The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) has ruled in favor of Lanbide and has confirmed the return of 3,250 euros by a beneficiary of the Minimum Living Income (IMV) who did not correctly declare the income obtained from renting rooms in his home.
The ruling rejects the appeal presented by the affected person and confirms the decision of the Basque employment agency to review the aid collected between January 2023 and January 2024 after detecting unreported income derived from partial rentals of housing.
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The man had been collecting the Income Guarantee Income (RGI) since 2019 and the IMV since 2022. But in March 2024 he received a resolution from Lanbide that reduced the amount of the benefit and claimed the amounts that he had improperly collected.
Income from room rentals changed the aid calculation
The beneficiary, according to Lanbide, was earning money from subletting rooms in his house. This extra income affected the calculation of the aid. During 2023, the beneficiary collected 565.7 euros per month in IMV when, taking into account this additional income, he should have only collected 315.37 euros per month.
In January 2024 he received 604.21 euros when the amount he should have received, according to the administration, was 354.21 euros. The accumulated difference is what led to claiming a total of 3,250 euros for improper charges.
He claimed that his income was not that high
The affected party appealed, alleging that Lanbide had miscalculated the income obtained from the sublease and that it did not take into account associated expenses such as internet, telephone or alimony.
As he argued, his real net income was much lower and his economic situation remained vulnerable. He also maintained that the administration could not retroactively review benefits already granted and argued that it acted in good faith.
Furthermore, he invoked a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights which limits the return of social aid when the error is attributable to the Administration itself.
Justice rejects good faith because it finds “omissions”
The Basque TSJ has rejected all of these arguments and concludes that Lanbide acted correctly when reviewing the benefit. The ruling recalls that the Minimum Living Income Law allows the administration to claim aid collected improperly when it finds omissions or inaccuracies in the information provided by the beneficiary.
The magistrates consider it proven that there was income derived from the sublease and reproach the beneficiary for not having communicated it properly. The court even goes so far as to speak of “malicious or fraudulent” action or, at least, of “laziness” on the part of the recipient of the aid.
The resolution also rejects deducting expenses such as telephone or internet because it understands that they are general use services of the plaintiff and not expenses directly linked to the sublease.
You will have to pay 3,250 euros in undue charges
The TSJPV ends up rejecting the appeal and fully confirms the previous ruling of the Social Court number 3 of Vitoria, which had already ruled in favor of Lanbide.
The resolution reinforces the criterion that IMV beneficiaries must report any additional income that may affect the calculation of the benefit, even if it comes from partial rentals or temporary subleases.