Rent Supplement

Rules

Eligibility criteria for Rent Supplement following the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)

As noted above, HAP is now available nationwide. If you qualify for social housing support and you need help with your rent, you should apply for HAP. You are only eligible for Rent Supplement if you are a genuine (bona fide) tenant and meet one of the following conditions:

• You were getting Rent Supplement in the 12 months before the date of your application.
• You were living in private rented accommodation for at least 6 months (183 days) of the last 12 months, you could afford the rent at the beginning of your tenancy and you are unable to continue to pay the rent because of a substantial change in your circumstances which occurred after you started renting. You can combine time living in more than one rented accommodation to satisfy the 6 months (183 days).
• You were living in accommodation for homeless people for at least 6 months (183 days) of the last 12 months. If you have already been assessed as qualified for social housing support you will be referred to your local authority to have your housing needs addressed (rather than being assessed for Rent Supplement).

If you need help with your rent but you don’t meet these conditions, you must contact your local authority to have your housing needs assessed. If you are eligible for and in need of housing support you may be able to access housing under the HAP scheme or local authority housing.

If you are currently getting long-term Rent Supplement (18 months or more) you can be asked to apply for social housing support to your local authority. You must apply within 6 weeks of being asked to do so (if necessary an extra 6 weeks can be allowed). You may then be transferred to HAP or to another form of social housing support.

Other rules for Rent Supplement

Rent Supplement will only be provided if the accommodation is suitable for your needs. Rent Supplement is not generally paid if the rent is above the maximum rent limit set for your county (see ‘Rates’ below for information about these limits and circumstances where they may be waived).

You must also:

• Pass a habitual residence test
• Pass a means test

You won’t qualify for Rent Supplement if you:

• Are in full-time employment or self-employment (30 hours or more a week). However, if you are assessed as in need of housing under the Rental Accommodation Scheme and have been out of full-time employment for 12 months or more you may be entitled to the Supplement - see ‘Employment and Rent Supplement’ below
• Are leaving local authority housing without reasonable cause.
• Have been excluded from social housing by a local authority for reasons of good estate management or anti-social behaviour.
• Are attending full-time education. However, if you are getting a Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) or are participating in the Back to Education Programme you may be entitled to Rent Supplement.

Renting from a parent: You cannot get Rent Supplement to help you pay rent to your parent if you are living in the family home. If your parent owns a second property, you will generally not get Rent Supplement for this property unless you can prove that you are a genuine (bona fide) tenant.

Sharing with your landlord: You may be entitled to get Rent Supplement if you are living in your landlord’s home. It must be a genuine landlord/tenant arrangement. Your landlord has to fill in part of the form and provide his or her PPS number (see 'How to apply' below).

Employment and Rent Supplement

You will not qualify for Rent Supplement if you are in full-time employment - defined as 30 hours or more a week. (In the case of couples, if one of a couple is in full-time employment, both are excluded from claiming Rent Supplement.) Claims from self-employed people are assessed on the individual circumstances of the case and you may be asked to show that you are working less than 30 hours a week. If you are working over 30 hours a week in employment or self-employment, or if you are getting the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, you must be deemed eligible for the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) by your local authority to continue to get Rent Supplement.

However, you will be reassessed for Rent Supplement and some of your additional income including some of your income from employment will be taken into account. As a result of the reassessment you may or may not continue to qualify for Rent Supplement. If you do qualify for Rent Supplement you may get a different rate of Supplement.

Income taken into account for Rent Supplement

• Net income from employment (this is gross income less PRSI and reasonable travel expenses. A child dependant in full-time education does not have their income from employment assessed as means for Rent Supplement.)
• Social welfare payments (for exceptions - see 'Income not taken into account' below)
• Family Income Supplement (FIS)
• Cash income (for example, maintenance)
• All income and the value of all property of which the claimant deprived themselves in order to qualify for Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA)*
• Capital (for example, property except your own home, savings and investments).

*SWA is the scheme under which Rent Supplement is paid.

The capital value of property (except your own home), savings and investments is assessed as follows:

Income not taken into account when calculating Rent Supplement

Income from the following sources is disregarded - not taken into account - when calculating the amount of Rent Supplement you qualify for:

• An amount equal to the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) rate for your household circumstances
• Child Benefit
• Mobility Allowance
• Foster care payments from the Health Service Executive (HSE)
• Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act
• Income from Gaeltacht students
• Grants or allowances from schemes promoting the welfare of blind people
• Money received from charitable organisations, for example, St Vincent de Paul
• Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Student Grants
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Carer's Support Grant
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory) and Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Fuel Allowance and the Living Alone Allowance
• Pensioners: If you are aged 65 or over (or where one of a couple is of pensionable age) and have a combined household income greater than the rate of SWA appropriate to your household circumstances, the difference between the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) appropriate to your circumstance and the rate of SWA appropriate to your circumstances is not taken into account.
• Carers' payments: The half-rate Carer's Allowance is not taken into account.
• If you are getting Carer's Allowance, the amount of Carer's Allowance above the appropriate SWA rate for your situation (either the qualified adult rate for a couple or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account. So if you are one of a couple and getting Carer's Allowance, the amount of Carer's Allowance being paid less the SWA qualified adult rate is not taken into account. If you are single or a lone parent the amount disregarded is the rate of Carer's Allowance being paid less the personal rate of SWA.
• Any amount of Carer's Benefit in excess of the basic SWA rate for your situation (either the qualified adult rate or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account.
• Rehabilitative earnings disregard: A certain amount of your income from rehabilitative work is not taken into account. If you are getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension, €120 from rehabilitative training or employment is not taken into account in the assessment for Rent Supplement. Any earnings over €120 from rehabilitative training or employment will affect your Rent Supplement. If you are earning above €120 you can be assessed using whichever disregard is most in your interest - either the Rehabilitative earnings disregard or the Additional income disregard (but not both).
• Additional income disregard: A certain amount of your household income from certain sources is not taken into account. €75 of any additional household income* above the SWA rate for your circumstances is not taken into account. Also, 25% of additional household income over €75 is not taken into account. There is no upper limit on the amount that can be disregarded.

  *Additional household income is income from part-time employment or part-time self-employment, Family Income Supplement (FIS), Community Employment (CE), the Tús scheme, JobBridge, the Rural Social Scheme, Part-time Job Incentive Scheme, Skillnets, Work Placement Scheme, Gateway, Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance or a FET (formerly FÁS) course. Part of a maintenance payment is also assessed as additional household income (see below).

If you were getting Rent Supplement before 5 June 2007, you can continue to have your income assessed using the old income disregards, unless the current income disregards ensure a more favourable assessment. However, if you do not claim Rent Supplement for more than 13 weeks you will be assessed using the current income disregards. (See 'Further information' below for more information on how income was assessed for Rent Supplement before 5 June 2007.)

Maintenance and Rent Supplement

Maintenance is assessed as additional household income (see above) and maintenance payments up to €95.23 per week are assessed in full. The household income disregard (see above) applies to maintenance payments above this amount. The reason for this is that the first €95.23 per week of maintenance payments are considered to be a contribution towards your housing expenses.

Example: if your only additional household income is maintenance, all of your maintenance payment up to €95.23 per week is assessed in full. The household income disregard of €75 applies to sums above this, so that any maintenance between €95.23 and €170.23 is not taken into account. 25% of all maintenance over €170.23 is also not taken into account.

Your contribution to rent (Household Contribution)

Once the amount of Rent Supplement you qualify for has been worked out, it will be reduced by a minimum of €30. This is because you must pay at least €30 a week towards your rent. You may pay more than €30 because you are also required to contribute any additional assessable means that you have above the appropriate basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance rate towards your rent. A couple claiming Rent Supplement must pay at least €40 a week towards their rent.

Any non-dependent household members who are solely dependent on a personal social welfare payment must also contribute €30. However, if benefit and privilege has been assessed against your social welfare payment you do not have to contribute €30. If the non-dependent household members are a couple their contribution is €40. A couple over 65 with an income equal to or less than the State Pension (Contributory) for their situation will contribute €40 a week towards their rent. A couple who both have State Pensions (Contributory) and no other income will also contribute €40 towards their weekly rent.

Age-related contributions

Since January 2017, people aged 18-24 who are on age-related benefits pay a lower Household Contribution. The contribution is reduced from €30 to €10 per week for Rent Supplement recipients who are getting Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) or Supplementary Welfare Allowance of €100 per week and from €30 to €20 for those who are getting JA of €144.

For people who are getting BTEA, a Further Education and Training (FET) training allowance or on Youthreach, where the age-related rate of €160 applies, the Household Contribution is reduced from €30 to €20 a week.

Calculating Rent Supplement

Calculating your Rent Supplement can be difficult. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection's representative (formerly known as the Community Welfare Officer) will decide if you are eligible for Rent Supplement and calculate the amount you will get. More information is available on how to calculate Rent Supplement.

Discrimination when letting residential property

Equality legislation applies to lettings and accommodation. Landlords cannot discriminate against potential tenants on grounds of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller community.

You cannot be discriminated against when renting because you are getting Rent Supplement, HAP or any other social welfare payment. (This is known as the “housing assistance” ground.) This means that landlords can no longer state when advertising accommodation that Rent Supplement (or HAP) is not accepted and they cannot refuse to rent you accommodation because you are getting a social welfare payment. If you feel you have been discriminated against by a landlord or their agent, you can find out more about making a complaint under the Equal Status Acts.