Completing Rent Supplement Form

Hi,

I've been handed a rent supplement form by my tenant for me to complete the landlord section. I'm a bit confused and would really appreciate any help.

My tenant tells me that her SW officer has agreed that my tenant should contribute €25 monthly to her rent. My tenant says that I need to record the total rent on the form as €925 (max for Dublin tenant with 2 kids). She says that SW will pay €900 rent and the tenant will pay €25 bringing the total up to €925. It's less than we want but we'd live with that.

However, from reading about the changes in rent allowance for 2012 it appears clear that all tenants must pay a minimum of €30/week towards their rent. Is that true or is it up to the discretion of each SW officer? I'm worried that if I record the rent as €925 on the form that I'll actually only receive €805 from social welfare (€925 - (€30 x 4)). And knowing my tenant I won't get much more than €25 monthly from her.

Am I missing something?

The minimum contribution that a tenant must make towards their rent is €30pw for a single person or one-parent family, or €35pw for a couple with or without children.

In addition, a tenant may have to make additional payments to rent depending on their income - for a one-adult family on Jobseeker's or One Parent Family Payment, there is an additional €2 pw to be paid. Their expected contribution is therefore €32 per week.

There is no discretion in these amounts, as they are set down in legislation.

If the monthly rent is €925 (max limit for one adult/two adults with 2 children), then the maximum rent supplement payable would be €181.46 per week or €786.30 per calendar month.

The above figure assumes that the tenant has no additional income that would be taken into account - if there is extra income, rent supplement will be less.

Thanks for the reply. I think our tenant is trying to pull the wool. We'll sign the form and then she'll act surprised that she needs to contribute more than €25 to her rent. We obviously need to have a talk.

Appreciate the help.