, that's okay! I imagine this isn't the easiest.
  • TeddyB22
    TeddyB22 Online Community Member Posts: 178 Contributor
    Thank you Chloe. I just don't understand why he doesn't go to the Citizens Advice. He doesn't have heating oil, no money for food etc. It's not pride it's laziness. He had a bad experience there before where they promised him oil help with his rent and food vouchers and in the end he got nothin . At least with Universal Credit he might get an advance. I told him he doesn't have to claim Housing Costs if he doesn't want to. 

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