Rent arears

lozzie84

I have not paid this moths rent due to my housing benefit not been sorted out, this is due to my landlord not completing a form that the council has sent them to confirm the rent amount. They are saying they have contacted the council and the council have no recollection of this. I am owed 6weeks housing benefit although I have only missed the payment of rent of the 4th.

My landlord is now harassing me with phone calls and coming to the property and it has now got to the point that I am ignoring it, which I know is silly. I really don't know what do with the situation because the council arn't helping and my landlord is livid. This is the only time I have ever missed my rent in 8months and I don't understand why they can't reply back to the council when they seemed to have enough time to hound me.

creditboy

Did the LL let you sign a tenancy knowing that you were DSS or has it been more recent that you have had to claim housing benefits?

If you LL hasnt filled in the forms then its there own fault they are not getting payment and obviously knows full well that it is not your fault. I would answer the next call and tell them to fill the form out like the council has asked and they then might get some rent.

DVardysShadow

In your position, Lozzie, I would get the form from the council myself. And when he turns up or rings, I would say "then fill in the form, please". If he stalls on that, I would send a letter with a copy of the form, recorded delivery, asking him to fill it in so you get your benefit. Keep copies, of course, they could be useful later....

jamesb1239

Tell the council that you dont wish for your LL to be contacted and they have to respect that (basically so that DSS can live in non DSS private accomodation and the LL wouldnt be any wiser) otherwise the tenant could face eviction.

Then provide the Council a copy of your signed tenancy agreement that shows the rent payable, then they will process and back pay until the day the claim began

lozzie84

I am new to the dss thing, i understand that they pay in arrears but it does not matter because I paid last month out of money I had saved hoping that the housing benefit would have been sorted by now.

I am going to go to the council office tomorrow to get a copy of what they want completed to hand over when he appears on my doorstep again. I just hate the fact that I have got someone coming to my doorstep and ringing my phone especially at the weekend when I can't possibly speak to the council.

I'm off to Uni next month so I wont have to deal with the benefits people ever again hopefully because it is a minefield if you have no clue what to do. But maybe that is hopeful thinking.

Quick edit, I don't have a copy of my tenancy that I signed when i signed it they didn't leave me a copy. TBH that was stupid of me but I didn't imagine that I would be out of work. They didn't even send me confirmation that my deposit has been secured in the scheme so I am dreading the point that I move out to try and get that back.

DVardysShadow

lozzie84 wrote: »

Quick edit, I don't have a copy of my tenancy that I signed when i signed it they didn't leave me a copy. TBH that was stupid of me but I didn't imagine that I would be out of work. They didn't even send me confirmation that my deposit has been secured in the scheme so I am dreading the point that I move out to try and get that back.

Start on getting a copy of your tenancy agreement NOW and similarly getting your deposit secured. There are 2 things to ask your LL for every time he harasses you. ["I'm SO glad you rang me...."]

clutton_2

without confirmation of the rent due, either via Landlord signature or sight of the AST - teh council will never pay your any housing benefit.