3. Basic rules

As well as being a student who is eligible to claim housing benefit (HB – see here), you must also meet all the following conditions to qualify.

•You are liable to pay rent (see here).
•You pay rent for the home in which you normally live (see here).
•Your accommodation is eligible for HB (see here).
•You satisfy the ‘habitual residence’ and ‘right to reside’ tests, and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook. Overseas students can get further advice from UKCISA (see Appendix 2).
•You have no more than £16,000 capital. There is no capital limit if you are getting pension credit guarantee credit.
•Your income is sufficiently low (see Chapter 17).

What follows is a brief outline of the basic HB rules, including those that refer specifically to students. For more details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.

Liable for rent

You must be liable for rent. If you are jointly liable for the rent with others (eg, you have each signed the tenancy agreement), the amount of HB you get is based on your share of the rent (although, less commonly, it may not be an equal share if that seems reasonable to the local authority).

If you are in a couple, it does not matter whose name is on the rent agreement; either of you can claim. So if you are a student who is eligible for HB, you can claim for both of you, or if you are not eligible for HB, your non-student partner can claim for both of you.

There are some circumstances in which a local authority has the discretion to treat you as liable for the rent even when you are not legally liable – eg, if you have taken over paying the rent from someone else.

Your normal home

Usually, you can only get HB for one home and that is the place where you normally live. If you are away from your normal home, in some cases your HB may stop. In other cases, you can get HB for two homes at the same time.

You are away from your term-time home

In the summer vacation, you cannot get HB for any weeks you are away from your term-time home, unless you would live there even if you were not studying. To continue to get HB for weeks of absence, you need to argue that your main purpose for living there is not simply to make it easier to attend the course – eg, you were settled there before the course or you are independent of, or estranged from, your parents.1Reg 55 HB Regs However, if your grant or loan covers the summer vacation, your HB does not stop during any weeks of absence.2Regs 53(1), definition of ‘period of study’, and 55 HB Regs HB does not stop if you have to go into hospital.

If you leave your home during the academic year (or at any time if you live there not just to facilitate attending your course), your HB does not stop, provided you intend to return, you do not sublet, and you are not likely to be away for more than 52 weeks.3Reg 7(16)(c)(viii) HB Regs You cannot use this provision if you can get HB under the ‘two homes rule’ described below. The two homes rule is, however, more generous because it does not have a time limit.

Examples

John flatshares in Dundee while attending university. He gets HB as a disabled student. During the summer vacation he goes home to stay with his parents in Arbroath for seven weeks. His HB stops and on his return he has to claim universal credit.

Donna has always lived in Ayr and is attending her local college. She is a lone parent and gets HB. She regularly visits her family in Arran during vacations. Her HB continues during her absence.

 

1     Reg 55 HB Regs »

2     Regs 53(1), definition of ‘period of study’, and 55 HB Regs »

3     Reg 7(16)(c)(viii) HB Regs »

You have two homes

If you live in one home so that you can attend your course and in another home at other times, but you are only liable for rent on one, you can get HB for that place even while you are not there. This rule applies to lone parents and single students eligible for HB. It does not help you if you pay rent at one place and a mortgage on the other.1Reg 7(3) HB Regs

Example

Emily’s normal home is in Stornoway, where she lives with her 17-year-old daughter who is at school. She has to pay rent for her Stornoway home. Emily is studying at the University of Glasgow and lives with a cousin rent free while in Glasgow. Emily can get HB for her Stornoway home throughout the year. Whether any HB is payable, and at what times, depends on the amount of her grant and loan.

A couple (one of whom is a student eligible for HB) who have to live in two separate homes can get HB on both if the local authority decides that this is reasonable.2Reg 7(6)(b) HB Regs

 

1     Reg 7(3) HB Regs »

2     Reg 7(6)(b) HB Regs »

Eligible accommodation

You can get HB to help pay the rent – eg, to a private landlord, local authority, housing association, co-operative or on a croft. It is not essential for you to have a written tenancy agreement; it could be verbal. In some circumstances you cannot get HB – eg, if:1Reg 9 HB Regs

•you live with and pay rent to your parents, a sister or brother, or a son or daughter (including in-laws, partners and step-relatives);
•you pay rent to someone (who might be a relative or friend), but your tenancy is not on a commercial basis. This rule often prevents people getting HB if they live in a property owned by their parents. It is possible, however, to get HB in these circumstances if the tenancy is a commercial one. If this applies to you, get advice;
•your tenancy was contrived in order to try to get HB;
•you pay rent to an ex-partner with whom you used to share the home in which you now live.

 

1     Reg 9 HB Regs »

Halls of residence

You can get HB for rent in a student hall of residence.1Reg 57(4) HB Regs You must be a full-time student who is eligible for HB (see here). You cannot get HB in a hall if you are claiming while waiting to return to your course after taking time out because of disability, illness or caring responsibilities.

Part-time students can also get HB in a hall of residence if, had they been full time, they would have been eligible to claim HB as:

•an under-22-year-old in non-advanced education;
•a lone parent;
•a disabled student;
•someone with a child and a full-time student partner; or
•someone who has reached pension age (see here).

If you get income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) or income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) as a part-time student, you can only get HB in a hall of residence if you are also one of the above. Although you can get HB, it might not cover the whole cost (see here).

Full-time students waiting to return to their course after a period of illness or caring, and part-time students on IS, income-based JSA or income-related ESA, and not in another category cannot get HB in a hall of residence during term time or short vacations unless the educational establishment does not own the hall, does not have a long-term lease on the building or does not rent it from the education authority.2Reg 57(2) HB Regs For example, if the university leases flats on a short-term lease from a private landlord and rents these to students, you can get HB. During the summer vacation, you can get HB if you remain in the hall, unless your student support covers the summer vacation.

 

1     Reg 57(4) HB Regs »

2     Reg 57(2) HB Regs »