Got a letter from my landlord this morning...

RAS

alasia wrote: »

No my housing benefit wasnt backdated, as they said I should have sent in the form as soon as I moved in; even though it wouldnt have been processed until I had a tenancy agreement, it woukld have been registered as a new claim and then suspended until took in the ta. I didnt know that at the time...

Get hold of your local councillor. Go to the next surgery (they have one most weekends) and ask if they can intercede on your behalf.

I bet the Housing are allowed to make the back payment, even if they do not HAVE to.

Paul_the_Painter

OK - we need to come up wiith a better plan than the one you have at the moment.

1. Get a schedule/account from the landlord showing how much he claims you owe - and from what dates.

2. Do you pay the housing benfit to the landlord? Or does he get it directly? - If he is getting it directly it may be partly a timing issue (that is he is actually just getting some rent a bit late)

3. Did you pay a deposit?

4. Did you sign the tenancy agreement?

5. On the benefit front - you say you are getting £40/week, you should be getting £65.45 as a lone parent over 18 - so are they deducting £25.45/week? If you are aged between 18 and 25 they may be paying you the lower rate of £51.85/week and deducting £11.85/week. You need to check this, it is very possible they are paying you the lower rate as one part of the system is not aware that you are a lone parent - especially if you started your claim initially when you had a partner.

OK that's the questions done, now here is what to do

1. Your aim for the immediate future is NOT to pay the landlord his arrears - it is to stay in your home.

2. In light of this you need to reduce your arrears to less than 2 months.

3. Do not pay any more money to the landlord without a reciept, and a statement of account.

4. I'm not suggesting that you never pay off your arrears, just keep your priorities straight - They should be to stay in your house.

5. If your landlord has - say a 6 week deposit, get the arrears down to this level - he doesn't sound like he'd be giving you deposit back anyway - probably finding a reason to charge you the deposit.

6. If your landord has no deposit, you may feel morally obligated to pay him back the full amount of the arrears over a period of time (after all to be fair he doesn't deserve to lose out)

7. To sum it up - If you get the arrears down to LESS than 2 months - he can't evict you. (for being in arrears that is)



On another front, as a lone parent you can earn up to £20/week without it changing your benefit entitlement, it's known as the income disregard - £5 single - £10 couple - £20 lone parent

And I need a cleaner if you're in Milton Keynes!

terryw

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

OK - we need to come up wiith a better plan than the one you have at the moment.

1. Get a schedule/account from the landlord showing how much he claims you owe - and from what dates.

2. Do you pay the housing benfit to the landlord? Or does he get it directly? - If he is getting it directly it may be partly a timing issue (that is he is actually just getting some rent a bit late)

3. Did you pay a deposit?

4. Did you sign the tenancy agreement?

5. On the benefit front - you say you are getting £40/week, you should be getting £65.45 as a lone parent over 18 - so are they deducting £25.45/week? If you are aged between 18 and 25 they may be paying you the lower rate of £51.85/week and deducting £11.85/week. You need to check this, it is very possible they are paying you the lower rate as one part of the system is not aware that you are a lone parent - especially if you started your claim initially when you had a partner.

OK that's the questions done, now here is what to do

1. Your aim for the immediate future is NOT to pay the landlord his arrears - it is to stay in your home.

2. In light of this you need to reduce your arrears to less than 2 months.

3. Do not pay any more money to the landlord without a reciept, and a statement of account.

4. I'm not suggesting that you never pay off your arrears, just keep your priorities straight - They should be to stay in your house.

5. If your landlord has - say a 6 week deposit, get the arrears down to this level - he doesn't sound like he'd be giving you deposit back anyway - probably finding a reason to charge you the deposit.

6. If your landord has no deposit, you may feel morally obligated to pay him back the full amount of the arrears over a period of time (after all to be fair he doesn't deserve to lose out)

7. To sum it up - If you get the arrears down to LESS than 2 months - he can't evict you. (for being in arrears that is)



On another front, as a lone parent you can earn up to £20/week without it changing your benefit entitlement, it's known as the income disregard - £5 single - £10 couple - £20 lone parent

And I need a cleaner if you're in Milton Keynes!

Superb post Peter. But the OP should still watch out for a Section 21 notice.

clutton_2

""No my housing benefit wasnt backdated, as they said I should have sent in the form as soon as I moved in; even though it wouldnt have been processed until I had a tenancy agreement, it woukld have been registered as a new claim and then suspended until took in the ta. I didnt know that at the time...""

i know i said i would leave this thread alone... but.. seriously.. this gets worse and worse

i simply find it utterly astonishing that someone should move into a property and not think that they should put in a claim for LHA immediately .... talk about not taking any responsibility for yourself ...


Since you have such large arrears... one way to try to stay in the property IS to pay off your arrears.. you mentioned earlier in the thread that you could raise a few hundred quid... and if you appeal the decision not to pay LHA from day one that might pay off some arrears as well..

Paul the Painter - many of your questions have already been asked and OP has not come back with any answers.....

your statement that ""he doesn't sound like he'd be giving you deposit back anyway - probably finding a reason to charge you the deposit."

also astonishes me....

its very simple - he will not have to FIND a reason to keep her deposit .... she is in arrears of £900 ..... and she has not disputed this ... so of course he will be legally entitled to claim the full deposit..... which will still leave him out of pocket due to her kids damaging the property


this thread is typical of what i call the YES BUT syndrome...

Whatever suggestions are put forward to this young woman are either ignored or she frequently responds with YES BUT reasons why she cannot do much to help herself.....

Hector-The-Inspector_2

clutton wrote: »

i simply find it utterly astonishing that someone should move into a property and not think that they should put in a claim for LHA immediately .... talk about not taking any responsibility for yourself ...

Some can't be bovvered! Some LL's pick up the forms themselves get them signed, and drive the tenants down to the council offices the same day. Crazy but true.

tbs624

Hector-The-Inspector wrote: »

Some can't be bovvered! Some LL's pick up the forms themselves get them signed, and drive the tenants down to the council offices the same day. Crazy but true.

Not so crazy really - some of those LLs will have overstretched themselves building up their property portfolio and have properties standing empty, many of which will be less well-maintained than your average rental property and be in less attractive areas . They aren't providing the taxi service/form collection out of the good of their hearts, as a service to the community......

neas

Ah the joys of rentng out flats to Benefit receivers.

Now i understand why my 50 quid discount for being a clean and tidy working tenant worked a treat with my current landlord... because he understood that i would pay the rent, keep the place clean and tidy.. and not mistreat or say 'yea but no but yea not but no but yeaaa' at him.

Im glad the government is clamping down on the benefit bill as this has to end. People should be required to take responsibility for their lives... if you want the good things in life, i.e children, a nice house then work hard at school, learn and work hard to get a good job. The days of finishing school at 16 getting pregnant with 5 kids and expecting my tax money to subsidise that lifestyle should end.

All we do by letting this happen is create a 2nd class of 'can't dos'... or 'wasnt my fault' or 'yea but no' culture. Its your life, you only live it once... work hard and play hard!.. work hard for your family... don't let them down, make sure they have the best opportunities in life by working hard to keep them safe.

tbs624

neas wrote: »

Ah the joys of rentng out flats to Benefit receivers.

Now i understand why my 50 quid discount for being a clean and tidy working tenant worked a treat with my current landlord... because he understood that i would pay the rent, keep the place clean and tidy.. and not mistreat or say 'yea but no but yea not but no but yeaaa' at him.

Many LLs can give you their own experiences of well -dressed, well educated working Ts who swindle their LL and disappear leaving behind a damaged property and rent arrears.

neas wrote: »

Im glad the government is clamping down on the benefit bill as this has to end. People should be required to take responsibility for their lives... if you want the good things in life, i.e children, a nice house then work hard at school, learn and work hard to get a good job.

....and in Neas's simplistic world , we'll all live happily ever after. No redundancies ,no illness ( whether physical or mental) no divorce or family breakdown, ever. Have you put up signposts to this Utopia of yours Neas, because I think many would like to find it.

Maybe you can join the Workhouse Committee, along with Clutton.

neas wrote: »

The days of finishing school at 16 getting pregnant with 5 kids and expecting my tax money to subsidise that lifestyle should end.

Are you a Daily Mail reader, nay, life-time subscriber? The OP has held down jobs previously so presumably she too has paid taxes and NI, and will no doubt do so in the future. I do hope that you manage to get through life without having to be "subsidised" in any shape or form via the taxes paid by other people or do you keep a running balance sheet for such eventualities so that you can turn down anything that costs a figure beyond your own personal taxation input?

N79

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

7. To sum it up - If you get the arrears down to LESS than 2 months - he can't evict you. (for being in arrears that is)

I'm sorry but this is just not true and gives false hope. It is perfectly possible (although harder) to evict tenants with arrears of less than 2 months or even tenants who have no arrears but had arrears in the past (Section 8, G10 and G11). While this route has no guarantee of success for the LL, in prolonged cases of T head in sand syndrome courts can and do award possession - especially if previous court orders have been ignored.

Your post also ignores the s21 eviction route, a real threat for this T.

Shakethedisease

i simply find it utterly astonishing that someone should move into a property and not think that they should put in a claim for LHA immediately .... talk about not taking any responsibility for yourself ...

The landlord wasn't exactly taking much reponsibility either, or he would have given her a tenancy agreement to sign the day she moved in.. He should really have known that she wouldn't get any LHA without one.

He's at fault too in terms of 'taking responsibility' for his own actions.