Claiming benefits from a different address

C.C.L.

A bit complicated this, sorry.
We have a house that we rent out,no problems with tenants,they've been there a year now.Today a friend rang me to tell me that she was at the local shopping centre near the house, and there were some youths sat near her while she waited for a lift. They were talking about one of the group being thrown out of his mothers house, and she had canceled his benefit claim from her address.One of the youths asked him how he was getting his benefit money and he said him and 2 of his mates were claiming from xxxxxx and gave the address of our (rented) house.
So..here goes! How do I find out if this is correct? How would they do this anyway? Why would they do it? Surely the tenant must know?
At this stage I don't really want to ask the tenant,we were only there yesterday doing a yearly check, and there were no signs that anyone else was living there other than who should be there.
She did say that they were adamant they weren't living there, they were "dossing" somewhere.
Any help or advice appreciated.

dmg24

I have a feeling your friend has misheard, all seems a bit odd to me. Nonetheless, if they are claiming at that address the JCP will have sent mail there, so the tenant would know.

Jowo_2

Benefit claims are not generally discussed with anyone other than the claimant, though I believe the local council do discuss LHA matters with the landlord but I'm not sure if its only when they are in arrears and I believe the info they provide is bound to be limited by the Data Protection Act.

Is your tenant on benefits, btw, receiving local housing allowance from the local council or did you check their employment references at the time? Does the property have any spare rooms or sofa bed in the living room, for example? What type of screening did you perform on this tenant - previous landlord references, employer references, ID check, credit check, etc?

Is it possible that they are using the address as a care of address to receive unemployment benefit or were they discussing housing benefit?

Many years ago, when my brother claimed job seekers allowance while living with my parents, he wanted to pretend he was living at a friend's place and for his friend to pretend to be living with my parents. It was common amongst his peers to pretend to be living elsewhere so they could claim housing benefit, which they could not when they lived with their parents as HB is not payable when a tenant lives in the same property as their landlord to whom they are closely related. These fraudsters did actually live at home and just did a paperwork exercise in order to collect housing benefit for rent that they weren't actually paying by pretending to pay rent at another address. My parents were aghast and refused but it seemed many of the parents in the local area either colluded with it or were ignorant of what their sons were doing to double/treble their benefits.

So in a worse case scenario, your tenant is either really subletting the property (and hiding evidence of their lodgers from you) or is colluding with them by pretending to be their landlord while they live elsewhere and taking a cut of their housing benefit. Or is simply allowing them to use the property as a mail drop.

C.C.L.

Thanks for the reply dmg24.She was adamant that she heard them correctly.Yes, it does seem a bit odd, and I thought about mail going there as well.
I don't feel as if I should ask the tenant at this stage, but if it is true, it's fraud and I won't tolerate that. If it is happening then the tenant obviously knows about it, so hardly likely to tell me the truth.

wearside_2

C.C.L. wrote: »

Thanks for the reply dmg24.She was adamant that she heard them correctly.Yes, it does seem a bit odd, and I thought about mail going there as well.
I don't feel as if I should ask the tenant at this stage, but it if it true, it fraud and I won't tolerate that. If it is happening then the tenant obviously knows about it, so hardly likely to tell me the truth.

AS you own the property and are renting it out legally, then surely you could contact the Local Authority Housing Section or the DWP and explain what you know.

It is good to hear that like me you will not tolerate fraud.

dmg24

wearside wrote: »

AS you own the property and are renting it out legally, then surely you could contact the Local Authority Housing Section or the DWP and explain what you know.

It is good to hear that like me you will not tolerate fraud.

I would agree with this. You are not asking for information about another claim, simply giving them the facts about your property, and then they can verify these and investigate any inaccuracies without your involvement. The only thing to be aware of is that you may never know the outcome of the investigation.

C.C.L.

Jowo, the tenants were well screened, and we took up employers references as well as previous landlords.They aren't on any benefits as far as I know they all work.
It is quite a large house, and one of the bedrooms is not being used. From what my friend said, it seemed like unemployment benefit they were talking about.

C.C.L.

dmg24 wrote: »

I would agree with this. You are not asking for information about another claim, simply giving them the facts about your property, and then they can verify these and investigate any inaccuracies without your involvement. The only thing to be aware of is that you may never know the outcome of the investigation.

If I don't find out, but it has been happening, and it gets stopped, that's all that I'm bothered about. I've felt sick and my stomach's been churning since the phone call.We've decided to contact the DWP to be on the safe side.The only thing is if we don't find out as you say, we could be renting to people who encourage fraud,and we wouldn't know then would we? Arrggg.

Jowo_2

I can understand why someone who has been thrown out of their parents house may need a c/o address for their DWP correspondence and claims, as perhaps they are sofa surfing with mates and have no fixed address. I don't know whether or not a person has to reside at the address given to receive JSA or whether a care/of address is fine.

But I can't understand why the other lads who presumably have more secure accommodation are directing their benefit claims to that address, unless your tenants are acting as mesne (intermediate) landlords and have set-up lodgers agreements with them to facilitate housing benefit claims for the young lads. Perhaps they actually live with partners but want to appear to live apart to increase their benefit entitlements.

Perhaps as they've a spare room, they've been tempted to take in a lodger(s) but haven't asked your permission, perhaps the contract they have says they are not allowed and they think you would refuse them. Though there was no sign of anyone else living there, your inspection would have given them notice to conceal another person or three staying there. Or perhaps they are colluding with benefit claimants to submit fake LHA claims to earn money that way. This is where they would write a lodgers agreement with them as proof of tenancy is required for a claim. The local housing allowance is received directly by the claimant.

All my musing is speculation, though, thinking out loud, trying to find some logic to 3 unemployed youths using your property address when they don't seem to live there.

Call the local council housing benefit dept to see if you can get any info on Local Housing Allowance claims made at your address, whether the housing staff will confirm this or won't discuss this with you.

Is it possible that the young lads are trying to wind you up by talking about nonsense in front of your friend?

C.C.L.

Is it possible that the young lads are trying to wind you up by talking about nonsense in front of your friend?

I suppose they could have been "bigging" themselves up, but to be honest, I don't know if they know me or not, but they certainly wouldn't know I knew her, as she's not from round there.The ony way she knows my address is because we used to work together.
I could go round and round in circles on this one, but I never even thought that someone could say they were living where they aren't to get benefits, or have mail sent to another address. I think I need a reality check lol.The replies I've had have certainly opened my eyes to some stuff that goes on, and I thankyou all for putting me in the picture.If I find anything out I will let you know.

paddedjohn

Does it really matter? You went to the property yesterday and the tennant is looking after it in a satisfactory manner, therfore why are you worried, the rent is getting paid isnt it