Is it possible for a tenants family member to become a temporary caretaker and receive Housing Benefit whilst they live there, if the tenant is convicted of a crime. I have a tenant who has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. She has twins of 3 years that remain in the property whom are being looked after by the tenants father. The tenants resettlement officer in the Prison has requested that Housing benefit view him as a temporary caretaker. In my four years of working in Housing, I have never heard across this. Can anyone please advise if this is possible?

In my opinion, steer clear of the 'caretaker' argument.... It has the potential to get very messy…

Go for HB reg 10... payments of HB can (MUST) be made for any payment of rent, use and occupation charges... basically anything that a person has to pay that could be considered 'rent' (even if it doesn't give rise to a tenancy), must be met by way of HB.... So long as the landlord makes a charge for the occupation of the property, HB must pay it and HB reg 10 is the law that states this...

"Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, the payments in respect of which housing benefit is payable in the form of a rent rebate or allowance are the following periodical payments which a person is liable to make in respect of the dwelling which he occupies as his home-
(a) payments of, or by way of, rent;
(b) payments in respect of a licence or permission to occupy the dwelling;
(c) payments by way of mesne profits or, in Scotland, violent profits;
(d) payments in respect of, or in consequence of, use and occupation of the dwelling;
(e) payments of, or by way of, service charges payment of which is a condition on which the right to occupy the dwelling depends";

etc etc...