Support for Mortgage Interest - Service Charges (Leasehold)

Fire_Fox

Is anyone able to point me in the direction of claiming this benefit? I am on Contributions-based JSA plus council tax benefit, and have now completed 13 weeks. I understand the waiting time for SMI is 13 weeks. I don't actually have a mortgage (own leasehold outright) but have £115 a month :eek: service charges, ground rent and buildings insurance which I have read on the net is covered by SMI as I am legally obliged to pay these charges, being laid out in my long lease.

Jobcentre didn't have a clue, and passed me onto the benefits advice line (0845 number) to speak to the mortgage team. Just had a callback, mortgage team have passed the query to JSA as "the mortgage is paid off" (I never had one). JSA are now passing back to the mortgage team.

He also said I might not be able to claim as I am on CB-JSA but I am on a low income - £280 JSA plus £40 CTB a month. I already gave copies of my long lease and invoices for the charges to the Jobcentre in my first week of claiming JSA. Do I need to find out if I have an underlying entitlement to IB-JSA??

Thanks.

I have read this and I still don't understand, it directs me to a form MI 12 that does not have anything about service charges on, only mortgage and loan interest. Also it mentions an eight week waiting time ... I struggle with anxiety anyway and this is worrying me. Surely I am not expected to live on £38 a week (after housing costs) just because I have worked and paid income tax and saved enough to own my own home outright????
http://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/help_with_housing_costs.pdf

Fire_Fox

UPDATE: spoken to JSA again who now say mortgages need copies of all the invoices (supplied 13 weeks ago!!) and will look at the claim. HOWEVER apparently their handbook suggests this will only be paid if housing benefit have refused to pay it?! Never seen anything online about the council making this sort of payment, and they have already had all my documents for the council tax benefit claim ....

Is anyone able to help??

dmg24

Hi Fire Fox, saw your post yesterday but could not think of the answer!

The service charges will definitely not be paid by HB and should be covered by SMI. However, I don't know which form you should complete ... if indeed there is one! There are usually only one or two people in the SMI Team that will deal with service charges - maybe worth asking to speak to one of them?

anmarj

the service charges would be covered by Housing benefit epecially if you had been in recepit of housing benefit, BUT some of the service charges may be covered by supporting people (which is via social services) so you may not get all service charges paid

dmg24

anmarj wrote: »

the service charges would be covered by Housing benefit epecially if you had been in recepit of housing benefit, BUT some of the service charges may be covered by supporting people (which is via social services) so you may not get all service charges paid

The OP does not rent, they own their property. Service charges are not paid to owner occupiers by HB.

[Deleted User]

Its not an easy one,but i doubt it would cover the insurance part of the service charge as insurance isnt paid as part of any benefit,the ground rent part would def.be covered,as for the rest...

anmarj

dmg24 wrote: »

The OP does not rent, they own their property. Service charges are not paid to owner occupiers by HB.

I am aware that the op does not rent the property, but we were told (at work) that in the first instance whether they rented or not the first port of call is the Housing benefit office

dmg24

woodbine wrote: »

Its not an easy one,but i doubt it would cover the insurance part of the service charge as insurance isnt paid as part of any benefit,the ground rent part would def.be covered,as for the rest...

Buildings insurance is covered. Claiming for a service charge along with mortgage interest payments is not difficult at all, the difficulty here is that there does not appear to be a form suitable for service charges without mortgage interest.

anmarj wrote: »

I am aware that the op does not rent the property, but we were told (at work) that in the first instance whether they rented or not the first port of call is the Housing benefit office

You were told incorrectly!

dmg24

anmarj wrote: »

I am aware that the op does not rent the property, but we were told (at work) that in the first instance whether they rented or not the first port of call is the Housing benefit office

Here we go, confirmation from the DWP that the LA does not deal with owner occupier service charges.

I would suggest that whomever told you the above should check their facts. If a claimant was to apply for the incorrect benefit this could lead to long delays in receiving payment, and of course the difficulty of proving they were misadvised when trying to get the correct benefit backdated.

anmarj

dmg24 wrote: »

Here we go, confirmation from the DWP that the LA does not deal with owner occupier service charges.

I would suggest that whomever told you the above should check their facts. If a claimant was to apply for the incorrect benefit this could lead to long delays in receiving payment, and of course the difficulty of proving they were misadvised when trying to get the correct benefit backdated.

the person who deals with all the mortgage and service charges!

dmg24

anmarj wrote: »

the person who deals with all the mortgage and service charges!

Then please refer them to the above link, and if they are unwilling to read it, escalate it to a manager. It is people like your colleague that lead to claimants being in an almighty mess.