Starting to think we're in a real predicament.

BitterAndTwisted

I don't want to sound terribly harsh here but it does sound to me like your boyfriend needs a reality-check, and pretty bloody soon as well.

When someone else's Mum and Dad have paid our rent for 12 MONTHS we all might feel that we can be as picky as we damned-well feel like it. The situations which you described are fairly typical of living with young people who are not used to having to take others into consideration and are often difficult to avoid when you don't have other people's apparently unlimited funds to finance your living arrangements. This is all about to change and I do appreciate it might be a difficult adjustment but change you and he must.

Fire_Fox

Elkiemoo wrote: »

I have just completed in pencil the JSA1 ans JSA3 forms we were asked to complete after we had made our new joint claim. We were told these were to get additional details from my boyfriend (the main claimant) as his circumstances have also changed since I stopped working. No one was entirely sure if we had to fill out both, but we were told to do so to be on the safe side. (I suppose he will now go from contributions-based to income-based?) I am now very frustrated because my boyfriend has yet to sign and date and check all the information is correct and he's now gone to see a solicitor with his Mother concerning a family affair. This means that the completed forms will have to be handed in on Monday and then sent to Belfast before we will get the documents needed to continue with our Housing Benefit claim. I also realised that we can't pick up the claim where we left off as there is now a change of circumstances with me being unemployed. (It was just my boyfriend who was unemployed when we tried to claim first time round). I will push my luck and try to back date it as far as the date my boyfriend became unemployed. At that time I was pulling in £600 a month, with the rent at £850 monthly... What is a reasonable answer for the reason we didn't claim sooner? Someone mentioned missing documents... which would have been the REAL tenancy agreement. I don't think "I am useless" will cut it. Maybe we could say we were unsure we could claim Housing Benefit since A) my parents had already paid the rent upfront and we didn't think we could claim on a property that didn't welcome DSS tenants?

At this rate, I'm worried we're going to loose another week before we have all the documents we need. *sigh*

I *think* your claim will start from the day you hand in the completed forms to the council, regardless of whether you have all the documents they need. Obviously not having the documents will slow down the process, but it shouldn't mean you get less money in the long run IYSWIM.

Elkiemoo

I know I'm trying to be tactful and not push too much all at once. Maybe he will come to the conclusion himself if I let him - with no arguments. I think he is in denial atm...

Elkiemoo

Thank you Fire Fox. I suppose that means I can take the forms to the council once they're ready, with all the documents I currently have, and hand in any others I need to wait for at a later date. It will mean two trips, but the sooner they start the claim the better.

BitterAndTwisted

I don't doubt that your b/f is in denial and dearly hope the rude awakening on the horizon will not be too painful.

What's he doing to help getting this LHA business sorted? Started having an exploratory snoop around at house-share prices locally, anything like that? This might help concentrate his mind, even if you don't actually look at any properties until you know what your LHA will be.

Elkiemoo

At the moment, not a lot. He's got the DRO looming over his head (still waiting to hear back from CCCS) and token payments, and he's had a few unpleasant phone calls to make recently. I've taken over the filling-in of the forms - I just need him to go through them with me, and sign. We initially started looking at one bedroom places, but I'm just looking at some flat shares now and bookmarking a few of them to show him later. The maximum we'll get seems to be £800 a month for a 1 bed self contained flat if we will be considered an adult couple. Single under 25's will only qualify for a flat share rate... it doesn't mention couples under 25. But I'm confused, if we qualify for £800 a month in a 1 bed self contained flat, do we have to move into a 1 bed flat? Could we move into a flat share and keep the difference in LHA (think you can keep a max £15 a week), or would we be given flat share rates for moving into a flat share? I'm asking because we can get max £390 a month for flat share and every place I've seen so far is £400 plus. Whereas if we qualified for and were paid the £800 for a 1 bed place we could afford a flat share easily without having to make up the shortfall.

BitterAndTwisted

Erm, don't quote me in a court of law over this but I believe that your entitlement can cover whatever the heck you like to rent, although I would be surprised if you would qualify for a one-bed if one or both of you are under 25. Why don't you have a peek on Lewisham's website and see if there's any info on there? I believe that none of this is discretionary but I could be wrong.

About the b/f: as he's obviously not working and patently has plenty of free time on his hands why don't you kick him out and have him check the notice-boards in your local supermarkets and newsagents windows and make a list of rental-value for one-beds and shares? This might help to encourage that light-bulb moment

Elkiemoo

I did, but they didn't go into anymore detail than that...

Ooh, that would make me very unpopular... kicking him out onto the cold hard streets. I like the idea of the notice-boards though, the ads seem more approachable than agents. If anyone has to do a credit-rating on us we are screwed.

RAS

Hi

Ignoring the DSS issue, you may well find that the DRO adversely affects your chances of getting any accomodation where they run a credit check.

I am going to go back to the last really viscious depression when i was looking for work. I tried to move to LOndon but could not find accomodation I could afford even if they would have me without w permanent job. I could not afford to commute in from where I lived and could not get regular work there.

In the end I identified a city with reasonable job prospects and went on a reccie, for which I saved out of my dole money, staying nearby with a friend's family for a few days. Never mind house-sharing, I was tucked up with her baby sister in a double they had shared when she was a home.

I saved again, packed up everything non-essential and stored it with friends, then took a rucksac and two suitcases north. I had booked into a YWCA hostel. Dumped my stuff and registered with few job agencies before they closed then went house hunting. The next day haressed the agencies, signed up with some more then carried on house hunting. By Friday night I had work for the next fortnight and a successful house-share sorted. I moved in the next day. I think having the two weeks rent available and havng got work in a few days inspired my fellow house sharers to think I would be an OK bet re future payments. Despite the dire job situation I was rarely out of work unless I chose to take time out, although it took 7 years to get permanent employment.

I did not just sign on with agencies, I haressed them every day and sometimes several times a day until I had work the next week. I took any sort of job I could get, not just things in which I was trained; ICL had just made 200 graduate trainees redundant a month before they started, to give you an idea of the problem. I worked printing machines, filed in accounts, sorted complaints, did basic admin, anything I could.

I would advise you to get out of London, as it is a hell of a place to live in on benefits. Look for large cities with lower unemployment rates and reasonable housing costs. Megabus cost very little; East Coast are offering £9 tickets for long journeys.

But that is for when the HB claim is sorted.

And if you want to stay in London start by reading this http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...-without-money as a fall back situation.

puddy

hand your claims in asap, not only when you have the documents, if you are outside the 28 day period from when your jsa started, or his for the former claim, then it will be considered from the date you get your claim in, not your supporting documents.

you can make as many claims as you like, you say that you had initially claimed (or wanted to) for the time that he was unemployed but you were still employed, the next claim is for a change in circumstance to say that you are now unemployed too, just put the dates of claim onto your form in the relevant places.