dole and rent supp for formerly self employed single male

stepbystep

heya all

ive been self employed for just over a year, but couldnt make it work, have gotten into debt and have decided to call it a day, because im making absolutly nothing. was on the social welfare website and it stated that if i have paid stamp in the last 4 years i should be entitled to benefit, luckily i have paid stamps in the last 4 years, but my question is, i had to move back home to my mothers house, but it really isnt working out here for us, would i be entitled to claim rent supplement as well?? im 31 single male.......... any help or feed back would be great thanks

shane

Kristopherus

Possibly you may get JSB. Depends on the rate you paid PRSI in 2009, which will be the revelant contribution year. If you remain living with Mother, you will not qualify for rent supplement.

stepbystep

noooo jesus the last thing i wanna do is to be living at home with my mother bud, i just wanna know if i have to be already renting before i apply for rent suplement or can i apply before i move into rented accomadation.... all my contributions are fully paid up too and thanks for the reply

shane

snubbleste

stepbystep wrote: »

noooo jesus the last thing i wanna do is to be living at home with my mother bud, i just wanna know if i have to be already renting before i apply for rent suplement or can i apply before i move into rented accomadation.... all my contributions are fully paid up too and thanks for the reply

Rent Supplement is complex. You need to be renting for six months or go on the housing list of the Council in which you wish to live.
Go to citizensinformation.ie and look up rent supplement

bosco1975

If you were self employed you would have paid a class S stamp which does not entitle you to job seekers benefit. You can claim job seekers allowance but if you are living with your mother her income will be taken into account for a means test. Although, were you working on PAYE for 2009 - if so then you could claim benefit which is not means tested.

Have gone down the route of securing rent allowance after self-employment and it was a hassle. First and foremost you must apply for an assessment for council housing... otherwise you must pay the first 6 months of rent yourself.

Secondly make sure that you de-register as self employed with your local tax office as neither job-seekers nor rent supplement will entertain you until this is done, Just send a letter to your tax office stating the date that you finished self employment and ask them to send you a letter stating that you have de-registered.

Best of luck

Kristopherus

bosco1975 wrote: »

If you wer self employed you would have paid a class S stamp which does not entitle tou to job seekers benefit. You can claim job seekers allowance but if you are living with your mother her income will be taken into account for a means test.

Have gone down the route of securing rent allowance after self-employment and it was a hassle. First and foremost you must apply for an assessment for council housing... otherwise you must pay the first 6 months of rent yourself.

Secondly make sure that you de-register as self employed with your local tax office as neither job-seekers nor rent supplement will entertain you until this is done, Just send a letter to your tax office stating the date that you finished self employment and ask them to send you a letter stating that you have de-registered.

Best of luck

He is over 25, so Benefit & Privelidge will not apply in his case.

Darlughda

People have to save enough money to cover themselves for deposit and at least 6 months rent, many who are in a similar situation to yours, are surprised to find that its not an easy situation to get out of.

Sometimes, people think its the easy option-moving back in with the parents-but in terms of getting rent allowance when you are stuck on state benefits its the worst thing you can do.

Nothing to do with being self employed, by the way, the rules state you have to be 6 months in private rented accom, before you can even begin the whole rigmarole of applying for rent allowance.

(and it is a huge rigmarole by the way, that can take an extra couple of months on top of the original 6, to sort out, as the council have to come out and do some bullshít appraisal of your housing need which can take ages.)

eastbono

If you job is terminated as you expect the business to close then yes you can apply for Jobseekers Allowance which is means tested. SW will look for accounts from your self employment.

shoegirl

Darlughda wrote: »

Sometimes, people think its the easy option-moving back in with the parents-but in terms of getting rent allowance when you are stuck on state benefits its the worst thing you can do.

Nothing to do with being self employed, by the way, the rules state you have to be 6 months in private rented accom, before you can even begin the whole rigmarole of applying for rent allowance.

As far as I know the rules state you should have been renting for 6 of the previous 12 months so if you were in rented accomodation prior to moving home and kept your rent book/receipts this may help.

I would massively disagree with advice to move back home. The cost of renting in Ireland is anything from 500-1000 per month for a single person, and most people who were working were almost certainly in price levels well above the RA threshold.

To remain living in an unaffordable housing situation for some time after losing your job would heavily eat into your welfare. Moving home was the best decision I made and gave me a lot of initiative to get back on my feet again quickly (which I did).

The cost of rents are really far too high, for many well above RA thresholds and definitely would recommend it as a last resort to draining every last cent of hard earned savings or redundancy which you may need later on rather than handing over to some slumlord. It is not an "easy option" but a far better alternative than struggling to pay rent while looking for somewhere cheaper or waiting for the SWA cheque to come (its paid in arrears so you would need to pay at least one month normal advance plus whatever length of time it takes to assess you - which I very much doubt most RA applicants can afford).