What is Allowed?
MPs are permitted a budget to pay for their accommodation (unless they lived in the Greater London area in which case they could not claim accommodation costs).
The allowance figure is set at the rate of market rent for a one-bedroom flat in Westminster - which is about £22,000 per annum. The MP is not permitted to own a property and claim rent for it.
What I Claim:
I claimed close to the full amount on accommodation costs.
I rent a small, one bedroom flat in the Westminster area. The rent is paid directly to the Landlord (called the Passion Property Group), and not to me and I have no personal connections to the landlord.
I could not afford to keep two homes and I never claimed anything for my own house in Northampton - but I have claimed for the rent and associated costs of the rented London flat.
During the years I was an MP, I saved over £8,000 for the taxpayer from underspending my accommodation budget.