Report significant changes for housing benefit such as number of household members, rent, charges or income

You send your notification of change in writing or online to the housing benefit office responsible for you.

The authority will check whether your notification has an effect on the amount of your housing benefit and will send you a notification if necessary.

• Your total income must have increased by more than 15 % or
• the number of members of your household has decreased or
• Your rent or your home ownership costs (excluding heating costs) have decreased by more than 15%

For details, please contact your local housing benefit office.

Please submit the following documents:

• Proof of change in rent or charge
• Proof of changed income
• Evidence of the change in the household members to be taken into account

• § Section 27 (3) of the Housing Benefit Act (WoGG)

The following information is available:

If your financial situation or living circumstances have improved or changed, this may 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 your housing benefit. In order to prevent or uncover unlawful claims for housing benefit, the housing benefit authority regularly checks the household members by comparing their data.

In order to avoid or uncover unlawful claims for housing benefit, the housing benefit authority may regularly check the household members by comparing data - also in automated form - in particular with the pension insurance data office.

For example, it may be compared,

• whether citizen's allowance (formerly unemployment benefit II) is paid while you are receiving housing benefit,
• whether there is employment subject to compulsory insurance or marginal employment,
• or the amount of investment income for which an exemption order has been issued.

It is also possible to compare registration addresses, housing status and the time of re-registrations with the registration office. It is also possible to retrieve accounts from the Federal Central Tax Office. Suspected cases of fraud are always reported to the public prosecutor's office.

These checks enable the housing benefit authority to determine, for example,

• whether housing benefit is received more than once,
• whether transfer payments leading to exclusion from housing benefit are received at the same time,
• whether the information in the housing benefit application is correct
  • to income from gainful employment,
  • to income from one or more pensions,
  • were made to income from capital gains (interest or dividends),
• whether the payment of unemployment benefit was discontinued in the case of original unemployment (e.g. due to taking up new employment) and
• whether the original home for which housing benefit was paid is still actually being used.

The review is permitted up to ten years after notification of the associated housing benefit approval.

You can obtain the application form with attachment from the relevant housing benefit authority or download it from the website of the Ministry of Finance.

• Forms for housing benefit applications (paper applications)