Hi everyone, Wondeing if anyone knows (I'm sure a lot of you do) if its poss to claim HB with no tenancy agreement.

Thanx

Yes. Er, at least in theory....

I assume by "no tenancy agreement", you mean WRITTEN tenancy agreement.

In law, it is sufficient for there only to be a verbal agreement for there to be an enforceable tenancy. Obviously, if there is no tenancy agreement, written or verbal, there can be no agreement.

However, the issue is about the quality of evidence. In my experience (20 yrs or so), I can only recall one case ever where a claim for HB was processed without at least a letter from the landlord to verify the rent. Without any substantive evidence, most LAs will be highly suspicious about whether or not there is a genuine liability.

The issue is the same in most other areas of law - a verbal contract is normally enough (there are exceptions), but if one party later disagrees that of the terms were what they agreed to, how can it be proven?

Out of curiousity, do you have any more information? It's possible it may affect the advice / info of others.

Regards

Yes, not a problem, legally. As long as there is a legal liability to pay rent and all other conditions are satisfied.

In practice however you will need to evidence that liability. A signed letter from the landlord usually suffices.

Regards
Paul

It is possible but you are asking too general a question The wording used in HB regs is "liability to make payments in relation to the dwelling s/he occupies as his/her home."


HB reg 5 deals with "occupies as a home"
HB reg 6&7 deals with "liability" to make payments on a home.
HB regs 7A & 7B deal with persons from abroad, refugees and asylum seekers.

Tenancy is only one of the (many) issues covered in these regs.