my partner has left me, can i takeover our joint tenancy as a sole tenant but claim housing benefit to help?
December 19th, 2009 by admin
my partner and i signed a 6 month joint tenancy for a house just over 3 month ago. my partner worked full time and i was on maternity leave so we were paying the full rent on the house. just over a week ago my partner left us, leaving myself and my 6 month old daughter alone to pay the rent. my maternity leave ends in 2 weeks time and i do not have a job to go back to as i was made redundant during my maternity leave. my question is, can my now ex-partner be removed from the tenancy and can i take over as a sole tenant even though the 6 month tenancy has not expired? i understand that i will be claiming jobseekers allowance in a few weeks time and will obviously need to claim housing benefit to help pay the rent until i find a new job.
I’m worried that i will not be able to take over the tenancy alone and that my landlord will still expect the full rent each week even though my partner has moved out and now has a place of his own for which he pays rent. I understand that the tenancy was an agreement that myself and my partner should stick to but our relationship wasn’t working and we both felt that him moving out would be the best thing for both of us and our baby daughter. PLEASE HELP AS IVE NEVER CLAIMED A BENEFIT BEFORE AND AM VERY UNSURE OF WHERE I STAND!
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If you’re in the UK, this is possible, my partner had the same thing happen to her before we met. However, prepare to cut back on everything. The amount of money you’ll have to spend each month will be ridiculously low. If you can, try and get some support from family and friends, maybe move back home until you’re back on your feet. Otherwise you’ll struggle.
Firstly, just go out and claim the benefits you are entitled to. The place to start if the job centre’s website – google them. It takes time to process a claim, but it should be backdated to when you applied, I believe. So go and get your first appointment for that as soon as you can. To see what you would be entitled to, go to
Secondly, talk to your landlord. He will not evict you because you broke up with your partner! If you talk to him, he will at least know that there might be a problem, and he would probably prefer you to pay as much as you can for now, and make up the arrears as soon as you can, than default on the rent without telling him. If you don’t tell him, he will evict you. That’s certain. But communication is the key to a good relationship with him. It may have been in the original advert for the house that it said “No DSS”. Many do, but that doesn’t mean that has to stick. If your partner was made redundant through no fault of his own, you’d be using housing benefit to pay the rent, so I don’t think they would be allowed to evict you for being on benefits, even if id said in the tenancy agreement – it would be an unfair clause.
Thirdly, talk to your partner about maintenance payments and access to you daughter. It’s a lot less confrontational, and a lot easier on your sanity in the long run, if you can agree on something between the two of you regarding maintenance and access that going through the official channels of CMEC for maintenance and courts for access. I think that default is 15% of his take home pay (after tax, NI and any pension payments he makes through his employer or privately), or 12 % of his gross pay (i.e. before deductions). For access, such a young baby would probably need to be with you much of the time, especially if you’re still breastfeeding. If she’s on formula, though, then there is no reason why she can’t spend a full day with her daddy once a week. When she’s about 5, I think that the norm would be every other weekend, Friday from school to Sunday afternoon, plus one evening every week (either just for tea or sleeping overnight). Build up to this slowly, as and when all three of you are comfortable with it. It is not your daughter’s fault, so get a reasonable relationship on practical matters with your partner, so she can have a good relationship with you both. She will thank you for it when she is older.
I hope things work out for all three of you.
In UK
Firstly, I am not a expert in benefits, but you need to go to the council immediately as I believe you are entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit, go asap and you may be able to get it backdated. Ask when you go if you can speak to somebody regarding the claim, as you have never claimed any form of benefit before.
Then contact the agent/landlord and explain that you are now on your own, and struggling with the rent, and am applying for housing benefit.
I understand that you would like your ex-partner off the tenancy agreement, but it may be better to leave him on for the time being, as he is liable for 50% of the rent.
Your main concern is to get the benefit your entitled to, and sort the rental payments out, you can sort the tenancy names out at a later date.
As a joint-tenant you are equally liable for the whole of the rent. This means that both you and your ex-partner can be held responsible for paying the rent in full – there is no 50/50 split. As long as the landlord receives the whole of the rent as per tenancy agreement there ought not to be a problem. It is unlikely that the landlord will agree to remove your ex-partner from the current tenancy agreement due to the “joint and several liability” – if you default on paying the rent the landlord will be able to chase your ex-partner for arrears, whether or not he lives with you.
When you make your claim for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit (HB/CTB), you will need to provide evidence that you are no longer living with your ex-partner. Given that you say he now has a separate tenancy, a copy of his tenancy agreement ought to suffice.
Good luck.