Entitlement to own flat?

A question about : Entitlement to own flat?

My sister is 30 and lives at my parents with her 5 year old daughter in the same room. My other sister also lives there. It's a 3 bedroom house so the parents have one room, younger sister in another room and older sister with child in the 3rd room.

She wants to know if she would be entitled to her own flat as we have heard of one that's available to rent nearby and has two bedrooms and the landlord will accept housing benefit.

I have heard that each council has it's own guidelines to what constitutes overcrowding, but thought I'd ask here in case any one knows if she would be entitled to move into the flat and claim HB?

Best answers:

• She would need to check her own council's rules. It may also make a difference what the basis of her living with your parents is, and whether they are claiming benefits.
  Given her age I do not think she would be considered a dependent. Is the flat a private let? If so, I don't think that there is any reason why your sister could not move in to the flat and then claim housing benefit. She will need to check whether the amount of benefit she will be entitled to will cover the full rent, and whether (if your parents are council tenants) her departure will mean that they are under-occupying their property and lose some of any benefit they are receiving
• We are all "entitled" to our own flat, house, helicopter etc... As long as we can pay for them.
  Being under 34 means she will only get the room-in-a-shared-house rate: She is at liberty to take, say, a 5-bed mansion with swimming pool & make up the difference to the full rent amount.
  This gives info & a link to see how many bedrooms you are allowed for the HB/LHA payment - which may be less than the rent. As I said you can rent what you like & can persuade a landlord to let you have.
  https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/what-youll-get
  There may be an overcrowding issue with where they all live now. Get tape-measures out, measure rooms (including sitting room!) and read this lot..
  https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...s/overcrowding
  Who in the family works?? Full-time or part-time??
  This provides links for benefit calculators...
  https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators
  - paid for by tax-payers ...
• If it's a private landlord then the council has no say in it and if she's entitled to LHA then they will pay it (how much she gets compared to the rent is what she needs to find out) so overcrowding is not an issue.
• I used one of those calculators and it said she would be entitled to 2 bedrooms which is about 186 a week.
  So as long as a private landlord would accept her and the rent isn't too far away from the 186 / week then there is no reason she couldn't rent this 2 bed house?
• being entitled to her own flat and being entitled to housing benefits are two separate issues, she WILL be entitled to housing benefit at the local rate for a 2 bed property (it doesn't matter if its a house or flat), actually getting a 2 bed property that she can afford to run is a separate issue. there will be other bills to pay aswell so she needs to make sure any income will cover those costs.
  then of course, she will have to find a landlord that will accept her, just because a landlord will accept tenants on benefits doesn't mean that she will be the one they accept, there are still other hoops to go through, tenant checks, possible guarantor etc deposit or bond ...