Jobcentre - housing benefit problem

mistymemo

Could someone help me out with what I should do please as I am on the verge of being evicted. :-(

I lost my job on 1st July this year and the day after losing my job I called up jobcentreplus to claim jobseekers and was given an appointment on the 9th July to attend. I attended and filled in the jobseekers claim pack and was handed a brown housing benefit form to fill in so it could be sent to Glasgow Head office. Iwas told to await a decision.

Few weeks later passed and I started receiving jobseekers benefits but heard nothing about housing benefit. I called up my local authority and was told that no forms had been sent so I had to then call glasgow who apologised for the delay and told me to contact my local authority in case they had recieved it. I was then told by the council I needed to apply again supplying them with tenancy agreement etc, which i had already done at the jobcentre

I applied for backdated pay as i started recieving housing benefits from 16th August and the council told me I needed to supply them with proof that i had claimed housing benefit through the jobcentre in order for them to pay me backdated claim, but now im being told that all documents were sent to Glasgow and Glasgow are telling me that they have no record of any housing benefit forms.

I now owe my landlady £1000 for rent and she emailed me today saying that i will have to leave immediately if i am not able to pay her the backdated rent. I am so angry that someone has lost the forms and I am going to be homeless soon. Im so scared, upset and fed up and I dont know what to do. Can someone help with advice?

Jowo_2

I can't advise on the LHA but do see the Shelter website to understand your housing rights. Your landlady simply cannot make you leave the property at an instant. She must issue you the correct notice and then get a court order to enforce it. That site should help you understand the process and how you can protect yourself against any future harassment.

If you don't live with your landlord in the same property, and are within a fixed term tenancy agreement, when does it end? Were you served an S21 (notice requiring possession) when you had your initial contract? If the property is in England and Wales and your contract (AST) started after 06 April 2007, did you receive notification which tenancy deposit scheme the landlady used to protect it?

mistymemo

Jowo wrote: »

I can't advise on the LHA but do see the Shelter website to understand your housing rights. Your landlady simply cannot make you leave the property at an instant. She must issue you the correct notice and then get a court order to enforce it. That site should help you understand the process and how you can protect yourself against any future harassment.

If you don't live with your landlord in the same property, and are within a fixed term tenancy agreement, when does it end? Were you served an S21 (notice requiring possession) when you had your initial contract? If the property is in England and Wales and your contract (AST) started after 06 April 2007, did you receive notification which tenancy deposit scheme the landlady used to protect it?

thanks for the advice. She recently changed my tenancy agreement ending the 30th November though i have not signed it. I only recieved an email today from her telling me if i did not find a job by the 15th of nov and I was not able to get the backdated pay by then, i would have to leave immediately. My tenancy started on June 2009 but im not sure what tenancy deposit scheme the landlady used.

Jowo_2

I don't understand the status of your tenancy agreement. Are you saying that your existing tenancy agreement is scheduled to expire on 30th November? What do you mean by the landlady 'changing it' - what was it before and how has she amended it? Or are you currently on a periodic tenancy (this automatically happens if you still live in the property after a fixed term agreement has expired)?.

Were you served an additional notice, a notice requiring possession (known as an S21) at the start of your tenancy? Not every landlord does but many do as it essentially serves notice to them in advance and makes it quicker for them to take the tenant to court if they don't leave at the end of a fixed term agreement. Check your docs.

In England and Wales, landlords are obliged to put a deposit in one of the tenancy deposit schemes or they face a potential penalty of being ordered by a judge to pay x3 the sum of the deposit to the tenant as compensation. You should check with each scheme to see if the landlady protected it as she should have or ask her the next time you speak to her.

As per before, you are under no obligation to leave the property until she serves proper notice and if you decide to stay on past the expiry of the notice, she must take you to court to secure legal possession of the property. If she has failed to protect the deposit in a TDS, then any formal notice she serves (an S21) will be invalid and should be tossed out by the judge if it reaches court. Landlords whose tenants pay monthly but owe 2 months rent are recommended to serve an S8 to expedite possession through the courts and I'm not aware whether a breach of TDS actually affects this particular notice which is served to tenants with significant rent arrears.

Try to keep your landlord on side, reassure her rent will be paid as soon as you can and that you are actively following it up. If she's demanding immediate eviction, she is either ignorant of housing law (perhaps an accidental or novice landlord) or if she's aware of your rights, a complete monster. Shelter will be able to advise you how to protect yourself and perhaps how to respond to her.

I know that LHA claimants can request an interim housing benefit payment after two weeks of submitting their claim but that is premised on them fully submitting all information and that the council hasn't yet processed the claim (whereas they are simply claiming nothing has been received). Phone Shelter to understand your housing rights or contact the Citizens Advice Bureau to see if they can help you expedite your claim and if there are other options to help your predicament. Look into getting an interim housing benefit payment (also known as payment on account) - you have to ask for it, it doesn't happen automatically.

Many benefit claimants come onto the forum to express surprise that many landlords won't accept LHA claimants. I know that it's an admin error on the part of the local council, but the arrears you've inadvertently built up, shows why many landlords are reluctant and those who do, will often require a guarantor. Some landlords get their properties repossessed because they cannot afford the mortgage payments when the tenants don't pay.