young people with boarder or renters
what you need to know
From 2 March 2026, 62% of all boarder payments young people receive from boarders living with them will be included when determining their eligibility and calculating the following housing subsidies:
- Accommodation Supplement
- Temporary Additional Support
- Income Related Rent Subsidy
- Special Benefit
- Sole Parent Accommodation Benefit for Student Allowance
- Away from Home Allowance
This change aligns the treatment of board payments with how rent payments are currently treated in housing subsidy assessments.
For further information about the change see:
who is impacted by the change
Young people will be impacted by this change if they have people living with them who pay them board.
We will write to young people who receive a housing subsidy or live in social housing paying income related rent about these changes from August 2025, they can start declaring their boarder and renter information.
If they don’t have any boarders (or renters) then they don’t need to do anything.
Young people may need to be contacted if they have been declared as another client's boarder/renter.
how do young people declare their information
Young people can declare their boarders or renters through the ‘board and rent declaration’ form in MyMSD.
MyMSD can be accessed on mobile, tablet, or desktop devices. To declare a boarder and or rent, young people can log in and go to ‘Declare boards and renters’.
Young people should be encouraged to use the MyMSD form when declaring their boarders or renters, as it allows for their records to be automatically updated based on the information they provide. You can assist them with navigating MyMSD if they help.
If the young person completes their declaration online, it is received directly by YSSU.
If they cannot declare online, you can help by:
· printing out a paper version of the form and assisting them to complete it
Board and rent information form – V36
what you need to do
step one – save the form
If a young person provides a completed paper form or you have helped them complete an editable form, upload it to their ART, complete task questions and add any relevant notes.
step two – create and submit the art task
Task category: Reviews
Task type: Boarders/Renters
step three – contacting a young person
YSSU will send you a notification via ART if you need to contact the young person who is the boarder/renter to confirm the amount of board/rent they pay.
Note: Use existing approved methods to contact the young person.
You will need to make at least three attempts to contact them.
what happens after that
young person’s record is updated
The young person’s record will be updated automatically for online forms or, YSSU will update their records manually for paper/editable forms.
If their record is not updated automatically, YSSU will check why it hasn’t been updated and manually process it.
changes in payment
If the change doesn’t impact the young person’s payment then no contact is made until February 2026, where they will be advised how their payments will change from 2 March 2026.
The young person’s payment may change if they declare information, which has an impact to their assistance now. This could be if they declare a renter or three or more boarders.
When there's a change to the young person's payment we'll send them a text message telling them how to check MyMSD and view the changes.
If the young person doesn't have a mobile phone (or they have not agreed to receive text messages from us), YSSU will send them a letter to let them know the details of the change.
You will receive a notification in ART when YSSU has sent the letter.
when further contact is needed
You will need to contact a young person when there has been a mismatch in the payment details that have been provided. They could be either the:
- Boarder/renter who has had information declared about them
- Head tenant or homeowner who receives payment from their boarders and or renters
For example: the young person declared their boarder paying $200 per week, but our records show they are paying $250 board per week.
if young person is a head tenant/homeowner
Confirm the following:
- If they receive board/rent
- The amount of the payment(s) they receive from their boarder/renter each week
Once confirmed create and submit an ART task:
Task category: Reviews
Task type: Boarders/Renters
young person is a boarder/renter
Confirm the following:
- If they pay board/rent
- Amount they pay each week
Request evidence of the costs they pay if the information they declare is different from their declaration made about them (this information will be in the notes in ART). Once confirmed, add a note, create, and submit an ART task:
Task category: Reviews
Task type: Boarders/Renters
if the young person isn’t contactable after 3 attempts
Leave a note explain the young person was not contactable and create and submit an ART task. YSSU will issue a letter to the young person asking them to get in touch.
You will receive a notification in ART when YSSU has sent the letter.
what a renter, flatmate and boarder is
Our definition of renter, flatmates and boarders are:
· Renters: people who pay for accommodation only
· Flatmates: people who share the cost of the accommodation and other costs, such as food and utilities.
· Boarders: people who pay a fixed amount for accommodation, food and utilities, and are not included on the tenancy agreement. This includes people living in a boarding house (with food provided) or social housing property and are not the head tenant.
who needs to complete a declaration form?
Young people receiving payments from others that are living with them. If a young person pays board to someone else, they don’t need to complete this form.