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HB for rent of caravan

SarahP
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Derby Advice - Derby Homes

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I have a client that rents pitch for her caravan from the local authority and she receives HB for this. She also wants to claim additional HB to cover the cost of rent of a new caravan that she has recently had put on the pitch. She is renting it from her brother who is charging her £600 pm . He doesn’t live with her.
I am not sure where I would find my answer one this one as to whether she could potentially receive more HB towards this.
She is on legacy benefits.

HB Anorak
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Yes, subject to the usual caveats around commerciality - not because it’s a caravan but because the landlord is her brother which will always attract a bit of scrutiny.

The payments are, strictly speaking, payments under a licence or permission to occupy and these are among the eligible payments covered by HB.  The HB eligible rent is the aggregate of all the eligible payments the claimant is liable to make for the dwelling.

The Council will obtain a Rent Officer’s determination which will limit the eligible rent for the caravan structure, while the pitch will continue to attract a rent rebate.

Elliot Kent
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Are you saying that she will now have two caravans on the pitch - one that she owns and one that she rents from her brother?

Prisca
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I think the old caravan has been replaced by the brothers new , swish caravan and clmamant now paying rent on it… 

Im not sure its not a new claim though - the pitch rent is ground rent ad paid to the LA - the caravan payment would be a new claim for rent payable to a private landlord -  the pitch rent and rthe caravan rent are two separate liabilities to two separate landlords. 

But its been a long week and Im probably confusing thing unnecessarily….

HB Anorak
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No new claim - just a superseding decision to increase the eligible rent (assuming, as Prisca says, the claimant has got rid of the rust bucket that she owned and replaced it with something a bit better and owned by her brother)

Elliot Kent
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HB Anorak - 07 June 2024 04:50 PM

(assuming, as Prisca says, the claimant has got rid of the rust bucket that she owned and replaced it with something a bit better and owned by her brother)

Probably the more likely explanation. But I haven’t been able to get my head past the idea of it being two caravans awkwardly squished together on a plot, and the implications that would have…

SarahP
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Just coming back to this to update that it is one new caravan replacing the old caravan. It’s not two caravans squished onto one pitch.

Elliot Kent
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SarahP - 14 June 2024 01:18 PM

Just coming back to this to update that it is one new caravan replacing the old caravan. It’s not two caravans squished onto one pitch.

Oh, well that is significantly less interesting.

HB Anorak
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Elliot Kent - 14 June 2024 02:01 PM
SarahP - 14 June 2024 01:18 PM

Just coming back to this to update that it is one new caravan replacing the old caravan. It’s not two caravans squished onto one pitch.

Oh, well that is significantly less interesting.

I was once a witness in a possession case, and there was a bit of congestion so the Judge was deciding which case to hear and which to postpone.  He invited the various counsel to impress him.  His reaction to the first pitch was “That doesn’t sound very interesting”, to which the barrister replied “I can assure your Honour that it is of very great interest to my client”.  It still didn’t make the cut.

If it had been two caravans on one plot there would have been an issue as to whether they formed a single dwelling, and how the RO would have gone about valuing that dwelling, but much easier with just the one.

Elliot Kent
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HB Anorak - 14 June 2024 03:23 PM
Elliot Kent - 14 June 2024 02:01 PM

Oh, well that is significantly less interesting.

I was once a witness in a possession case, and there was a bit of congestion so the Judge was deciding which case to hear and which to postpone.  He invited the various counsel to impress him.  His reaction to the first pitch was “That doesn’t sound very interesting”, to which the barrister replied “I can assure your Honour that it is of very great interest to my client”.  It still didn’t make the cut.

Hmm… I am not sure if it is ever really a good sign to hear your lawyer describe your case as being ‘interesting’.

Dan Manville
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Elliot Kent - 15 June 2024 09:54 AM

Hmm… I am not sure if it is ever really a good sign to hear your lawyer describe your case as being ‘interesting’.

I suspect a sensibly minded Rent Officer seeing the rent for a caravan set at £600 pcm might consider that ‘interesting’...