Service Finder
Housing benefit initial application
Service Description
You can receive housing benefit as a tenant - known as a rent subsidy - or as an owner of owner-occupied housing - known as an encumbrance subsidy.
Whether and how much housing benefit you receive depends on how high your income is and how high your rent is or how much you pay per month if you own your own home. The number of people living in your household also plays a role.
The amount of housing benefit can vary from region to region.
You can only receive a financial subsidy for rent or your financial burden in general up to certain maximum amounts. These maximum amounts depend on the local rent level, the so-called rent levels.
Process flow
To receive housing benefit, you must submit an application to your local housing benefit authority.
After checking your income and your costs, you will then receive a notification from there about the approval and the amount of the payment or about a rejection.
Who should I contact?
Contact the housing benefit authority responsible for you.
Competent authority
The authorities responsible for granting and reclaiming housing benefit are
- the administrative districts and independent towns,
- the district municipalities of Gotha, Ilmenau, Rudolstadt and Saalfeld.
Requirements
Whether and to what extent you are entitled to housing benefit depends primarily on the following factors:
1. the number of household members to be taken into account,
2. the amount of your total income,
3. the amount of your rent or charges to be taken into account.
Re 1: Number of household members to be taken into account
In addition to you as the person entitled to housing benefit, the household members include the people who live with you in the same home. This home must be the center of life for each of these persons. All household members are taken into account if they are not excluded from housing benefit. You are excluded from housing benefit if you receive other social benefits that already include housing costs, for example
- Citizen's allowance or
- Basic income support in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity.
Students living alone and trainees who are entitled to Federal Training Assistance (BAföG) or Vocational Training Allowance (BAB) are also not entitled to housing benefit.
This also applies if BAföG or BAB has been rejected because the parents' income is too high.
Re 2: Amount of total income
The total income is the sum of the annual income of all household members to be taken into account.
Certain allowances and deductions for maintenance payments can be deducted from this.
Re 3: Amount of rent or charges to be taken into account.
The rent is the agreed remuneration for the use of the living space on the basis of a rental agreement.
Burdens for owners are the expenses for servicing and managing the property.
The basis for calculating housing benefit is the gross rent. Rent does not include, for example, heating costs and the cost of hot water. It also does not include payments for the provision of a garage or a parking space for motor vehicles or payments for general support services such as the provision of nursing or care services, domestic services or emergency call services.
For details, please contact your local housing benefit office.
Which documents are required?
In addition to the application form to be completed, you must also submit further documents as evidence.
Further documents may include in particular
Current proof of your rent or financial charges:
- Tenancy agreement,
- current statement of operating costs, if applicable,
- for owners: Proof of existing loans taken out for the purchase, construction or modernization of the home or condominium,
- for owners: Current property tax assessment notice.
Current proof of income of all household members:
- Wage and salary statements for the last few months,
- current pension statement,
- Current notification of receipt of social benefits (e.g. citizen's allowance, parental allowance, maintenance advance, sickness benefit),
- Proof of maintenance payments,
- Proof of interest and other investment income (e.g. for savings accounts, fixed-term deposits, call money, building society savings contracts, funds); in particular tax certificates.
Other evidence (if available):
- Severely disabled person's pass and notification of long-term care insurance benefits.
Please refer to the application form or the information provided by your local housing benefit office to find out which documents you need to submit in your specific case.
What are the fees?
There are no fees.
What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?
If you are eligible, you will receive housing benefit from the 1st of the month in which you submit your application.
Initial approval is usually granted for 12 months.
You should submit an application for continued housing benefit 2 months before the end of the approval period.
Legal basis
Applications / forms
After you have submitted an application for housing benefit, you will receive a decision from your housing benefit authority. If you feel that your rights have been infringed by this decision, you can lodge an appeal against it.
If you intend to lodge an appeal against the decision of the housing benefit authority, you must do so within one month of receiving the decision.
The same applies if you wish to appeal against the decision.
You will find all the necessary information in the information on legal remedies at the end of the notice.
Appeal
You can obtain the necessary forms from the Form Service Thuringia under the heading Housing Benefit:
Alternatively, you can also obtain the forms from your housing benefit authority.
The federal, state and local authorities are currently working on making all essential administrative procedures digital.
Please check, for example, on the website of your local housing benefit authority to see whether it already offers electronic applications for your housing benefit.
What else should I know?
If your financial situation or living circumstances have improved or changed, this can also lead to a reduction in housing benefit. You are obliged to inform the housing benefit authority immediately of any changes that could lead to a reduction in housing benefit.
In order to avoid or uncover unlawful claims for housing benefit, the housing benefit authority may regularly check the household members by means of a so-called data comparison (for example with the registration authorities or the German Pension Insurance).
Further information is available from the Federal Ministry responsible for housing benefit:
Author
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.
Technically approved by
Thuringian Ministry for Infrastructure and Agriculture
Professionally released on
26.06.2024
Source: Zuständigkeitsfinder Thüringen (Linie6Plus)
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