Help with Housing Costs: Volume 1

This guide covers the UK rules about help with personal housing costs from universal credit, mortgage interest loans, council tax rebates in Great Britain and rate rebate in Northern Ireland. With volume 2, which covers housing benefit, it provides a comprehensive guide to help with housing costs. It is designed for easy use by renters, homeowners, local councils, social landlords, welfare rights advisers, tribunal members and housing professionals. This edition explains all the new rules for social housing renters, private renters and homeowners starting from April 2023, including the annual uprating. It sets out the qualifying conditions for entitlement to universal credit and gives a detailed explanation of the housing costs element for renters and mortgage interest loans for homeowners. It describes fully: The qualifying conditions for universal credit (UC) and how to make a claim, How and when people on housing benefit and other legacy benefits are transferred onto UC, Who qualifies for transitional protection in UC, Rent and service charges covered by the UC housing costs element for private and social housing tenants, The size criteria ('bedroom tax'), two-child limit and benefit cap, and who is exempt from these, How to calculate UC, the housing costs element, and housing cost contributions for non-dependants, How and when UC payments are made, and when housing costs can be paid directly to landlords, DWP loans for mortgage interest for out-of-work homeowners, Who is liable for council tax in Great Britain (domestic rates in Northern Ireland), Council tax exemptions, discounts, and disability reductions, Who can get council tax rebates in Great Britain (rate rebates in Northern Ireland), How rebates are calculated and how local councils in England and Wales can vary the rules, How to appeal a decision about universal credit, council tax rebates or rate rebate, The rules for migrants and recent arrivals for UC, council tax rebates and housing benefit - including the rules for EEA nationals post-Brexit and for Ukrainian and Afghan evacuees.