You live with 1 other adult

If you live with someone who is your married partner or registered partner, and your partner does not receive their own AOW pension yet, you can get an AIO supplement at the rate for a married person.

If there is anyone else aged 27 or over living in the same house, your AIO supplement will be paid according to the co-resident rule. You can read more about this under the heading ‘You live with a co-resident’ on this page.

If you live with a person aged 27 or over, and this person is not your partner, your AIO supplement will be paid according to the co-resident rule. This means your AIO supplement will be lower, even if the co-resident does not have an income or help pay for the household costs. 

If you live with more than one co-resident, the more co-residents you live with, the less you will get in AIO supplement.

A co-resident:

• is a person aged 27 or over who lives at the same address as you
• can be a friend or acquaintance, a child, brother, sister, or another relative. Your relationship with the co-resident is not relevant.

A person is not regarded as a co-resident if:

• you rent a room from them or you are a lodger in their house
• they rent a room from you or are a lodger in your house
• they are a student under 30 and they qualify for a student grant or loan

If you rent or rent out a room, you are said to be in a commercial relationship. You must be able to prove that your relationship is commercial with a contract and your bank statements. It is not possible to have a commercial relationship with your child, grandchild, father, mother, brother or sister.

If your relationship is commercial, you will get an AIO supplement at the rate for a person living alone. This is a higher amount than for a person who is living with another person.

If your relationship is not commercial, the other person is considered to be your ‘co-resident’ and you will get an AIO supplement according to the co-resident rule. You can read more about this under ‘You live with a co-resident’.

Commercial relationship: conditions

The conditions for a commercial relationship are:

• you share a house with 1 or more other people. You rent a room to someone or you rent a room yourself. Or you have taken in a lodger, or you are a lodger in someone else's house
• you and the other persons in the house have a strictly commercial (businesslike) relationship with each other
• there are written agreements about this between you and the other persons
• you can prove that your relationship is commercial by showing a contract and bank statements 

If you live with members of your family:

• you cannot have a ‘commercial relationship’ with your child, grandchild, father, mother, brother or sister
• however, it is possible for you to have a ‘commercial relationship’ with your uncle, aunt, niece, nephew or cousin

If you rent a room to someone else, your rental income will be deducted from your AIO supplement.

You can use our model tenancy agreement or model agreement for board and lodging. If you want to add arrangements that are not included in our model agreements, you can do so in an appendix. For example, how many days you eat together.

If you and your partner live together and one of you has to go into a nursing home, your AIO supplement will stay the same for the first 3 months. After that, the partner who still lives at home will get an AIO supplement at the rate for a person living alone. The partner in the nursing home will receive a lower amount of AIO supplement. If you are both living in a nursing home, you will both get an AIO supplement at the lower rate.

If you go into a nursing home, you will have to pay your personal contribution for long-term care (Wlz) yourself. This amount is always more than your AIO supplement. That is why we cannot deduct it from your AIO supplement and pay it for you. We will inform the CAK that we have not deducted the Wlz contribution. The CAK will then calculate the amount of your personal contribution and contact you.

If you also get an AOW pension

If you also get an AOW pension, we will send you a letter to explain that when you go into the nursing home, you can choose to receive your AOW pension at the rate for a person living with another adult or at the rate for a person living alone. The letter will also contain a leaflet with more information about this.

If you live with someone and you are not married or in a registered partnership but you ‘share a household’ with them, you will get an AOW pension at the rate for a person who is living with another adult. It is not possible to have a ‘shared household’ with your child or your father or mother.

You live in a shared household if:

• you live in the same house with one other person aged 18 or over and
• you both make a contribution towards the household. Your contribution can be in money or in some other way

You can contribute to the household by caring for each other. People can care for each other in 2 ways:

• by means of a financial contribution to the household expenses (housing costs, living expenses, and other costs) or
• by taking care of each other in some other way (cleaning, shopping, doing paperwork, cooking, caring for each other in case of illness)

The financial contributions or mutual care provided must be significant and not just incidental.

Example

Maria is not married. Her daughter Kim (aged 38) is living with her. Kim pays her share of the fixed costs, such as the rent, shopping, gas and electricity. She also helps with all sorts of daily chores, such as cooking, shopping, cleaning and odd jobs around the house.

Maria and Kim do not have a ‘shared household’ because Kim is Maria's daughter. Maria will get her AIO supplement according to the co-resident rule. Kim is over 27 and is therefore regarded as a co-resident.

Example

Dick is unmarried. His grandson Martin is 28 years old and lives in the same house with him. Martin is a student and does not pay much towards the shopping. He sometimes does an odd job around the house.

Dick is not regarded as having a ‘shared household’. His grandson's contribution to the household is minimal. Dick therefore gets an AIO supplement for a person who lives alone. Martin is over 27, but he is not regarded as a co-resident because he is still in full-time education.

Situations where you are always regarded as ‘sharing a household’

In the following situations, you are always regarded as ‘sharing a household’ for the payment of an AIO supplement:

• you were previously married to the other person
• you previously lived with the other person
• you have a child together, or the child of one of you has been recognised by the other
• you and the other person have a cohabitation contract that was drawn up by a notary public
• your household has already been classed as a ‘shared household’ under another Act or scheme