Cancellation of Housing & Council Tax Benefit

Christopherj_2

Hello,

My situation is as follows.

I relocated from a two bedroom house to a three bedroom house on the 4th September 2009 and I have been in receipt of housing benefit from the start of my tenancy at the old house.

When I relocated, I went straight to the Council to notify them. They gave me a form to fill in and requested that I attach the tenancy agreement. They also added a note that I had gone to see them on the 4th September 2009.

Up to now, 19th September 2009, I haven't managed to fill in the form as I've been busy with my relocation and this morning, I received a letter from the council saying the following:

Dear Mr McCarthy

Cancellation of Benefit

Cancellation of Housing Beneift

Your claim has been cancelled from 04/09/2009 because you are not living there.

Cancellation of Council Tax Benefit

Your claim has been cancelled from 04/09/2009 because you are not living there.

You have been overpaid housing benefit of £252.21.

This is because you are not living there.

The overpayment from 04/09/2009 to 06/09/2009 is recoverable.

The overpayment from 07/09/2009 to 20/09/2009 is recoverable because although payments continued to be made after I was notified of the change, you would have known that too much benefit was being paid.

Total overpayment: £252.21
Amount Outstanding: £252.21

If you make another claim for benefit which is successful, I will recover this overpayment by instalments from that benefit. If not, I will send you an invoice. I will write to you soon to tell you how this overpayment will be recovered.

Overpayment of Council Tax Benefit

You have been overpaid council tax benefit of £668.65

This is because you are not living there.

The overpayment from 04/09/2009 to 06/09/2009 is recoverable..

The overpayment from 07/09/2009 to 20/09/2009 is recoverable because although payments continued to be made after I was notified of the change, you would have known that too much benefit was being paid.

The overpayment from 21/09/2009 to 31/03/2010 is recoverable because benefit was paid in advance, up to the end of the financial year.

Total overpayment: £668.65
Amount Outstanding: £668.65

The amount outstanding, £668.65, will be sent to your council tax account on 17/09/2009. You will receive another council tax bill showing how much you will now have to pay.

My question is, will I receive a backdated payment of housing & council tax benefit and payments carry on as normal, or will I be forced to pay these charges?

welshmoneylover

Why don't u phone them up first thing Monday morning and find out? lol

bunny999

You will not get HB as you have not made a claim. They will not backdate a claim because you were to busy to fill in the form.

markyb33

HB & Council Tax Benefit is only paid from when you claim. You can appeal on special grounds but at work we take new tenants in with us in week 1 to claim.

Christopherj_2

They noted on their system that they gave me a form on the 4th (the day I moved out of my old property and moved in to my new one), wouldn't that count for anything?

Would I also be responsible for paying the £600 odd council tax bill and £200 odd housing benefit that was overpaid?

krisskross

You appear to have neglected to complete your side of the bargain. Until they receive the application they would assume that you don't need any housing benefit. Your circumstances might have changed along with your address

You provide the documentation they ask for, they pay the benefit you are due.

I think you will be extremely fortunate if any benefit is backdated. Although of course you can ask and offer a really good reason why you haven't returned the application.

Christopherj_2

So, in other words, I will be responsible to pay £800 to the council.

Christopherj_2

I'm currently in receipt of DLA and I do tend to forget things like that.

It's my fault really.

Zara33

Christopherj might be an idea if you remove your name from the original post You never know...

healy

I do not think you would be laible for all the Council Tax because from what you have said a lot of that relates to the coming months, but obviously you need to claim for CTB.

Christopherj_2

healy wrote: »

I do not think you would be laible for all the Council Tax because from what you have said a lot of that relates to the coming months, but obviously you need to claim for CTB.

Would I be responsible to pay for the two weeks of benefit?