housing benefit????

loobyx

Need help, for the last two years we have been paying full rent, the other day we recieved a rent statement from our housing association and apparently we are over £1000 in credit!!!:eek:
We have been recieving hb but not been informed by either the council or the housing association. Anyway went into my local council office who phoned up the main office, i spoke to the lady there and she said that it was indeed right. I remember applying for hb years ago after having my second daughter just to see if i was entitled but didn't hear back.
So tomorrow i have to go back with my tax credits award for this year and they will amend my hb as my claim was based on a slight decrease in my tax credits.
Do the council get told the amount of your tax credits, rents and income? i don't seem to know how they got the information and why did my HA still charge me full rent.

fluffymovie

Hi there

The Council may have an agreement with your Housing Association so that they tell them the rent but unless you are on Income Support or JSA, the Council Does not get told of any other changes.

Every year, you should get a rent statement from your HA. Indeed our local, sends them every quarter so I am surprised that you didn't know you were so in credit.

The HA themselves would get notification letters when HB began and most would contact you to say that you need to pay less etc!

How exciting for you! £1000 - hope all goes well and you get back the money that you have paid in error.

loobyx

thanks, i never get any kind of money back and i am really surprised and happy!
I honestly think that a serious mistake has been made on the HA side, i can't believe that they let us pay full rent without noticing i was on HB. When i think about the months we were toiling to pay our rent but always did.
Never mind i am sure i will put it to good use:beer:

thanks

black_paw

best to check it all out first ,,, but wow £ 1000.00 a great help for you

moses3256

Sorry, couldn't work out how to start a new thread. A friend of mine has recently been made redundant. They are now getting JSA and I have told him to claim housing benefit for help with his rent and council tax. He has a house in the West Indies that he had built, which is standing completely empty, waiting for his retirement. He has no income from it, but he said it is not worth filling in the form because he will not be entitled to anything - is this true do you know?

pandaspot

hi

the value of the second property will be taken into account when calculating the housing benefit.

If the value of this property is over £16k then he will not be entitled to benefit.

However has he notified the department of work and pensions of this second property?

moses3256

Not sure if he has notified DWP of the house - I will ask. Why does he have to do this if he has not claimed Housing benefit as yet?

moses3256

That's fine. As yet he has not claimed any means tested benefits, only his JSA based on his contributions.