Who counts as a household member for housing benefit

The more countable people, the higher the maximum rent and the differently the formula coefficients work. At the same time added-up income rises if further people earn or receive transfer benefits.

A child without their own income often raises the framework more than it burdens the income side. A second salary can reverse the same effect. The maximum amounts for level VI are tabulated under Maximum amounts.

The household typically includes spouses, registered partners, children and other relatives who live with the applicant and run a joint household. Joint housekeeping shows in shared living costs, joint shopping or coordinated household management – not only in a shared doorbell nameplate.

Anyone who only sublets a room without sharing the rest of the dwelling does not usually form a joint household with the head tenant. Then two applications can arise, each with its own share of the rent.

In a shared flat with separate accounts, own rooms and each person’s own share of the rent, each person often counts as a one-person household. The income of housemates then stays outside; only your own share of the gross cold rent is countable.

If couples or families share kitchen, bathroom and budget, a joint household is likely – even if several names are on the contract. The authority examines the boundary from the contract, payment routes and actual cohabitation. An overview of life situations is under Who it is for.

Minor children who live in the household usually count – even if they sometimes stay overnight with the other parent, as long as the centre of their life is the Frankfurt dwelling. Adult children can remain household members as long as they live there and have not established their own household.

Military service, hospital, study elsewhere or remand do not automatically end membership if the dwelling remains the centre and the place is kept. People who have moved permanently into a nursing home, by contrast, regularly leave the previous household.

For the allowance under section 17 WoGG the rule is: you are a single parent if you live in the dwelling with at least one minor child and no other adult belongs to the household. A new partner in the household ends this classification; a separated parent outside the dwelling usually does not.

The allowance and the evidence are described under Allowances and Single parents. Maintenance from the other parent counts as income but does not by itself change household size.

People who themselves live from an excluding transfer benefit can split the household for housing-benefit purposes: if a member receives Bürgergeld with housing costs, that part is often not eligible for housing benefit. The rules are under Transfer benefits and Bürgergeld.

Single students or trainees with BAföG or BAB in principle are often themselves excluded, but can appear as a member in a family household if other people are entitled to apply. See BAföG.

A birth, someone moving in or out, a separation or a death change household size, the maximum and income. Such changes belong in the current award period and in every renewal application. The first application must correctly reflect the situation on the day of application.

How the number of people together with rent and income determines the award is explained in the calculation. Terms are collected in the Glossary.