Housing Benefit Stopped saying they were paying me for old address help!!

1507daisey

Hi,

Can anyone please help me? I really hope so, even if its just making me understand what an N5 order is a bit better.

Here goes. I had a lovely 2 bed flat, that was quite small and when I met my boyfriend and we decided we were going to live together we started looking for a bigger place, we found a house, and I gave notice on my flat, but told him I wanted the house in my name as I have a child and I never wanted to be the one that if we split up he could kick out. Anyway, put the deposit down on the house and to cut a long story short before we moved in I split up with him, for the simple reason I didn't like the way he acted with my daughter, he was never horrible but I just felt uneasy, and decided to call it a day, (I didn't see it at first, but the more I saw him around her I didn't like it) I didn't really want to take the house on on my own, but i'd already paid the deposit and couldn't afford to lose £1800 and then save up for a new one, so went ahead and moved in. It was fine for a few months and I was keeping on top off things just, anyway then everything started to go wrong, I'd got HB as I was on my own with my daughter, I sent them the original tenancy agreement in Oct just after I moved in, and they now say they have no recollection of receiving this and its my word against theirs (Council) so they are basically saying they paid me for my old address and have cancelled my claim, and said I owe £2K, I have put an appeal in but don't hold much hope, they say I owe it as it was paid re old address, even though my rent has now gone up in the new house and my salary has stayed the same!!! and have had to do a new HB Claim for this address, which they say can take 4 wks to sort, they stopped my payments in Feb and I have been chasing them to sort the new HB claim, but they say they have a backlog and I am nearly £800 short now, as this is what I have lost out on since they stopped it. Plus to top it all I got promoted in the place where I work, last month was fine as I got paid overtime to compensate for new rate while forms went through, but this month I have been paid my old salary!! Everything seems to be against me, my Mum has been diagnosed with Cancer and I have to go into hospital in May for an op, with 2mths of work after (I will get paid) I work full time 37.5 hrs a week and my daughter goes to Nursery fulltime, I get Tax Credits to pay for this but won't be able to take her after my op as I won't be able to drive, and I have now been served an N5 and go to court May 5th, does an N5 mean I will be evicted regardless of if I have caught up with the arrears? I have decided to sell my beloved car to raise the cash for arrears, as mum has said I can have hers until I get one, as she doesn't drive much at mo due to the cancer. Also does anyone know the quickest way to sell a car, don't want to be ripped off, e-bay doesn't seem to be getting the best price for the same cars at mo, so thought that would be a no go, just need to raise this fast, have been selling other bits on e-bay, old mobiles to fonebank, jewellery to cash for gold, just need some advice, did try and get a loan but have a CCJ from last year still unsatisfied, other than that my credit is good with payments up to date, none missed, but ccj lets me down, bank with santander but their loan page says they will not lend if you have a CCJ. My family can't help and don't want to ask mum as don't want her to worry.
Oh forgot to say if I would have given house up I would have lost all that money, and also the Tenancy agreement is for 2 years so I am tied in whatever, plus, it also states that if I give it up early they can make me pay the rent still until they get a new Tennant, house is let through Foxtons!! So if they dig their heels in getting a new tennant I would probably be liable.
Plus should they not have served me with a Sction 8 form first, I am confused and have just found out about this section 8 by looking on the internet.
I don't have a copy of the letter I sent to the council, it was the original tenancy agreement as I knew they wouldn't except anything but the original, I kept a copy of that, however, that is a bit contradictary as when I went in to the Council with the copy of the Tenancy agreement they accepted it no questions asked.

With regards to Foxtons they have just sent me an N5 Court Order form for possession, I'm really trying to clear this all by selling my car, but just not sure if even if I do clear it they can still evict me. I know it sounds daft but once Housing Benefit have sorted out my claim and my salary is corrected we will be fine, but obviously they arn't going to see it like this as they just want their money asap. Plus am worried if they do evict me that I will probably end up saying goodbye to my £1800 deposit, as no doubt they will try and say something is wrong to claim back for the inconvenience. The place wasn't that brillantly decorated so I took photos of it before I moved in, and the photo shows the date, so I thought at least if they do try that I would be able to say that I have improved it from what it was like when I first moved in

fluffymovie

AArgh, just typed a massive reply and then lost it!!!

Sounds like the council are in the wrong.

Basically, if we create an overpayment, we have to consider something called underlying entitlement which is the benefit that you would have been entitled to had we known the correct details. In this case, your 2000 overpayment should be reduced by underlying entitlment. You need to ask if they have considered this.

If this is what is called a late notification (which is when we say you didn't tell us something in a calendar month) then you would be entitled to the LHA for the old address paid for the new if that makes sense.

A lot of times, councils forget to apply underlying entitlement and people don't know to ask for it so make sure that you contact them today and ask if they have considered underlying entitlement. This will reduce your o/p if they haven't.

If you have been served a notice they should prioritise your claim. We have a reg that states that you are entitled to a payment on account or an interim payment after 14 days. In practice, if we could be processing the claim in 14 days, we would anyway but worth asking for this and asking to speak to a team leader or the benefit manager personally.

This is the sort of case I would love to speak to you about in person and if I could speak to the HB department personally, I would as I hate it when I see that another HB department has done something wrong but working in HB, I can only help people not in my area, on here!

If you want to PM me, please do and I will see if I can help any further,

Would also say go and see your Housing office about the N5 thing as they might be able to advise and get you on the housing list!

Hope all goes well with your operation and you mum and really wish you luck.

1507daisey

Thank you so much, I am going to get onto them right away to try and get this sorted, I wouldn't have known any of this without your help, I will PM you. Once again Thank you I really apreciate it