Why doesn't your mate pretend to charge you rent & go halfers with you on the housing benefit? As long as he keeps the supposed rent below a certain limit he doesn't even need to declare it for tax purposes (rent-a-room scheme, I can't be arsed remembering or looking up any more info on it but it's not hard to find).
I did suggest something along those lines. But he won't do it, he says he can't really rent out a room officially as its a housing association place and something to do with losing single person council tax reduction. .
Too honest for his or my own good, worse luck.





and I would have had to use a scalpel to get the types of parts that went missing anyway