Illness benefit & Rent a Room relief

Oat23

I searched boards and saw this asked in another forum, but the advice in that thread was to ask here so I hope someone could advise.

I have a relative who worked the same job from 1979 - 2021. They had to give it up due to arthritis making the factory work hard and then anxiety. The house is paid off and they live alone, but they are feeling the loss of income now with the price of everything going up on top of their credit union loans needing to be repaid and the benefit being only a third of their previous work pay.

I suggested offering one of the rooms to a student for the upcoming school year so they'd have an extra €100 p/w coming in, but none of us know if this is allowed when on illness benefit. Has anyone any experience in this area and can advise?

Dempo1

Hi oat123 ,

I'll take a stab at a reply but wait and see if there's agreement or if I'm wrong.

Illness benefit is NOT means tested so in essence income is not assessed, however and this is important, a recipient can not work , which by definition suggests may not been in receipt of an employment related income. In addition, some employees are fortunate in that they can also receive sick pay from an employer which does not affect their IB, however normally the value of the IB is deducted from sick pay paid by an employer, obviously this not the case in your relatives situation. I see no restriction on income just not allowed to work.

I'm going to say rental income should not be an issue from an IB point of view but there MAY be revenue considerations and RTB registration requirements.

I assume your relative is exploring either DISABILITY allowance or perhaps invalidity pension 🤔 if not they should be as IB only payable for limited time but more importantly DA , IP offer the possibility of extra allowances than IB doesn't . However if they apply for DA it is means tested and rental income would be a factor. Both are difficult to get and can take months to be processed so the sooner your relative applies, the better.

So, that's my take on it, others may correct me or offer alternative advice.

Link below re IB

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_benefit.html

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058250474/illness-benefit-rent-a-room-relief

There's nothing that would really stop them from doing this as IB isn't means tested so the personal rate wouldn't be affected.

The only thing that may (and I stress may because it may not actually arise) come up is that they'll get a letter from the department when they register their details basically asking them to explain the situation. But rental income is not considered the same as income from employment in terms of Illness Benefit so it wouldn't be a problem.

Now if they have any dependants on their claim that portion is means tested and it might be an issue. But if not, then they won't have any problems.

As Dempo says though IB is only payable for a maximum of 624 days (2 years), after that they'd need to apply for one of the longer term sickness payments.

Confused11811

https://www.thejournal.ie/social-welfare-rules-5768336-May2022/

Charge more than 100 euro a week

Confused11811

Your relative worked hard enough and long enough to buy a house. Thankfully they can be rewarded now in thier time of need.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119212258#Comment_119212258

Just to clarify and I appreciate your post but that link relates really relates to payments that a means tested , primarily Jobseekers , DA etc , illness benefit is a kind of unusual payment and not means tested , quite specific, hence OP's query. That announcement primarily related to the Ukranian Refugee Crisis but not exclusively 😏

Confused11811

Yeah but when IB (which isn't means tested) ends after the 2 year period they can move to DA without issue or fear or having a reduction in in DEASP payment.

The announcement linked above covers ALL DEASP payments regardless of mean test. Thier relative has nothing to worry about .

edit:- Just to clarify further the announcement was released with the Ukrainian issue in mind but it's not exclusive to Ukrainian people only. Anyone with a DEASP payment (means tested or not ) can rent rooms to anyone and make up to 14k without issues

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119212317#Comment_119212317

I'm afraid not , moving to and getting approved for DA is extremely difficult and not an automatic process , it can and does takes months depending on the specific illness or disability.

I do agree the article speaks generally of DEASP Payments but IB is quite specific and OP Just looking for clarification.

Confused11811

Sorry you're just plan wrong. The move from Benefit to allowance won't be affected by renting rooms out as long as the rent a room earnings are declared via the normal revenue rent-a-room declaration is completed annually.

The usual delays switching from IB to DA will apply. But renting a room or rooms under the rent a room scheme won't negatively affect that.

OP to avoid any confusion I'd suggest your relative contact a citizen information office or the DEASP directly looking for clarification.

Sometimes it's best if you contact a local TD and ask for an official response from the DEASP which can be made requested under a PQ (parliamentary question). That way your not going on the word of a stranger on the internet.

That said ... I'm 100% correct.

Confused11811

Also RTB registration doesn't apply to renting a room. There is absolutely no need to involve RTB, the rent a room tenant will be a licensee who basically have no rights in the owners house. They can be put out any anytime the home owner wants

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119212400#Comment_119212400

I'm sorry but have you actually read the OP or indeed subsequent responses before going on the defensive 🤔

The question had nothing to do with moving from one payment to another, it was about wether OP's relative could be in receipt of rental income whilst on IB , to which I and Necro responded accordingly, I went further and examined other payments they could explore, but again separate from OP's question.

You then posted a link and I don't disagree with the intentions of the ministers announcement but again IB is quite a specific payment so OP looking for clarity. I'm afraid I don't use newspaper articles to use as a source of opinion or advice.

You then made an assumptions about moving to DA as if it happens magically or automatically, which is completely wrong

And as regard your comments about reporting rental income, again that was covered.

Finally and I get you may be newish to boards, why is it you think OP asked for advise exactly, this is a state benefits forum and I might add has many experienced people on this forum offering advice.

I suggest you get off your high horse and show a little respect, the same respect I afforded you.

Don't respond , I'm not interested in childish rants .

OP can take or ignore advice given.

Confused11811

Is an official government announcement good enough for you ?

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/4bf45-minister-humphreys-announces-measures-to-remove-barriers-facing-social-welfare-customers-seeking-to-take-in-tenants/#

BTW I can continue to respond without your consent, my response are factual and correct without assumption unlike yours. You also originally brought the move from IB to DA into the conversation along with incorrect mentions of RTB registration I merely corrected your mis-information (as well intentioned as it was)

OP again I'd suggest you look for information direct from the DEASP or through the DEASP via a local TD or citizen information.

Don't take my (totally 100% correct informed word) against an ill informed word of other, well meaning but incorrect internet posters

All the best to you and your relative.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119212597#Comment_119212597

..

Confused11811

No need for personal insults. BTW you totally did tell me not to respond... "Don't respond , I'm not interested in childish rants"

Everything I said totally answered the OP's question. All welfare payment IB , DA, JSB, JSTP, Pensions etc are now 100% free to rent room up to the value of 14k under the revenue rent a room scheme without any issue. An offical Gov.ie annocement covers that.

Your well meaning but incorrect responses were wrong. It's okay to admit that, the OP didn't pay for your opinion.

OP again I'd suggest you look for information direct from the DEASP or through the DEASP via a local TD or citizen information.

Don't take my (totally 100% correct informed word) against an ill informed word of other, well meaning but incorrect internet posters

All the best to you and your relative.

Oat23

Thanks for the replies folks. I will of course get them to double check everything with someone in the local intreo/citizens info office. The reason I posted here was just in case someone could give a straight "no" and save us the hassle looking into it further. 😄

(And also in case someone else googles this question in the future. Now they'll have a thread with some answers)

As for the illness benefit/disability pension etc - I know very little about this stuff, but they are aware of the 2 year illness benefit limit and the need to move to another form of support in the next 18 months.

The house is about a 15 min walk from the university and I expect the lack of student accomodation will be a huge talking point in the country come August/September, so if they could offer a room out to a student in need and get €100 p/w (average rate around here) to cover the credit union payment they would be happy with that.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119213192#Comment_119213192

No problem Oat23, your relative in a great situation re proximity to a university and they'll have no issues finding willing lodgers.

But do get them to explore more long term payments , sooner rather than later as they time and applications don't effect his current IB payment.

Best wishes to you both 😏

Oat23

Just to update this: Everything was cleared up for them in the citizens information office a few weeks ago. They also helped start the process for moving to the disability benefit payment. The 2 years eligibility for the illness benefit ended sooner than I previously thought so it needed to be done.

There's some local scheme organised by the university or another group to encourage people to rent out a room to a student. It's €125 per week including bills and meals so my relative is meeting a student put forward by the group/university in a few days to see if it suits.

Thanks again for the help.