Spouse visa

[harv]

I will be applying for my Wife's Settlement (Spouse) Visa in February. I have one question regarding the accommodation, so if someone please help me out.

I am currently living together with my family in a privately rented house.

• - I contribute part of the rent (say 20%) and the rest is paid by my parents/family.
  - The tenancy agreement is a joint agreement with my name and my father's name on it.
  - I do not pay anything towards Council Tax bill either.
  - My parents are on Income Support and also getting Housing Benefit to cover the costs but I do not get anything as I work full time (thankfully).

I will be getting a letter from the agents/landlord confirming that they do not have any objection for my partner to come and live with me in the house. However I am not sure whether the partial contribution thing looks good or not for the application.

• - Would it look okay if the landlord/agent writes a letter to say that I am only liable to pay £XXX (20% whatever I am currently paying)?
  - If the landlord does not provide me the above letter (liable to pay 20% etc...), would it be a problem?

I am not sure what I should be doing for this, very confused please help?[/list]

[harv]

Seems like I have posted a confusing question, or at least a question that does not have a straight answer?

[harv]

anyone please? or shall I try with a new thread?

Apologies for trying to push this...

[Dabby]

Perhaps a letter from your parents saying they pay the rent and you give them a contribution of 20% per month towards it and have been doing so for however long, perhaps that would suffice?

Otherwise it's probably best answered by an immigration solicitor or UKBA themselves - if they answer correspondance....

[The Confused One]

It would have probably been better for you and your dad to have had seperate tenancy agreements (i.e you renting a room in the house and your dad renting a number of rooms)

However why dont you cover all scenarios? Get a letter from your landlord, plus your parents and a letter from Housing Benefit to confirm that you are not in reciept of housing benefit. Why dont you also send proof that you are paying rent and it is up to date and get a Property Inspection Report done from the Council to confirm property is suitable?

Kind Regards
The Confused One

[harv]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the reply.

I am planning to provide the following:

- Letter from parents - explaining that part of the rent is paid by me
- Letter from agent - hopefully confirming only liable to pay partial rent from my side
- Housing report
- Proof of rent from my bank account
- Rent invoices (paid)

However I am not planning to add the housing benefit letter, I think ECO will get confused over this or at least may end up raising some eyebrows.

Hopefully the above documents would cover my ground, what you guys think?

[SoHopeful]

Also, make sure the landlord's letter specifies the number of residents, size of property and consents to your wife moving in.

[Dabby]

Just a word of warning, I suspect that even though you only pay 20% of the rent of the house, if you have a joint tenancy, chances are that on the tenancy, because it's a joint tenancy, the liability technically falls 50/50 according to your landlord. They don't care how the split is shared between tenancy holders on a joint tenancy. They split the liability equally, legally. Check your tenancy agreement. If that's the case, I'd get them to also say, whilst this is the legal liability at 50/50 they have notes that say they understand you currently and have always paid a 20% proportion only to your parents and that is fine.

Also, the point of accomodation is also to show that you and your partner have your own room all to yourselves in the shared accomodation. Make sure your parents mention that in the letter or you're missing a vital piece of evidence that they seek.

And finally, why do you not pay council tax? Maybe this will need explaining. Everyone should pay council tax if they are working full time so you might be opening another can of worms if you don't show that you pay council tax. Although in my experience, the people judging applications haven't the faintest idea how council tax works so you're probably alright.

[harv]

Yes you are right Dabby, I am going to put that in the landlord's letter. To be precise here are the points I am going to put in:

- Confirmation of me living at the address
- Liability of paying 20% of the rent
- No objection of partner joining the house

Parents letter would say:

- Confirmation of me living at the address
- Liability of paying 20% of the rent
- No objection of partner joining the house
- Sole use of a bedroom for me and my partner
- Other rooms are okay to share i.e. Spam, living room etc.
- Any other bills and council tax is taken care by the parents

Since I currently not pay for anything else int he house at the moment, my salary should be able to cover any forthcoming costs. As I have £2,000 after paying rent. So hopefully ECO will not mess around too much with my application, but trying to be on the safe side to avoid any issues.

[Dabby]

That sounds good! You're covering all your bases there. Hope you don't experience any problems. I wish they provided more official guidance on this sort of thing so people don't have to waste time and money sending insuffient evidence as they don't make clear what they need.

Good Luck to you! Sounds good.