housing ben question

mandyl

hi
sorry for all the questions.
i receive housing benefit. i live in small flat in place ive lived 15yrs.
well almost moved mile up the road when my husband walked out.
iam at the moment trying hard to rebuild my life. i suffer anxiety and depression but iam determined to get a life etc.
my rent is £550 a month. council pay £520 and i pay my landlord 13 payments instead of twelve to cover the shortfall.
will i be ok ? with the emergency budget. sorry i dont understand and have no one else to turn too. also i worry so it keeps me up at night. thanks mandy

welshmoneylover

mandyl wrote: »

hi
sorry for all the questions.
i receive housing benefit. i live in small flat in place ive lived 15yrs.
well almost moved mile up the road when my husband walked out.
iam at the moment trying hard to rebuild my life. i suffer anxiety and depression but iam determined to get a life etc.
my rent is £550 a month. council pay £520 and i pay my landlord 13 payments instead of twelve to cover the shortfall.
will i be ok ? with the emergency budget. sorry i dont understand and have no one else to turn too. also i worry so it keeps me up at night. thanks mandy

Are you saying you've been receiving HB for 15 years or is it a recent claim as you've moved up the road?

Jowo_2

As far as I know, none of the proposed changes to LHA will take place until next April which gives councils and tenants plenty of time to identify and communicate any changes. Therefore, while it doesn't hurt to be aware of it and to plan for it, there's no need to fret now and you won't know yet if you'll even be impacted.

Don't suffer your depression alone. Find a local support group or contact an organisation like this one.
http://www.depressionalliance.org/

By the way, I don't understand how you are playing catch up between your LHA limit and your higher rent. You seem to need to find a top up of £30 per month - £360 across the year. 13 payments of £520 comes to £6760 across the year and your annual rent (£550 x 12 months) payable is £6600. Unless my maths is poor (quite possibly) or I misunderstand your payments, you are on target to over pay by £160. What often complicates matters is that rent is often demanded monthly in advance whereas LHA is usually payable 4 weekly in arrears so they don't actually synchronise very well. Please feel free to restate your figures.

mandyl

hi
i have claimed housing benefit for just under 2yrs,
i basically get £520 every 4 weeks which i give straight to the agent for my rent. my contract says £550 payable 26th month(date i moved in in july 08)
thats all i know i trusted agent when they said to pay it that way

Jowo_2

if you've lived in this property for 15 years, be sure to work through the following tenancy checker to establish whether you are an assured tenant or not as this has implications on your security of tenure depending on whether or not you are an assured tenant.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/downloads_and_tools/tenancy_checker

Depending or not on the date you moved in, and whether or not you were issued with an AST on moving in or subsequently, you would be wise to double check before agreeing to any changes to your tenancy, such as signing a new contract or switching to LHA and you could inadvertently lose some rights that you will not enjoy elsewhere.

You haven't provided enough information for forum members to advise on your type of tenancy so that's why the wizard is handy.

Jowo_2

mandyl wrote: »

hi
i have claimed housing benefit for just under 2yrs,
i basically get £520 every 4 weeks which i give straight to the agent for my rent. my contract says £550 payable 26th month(date i moved in in july 08)
thats all i know i trusted agent when they said to pay it that way

Well £520 every 4 weeks across the year is £6760 (520 x 13 periods).

And a contract that seeks payment of £550 each month is £6600 (£550 x 12 months).

You should be paying £507.70 if you are paying it over 13 periods if your landlord consents to this.

Is it possible there is a small sum of arrears that has been added to this, perhaps caused by a late initial rent payment, for example?

However, what is important to note that if your contract is that you pay £x per month on x date, then that is your contractual obligation despite the source and irregularity of the HB payment to you to do so (unless of course your landlord gives you permission).

Technically speaking, a person who pays out of their payment cycle can actually be considered to be in arrears at certain points if there is some kind of lag or mismatch in passing on payment when it is due.

This is one of the great shames about the LHA/HB system as it operates very differently to how landlords work.

mandyl

hi its all fine with my landlord and my contract.
didnt provide any info as i was just wondering if the goverment was gonna class my rent as too high and would i then have probs.
it says £280 p/w for one bed property,so was hoping id be ok?
thanku for all your help so far

Oldernotwiser

Jowo wrote: »

As far as I know, none of the proposed changes to LHA will take place until next April which gives councils and tenants plenty of time to identify and communicate any changes. Therefore, while it doesn't hurt to be aware of it and to plan for it, there's no need to fret now and you won't know yet if you'll even be impacted.

If the OP has been claiming for 15 years, surely she'll be getting HB rather than LHA?

Oldernotwiser

How have you been claiming HB for 15 years when an earlier post says you have a financial interest in a property with your ex husband?

Loopy_Girl

She says she's only been claiming HB just under 2 years...post 4

mandyl

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

How have you been claiming HB for 15 years when an earlier post says you have a financial interest in a property with your ex husband?

i have claimed it for under 2yrs as stated, i technically have a interest in the flat i shared with my husband of 15yrs its no equity all above board and council/dwp aware.
iam going through divorce now. im sorry i asked really, i dont wish to discuss him i only wondered if i end up without somewhere to live as this is the way my brain works i always think the worse