You live with 2 or more other people

If you live with 2 or more people, the amount of AIO supplement you can get will depend on your situation. For example, whether you are living with ‘co-residents’ or whether you are ‘sharing a household’ .

Before you can see how much AIO supplement you can get, you need to know whether you are considered to be living with ‘co-residents’ or ‘sharing a household’.

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 1 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 a co-resident if:

  • you let part of your house to them. Likewise, you are not a co-resident if you rent part of a house from someone else
  • they are a boarder in your house. Likewise, you are not a co-resident if you are a boarder in someone else’s house
  • they are aged 30 or under, are attending school and can get a study grant

Situations involving boarders or letting or renting part of a house are considered to be commercial relationships. You cannot have a commercial relationship with your father, mother, child, grandchild, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law.

You live in a shared household if:

  • you live in the same house with another person aged 18 or over, and
  • you both contribute to the household, either financially 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 making a financial contribution to 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 if you are ill)

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

If you live in a shared household, the amount of your AIO supplement will depend on how many people you share your house with.

This depends on your situation. We look at how many people you live with, and whether you can be regarded as ‘sharing a household’.

Your situation You will get an
AIO supplement at the rate for
You have a ‘shared household’ with
1 other person		 a married person 
You have a ‘shared household’ with
2 or more other people		 co-residents
You live with someone, but you do not ‘share a household’ a person living alone
Example

Ken and his partner Maria and their daughter Anne live in the same house. Anne is aged over 27 and is regarded as a co-resident. Under the co-resident rule , Ken and Maria can get an AIO supplement at the rate for a married couple living with 1 co-resident (€1,815.72). Ken and Maria’s AOW pension and other income is deducted from this amount. It does not matter whether or not Anne has income or helps around the house.

Higher AIO supplement may be possible

Perhaps you have a partner or co-resident who cannot contribute to the household costs, because they do not qualify for a benefit themselves, or they cannot get work because they do not have a valid residence permit . In that case, it may be difficult for you to live off your income alone.

If that is the case, please contact us and we will see whether your AIO supplement can be increased.

Other items