Housing benefit Appeal Refused!

Retrobeen

Hi

I wonder if anybody can give me some advice.

I rent a property to my mother, she has lived in the property for 12 years now and has a assured tenency agreement. I have never lived in the property and purchased it purley as an investment. I have my own house which I live in.

Recently my mum had to give up her small business, she is 64 and her husband (not my dad) is 67. My mum is ill and suffers from emphysema and her husband is suffering from prostate cancer.

They recently applied for housing benefit and after being put through the mill and having to stand their ground were eventually awarded £200 per month! The rent I charge is £450 which is below market rates for a small 3 bed semi but is enough th just cover the buy to let mortgage,

She could not rent a room for £200 per month!!!

They have no savings and survive only on state pensions. They have appealed this decision but their appeal has been turned down and they have been told they can't appeal. This seems totally wrong, that some individual has the final say on this.

They know I am her son and they made a big deal about this during the application process, it seem to me that they are paying a ridiculously small sum as they expect me to pick up the rest.

In view of their ill health and that this has been their home for so long moving them is not an option. Due to mediacl reasons they have separate rooms.

Can anybody give me any advice on who to turn to or what rights I have to challenge the council?

Thanks

dmg24

What reason have they given for the award being that amount? Have they limited the amount that they are eligible for, or are they counting any notional income or savings in their calculation?

giraffejoe

Hi retrobeen.

I hope I can maybe help shed some light on this as I work in HB/CTB for my local authority. I genuinely do have sympathy for cases like yours, where you feel that the amount is simply not enough to help pay the rent.

OK, the reason that they are very interested in the fact you were your mothers landlord was because you rent to immediate family, so firstly they have to make absolutely sure that it is a fully commercial tenancy, and your not just letting her live there for a pittence (which you have proved you haven't). I really need to stress that it needs to be a fully commercial tenancy and you would treat your tenant just like any other (related or not).

I'm not sure who your local authority is but the one I work for uses something called Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to determine what the maximum rent the authority can pay is. This maximum rent is determined by how many bedrooms are needed (not how many there are in the property), and in your mother and her husbands case it is 1. Also, the local authority does not set the maximum rent that they can pay. That is the Valuation Office (VO - sometimes called the Rent Office). We cannot pay more HB than the VO says. Unfortunatley it looks like the VO has decided £200 pcm is the maximum. This does seem small. The lowest I have seen is £54.50 pw.

Under my local authority tenants can claim something called Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) which are awarded for a maximum of 13 weeks at a time. DHP is used to 'top-up' the tenants rent, and although it may not amount to the full rent, it can certainly help.

I think I've babbled on abit now and HB is very confusing and can be hard to inderstand. I hope that I have given you some help or understanding. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll answer them as best I can.

krisskross

Do they claim pension credit? An entitlement to this could possibly help their case.

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

Retrobeen wrote: »

Hi

I wonder if anybody can give me some advice.

I rent a property to my mother, she has lived in the property for 12 years now and has a assured tenency agreement. I have never lived in the property and purchased it purley as an investment. I have my own house which I live in.

Recently my mum had to give up her small business, she is 64 and her husband (not my dad) is 67. My mum is ill and suffers from emphysema and her husband is suffering from prostate cancer.

They recently applied for housing benefit and after being put through the mill and having to stand their ground were eventually awarded £200 per month! The rent I charge is £450 which is below market rates for a small 3 bed semi but is enough th just cover the buy to let mortgage,

She could not rent a room for £200 per month!!!

They have no savings and survive only on state pensions. They have appealed this decision but their appeal has been turned down and they have been told they can't appeal. This seems totally wrong, that some individual has the final say on this.

They know I am her son and they made a big deal about this during the application process, it seem to me that they are paying a ridiculously small sum as they expect me to pick up the rest.

In view of their ill health and that this has been their home for so long moving them is not an option. Due to mediacl reasons they have separate rooms.

Can anybody give me any advice on who to turn to or what rights I have to challenge the council?

Thanks

They will only be awarded the LHA for 1 bed property & in my area they would give you £98.06 p/w.

Look at the web site & input your details & it will tell you how much you are entitled to in your area.

I would then print it out & take it to your local council & enquire why you are not be given your full entitlement.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

munchings-n-crunchings

I think BCS has it right.

HB / LHA are not looking at the rent for a 3 bed property.

The amount awarded will be based on a 1 bed property which is the size of house the couple would need.
If a claimant wanted to live in a larger house, or a specific property, they would be liable for the difference.

Regards
Munchie

Ames

200 still seems low for a 1 bed property, here it's 101. Even the shared room rate is 65.

hippy-chicy

If they are not in receipt of Guarantee Credit then their claim will be assessed as a standard claim and all income will be taken into account for the means test. This is any capital over 6k, SRP, occupational pensions, annuities etc

It could very well be that its the means test that is restricting the amount that they receive. Which if the case is why you cannot appeal further.

The LHA could be £600 a month but if when put thorugh the means test you only qualify for £1oo a month that is what you will receive.

Retrobeen

Thanks all for your comments.

They have no savings, or other income apart from state pensions.

They cannon share a bed as my mother has several illnesses which means she suffers from incontinence and also her emphysema means that she is up a lot of the night coughing etc. As a minimum they would need two bedrooms. This can be supported by a doctor’s note if necessary.

They were on housing benefit about 4 years ago and received £350 per month, it seems ridiculous that four years on they are now only entitled to £200!

If I was to serve notice for non payment of rent would the authority have to house them?

It would break their hearts to have to leave their home they have lived in for 13 years!!!!!

viktory

Retrobeen wrote: »

They cannon share a bed as my mother has several illnesses which means she suffers from incontinence and also her emphysema means that she is up a lot of the night coughing etc. As a minimum they would need two bedrooms.

Can I just pick up on this? They may well be unable to share a bed but it is perfectly possible to have two single beds in one bedroom.

My parents are unable to share a bed for medical reasons and this is the only solution available to them as they are only entitled to a one bed.

black_paw

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

They will only be awarded the LHA for 1 bed property & in my area they would give you £98.06 p/w.

Look at the web site & input your details & it will tell you how much you are entitled to in your area.

I would then print it out & take it to your local council & enquire why you are not be given your full entitlement.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

this site has been very helpful to a family member when they where moving to a diff area, as each toen can pay a diff amonut