You can qualify for housing benefit if:
• You are liable to make payments in respect of a
place that you normally occupy as your home, and
• The payments you have to make are among the types
of payment that are eligible for Housing Benefit, which include
rent payable under a tenancy agreement
- rent payable under a tenancy agreement
- the rent part of a shared ownership arrangement
- service charges as long as they are not specified
in the law as excluded from housing benefit, and
• You have less than £16,000 in capital, unless you
or your partner are getting the guarantee element of pension
credit, in which case there is no capital limit. Capital means the
total value of any savings, investments or property that you own,
and it includes:
- money saved up or put aside in bank accounts or in
cash
- investments, such as shares, stocks or bonds
- property of value that is not your main place of
residence, and
• You are not in full-time education, unless you are
a disabled student or a lone parent, and
• Your income, combined with the income of your
partner (if you have one) is low enough, taking account of your
household circumstances. This is worked out using a formula defined
in housing benefit law.
Certain benefits such as Income Support, income
related ESA and income based JSA are called "passport benefits". If
you are entitled to a passport benefit then you will also be
entitled to the maximum housing benefit.
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