Housing and council tax benefit overpayment?

dmg24

You cannot ask them to write off a payment unless they misadvised you. Had they said you would still be entitled to a certain amount, then you could argue that should not be repayable as you relied on their advice. However, all that happened here is that they forgot to cancel the payments that you knew you should not be receiving. You are not being put to any detriment because of this, because you knew that the money was not yours.

You need to make a repayment plan.

lolly1981

ok i feel very much like you are 'having a go' ....not once did i say i wasnt going to repay...yes i knew i wasnt entitled hence me calling them and telling them i wasnt, i wasnt aware until 2 months after the fact that they were still paying even though they said they would cancel.

i was just asking if anyone else had had the same, where i stood because of it etc not that i thought i SHOULDNT have to pay just that i was advised by a council officer that i might not have to and did anyone know anything more about it.

i am not trying to scam money that im not entitled to. it was a question thats all!!

kingfisherblue

I had a similar situation last year, but with a different benefit. I rang Income Support to tell them that I was finally receiving Child Maintenance. I rang a month later when I received my bank statement and discovered that they had continued to pay IS at the usual rate, not the reduced rate that I should have been receiving. They admitted their mistake, but continued to pay me at the higher rate for another two months despite my continuing to ring them and asking them to sort out the correct amount. I explained that I was concerned about receiving too much and didn't want to be in a situation where I was overpaid. I was assured that I would not have to pay it back as it was their mistake. I then received a letter telling me that they had worked out my new entitlement and that I had been overpaid by £77. I was given the option of paying a lump sum or paying by installments (my IS would be reduced by a certain amount each week until the overpayment had been recovered). I chose the latter option and it has now been paid in full.

McKneff

Nobody is having a go at you but have another look at your last sentence in your first post.
Thats what people were reading and answering to.

We can all see your point once you explained and gave more detail

lolly1981

thank you that answer was much more helpful

as i said before i was never gonna not pay if that was the case..just wondered what anyone else had done

lolly1981

McKneff wrote: »

Nobody is having a go at you but have another look at your last sentence in your first post.
Thats what people were reading and answering to.

We can all see your point once you explained and gave more detail

thank you guess it was lack of communication on my part lol.
i have read it back and see what you mean .

McKneff

Ok lolly, take care, hope everything works out for you

terryw

I stress the fact that I am not an expert in this area, but there might be a case for claiming "official error" here. Lolly had no idea at all that this money was still being paid and she had reported the change in circumstances. Here is a link to some rather heavy reading concerning different cases involving HB and official error.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/28822785/HOUSING-BENEFIT-OVERPAYMENTS-AND-OFFICIAL-ERROR/

Perhaps someone who has had experience of claiming official error could give an input.

lolly1981

thank you...i will have a read through that

lolly1981

i have had a quick read through especially looking at the individual cases..it seems that i could possibly get them to review it and maybe get the overpayment dropped because of an 'official error' it seems that it does depend on the case.
but from what i said i informed them of the change
i didnt know the payments were being made until i got my statement.

i might look into it just to see what happens and as ive said if i have to pay it im quite happy too but if they declare that i dont have to happy days lol