rent assistance?

i went into centrelink today, to apply for rent assistance/ and declare i was working aswell.
i've been paying rent since DD was born but thought i wasnt eligable as i was living at home and then i found out i was thought it would effect my parents payments so put it off applying(didnt want my parents payments to decrease because of me etc but that wasnt the case so it seems).. i went in thinking i would apply and there wouldn't be such a big fuss etc, but they were like why havent you come in earlier to tell us and how long have i been paying rent (which was $100 a week) and i explained to them that i didnt realise and they said that i am apparently eligible for backpay of rent assistance, i feel really bad as i didnt know.. Thats not what i expected or wanted i just thought i could just start getting it from then on iykwim.

i have to somehow find proof that i have made these payments to my parents from 2009 last year arghhh dont know how i can do that!! i wish i could just say can i just get the payments from now so its not such a big fuss, maby it was just the guy who 'served' me at centrelink that made me feel bad and was pretty rude about it.

sorry more of a vent then anything i always feel really stressed after coming out of centrelink! although i know i dont no where i would be without them i know! i just wish i didnt need them iykwim spent nearly 2 hours in there waiting!

you are under NO OBLIGATION to claim rent assistance. simply say you only want to claim for your current address and prior to that you don't want to follow up. no one can force you to claim rent assistance hun - like any welfare payment, it's up to you if you claim or not

thx hun he just made me feel stupid that ohh well i should no all the dates to this and that and be able to prove ive paid rent for the amount of time ive been.
Thx for clearing that up hun x

I'm really sorry he made you feel that way butterfly - did he offer you a Rent Certificate for your parents to sign with the applicable dates? As BG said you're under no obligation to claim the backpay if you don't want to but if you do, you could ask if having them sign a Rent Certificate would be sufficient evidence? If it were me making the decision, I would be satisfied with that.

Eutra_phalia - if you pay rent to your parents, it doesn't affect their payments does it?

i think it depends on whether it is listed as rent or board doesn't it? if you are renting, they are effectively getting an income, if it's board, there isn't an income as there are equivalent incomings and outgoings....

I'm pretty sure that if it is immediate family paying board/lodgings, it isn't deemed as income but I'll double check tomorrow :)

ah ha - tanks chicks!

thanks guys, i wont be going for back pay if its going to effect my parents and they are effected by it etc. i think im just going to ask them if i can just start recieving it from now..hopefully

I know when I started earning money my parents rent went up, as they were with Homeswest. So I started paying board - had to anyway :) - and as each of us started earning, the rent went up and up and up. Funnily enough, now that we've all left, the rent hasn't gone down again though, despite several rent reviews...

I checked it out for you Lulu - if the boarder or lodger is an immediate family member the income received for the rented room is NOT considered to be income for social security purposes. Butterfly, that means that your parents will not be affected if you do decide to chase down that backpay of rent assistance.