Students can lose their entitlement to housing benefit if they take longer than necessary to complete their studies. This has now been decided by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 21 K 144/22). In this case, a student who applied for housing benefit was in her 14th semester of her second degree course and in her 20th semester at university.
However, the housing benefit authority of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office rejected the application for housing benefit. The reason given was that the claim was abusive. The student appealed against this. But the Berlin Administrative Court did not find in her favor either. This is because, like the housing benefit authority of the district office, the Administrative Court also assumes that the student's claim was abusive.
This is the case if the duration of studies is such that it can be concluded that the studies are not or no longer being pursued seriously. In this case, the student not only needed more than twice the standard period of study to complete her degree, but she also only passed just over half of the required examinations.
Source: berlin.de/VG 21 K 144/22
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