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Tenant with housing benefit

1468910

Comments

  • I'm a carer for my disabled children, and as such on HB. When I moved in here the council took so long to sort my payments out that the Housing Association threatened to issue a Section 21. I rang the council and told them they were about to issue it and they paid all the arrears that afternoon.

    I had no other way of raising the money for the rent either.
  • socrates
    socrates Posts: 2,889 Forumite
    I'm a carer for my disabled children, and as such on HB. When I moved in here the council took so long to sort my payments out that the Housing Association threatened to issue a Section 21. I rang the council and told them they were about to issue it and they paid all the arrears that afternoon.

    I had no other way of raising the money for the rent either.

    The key words there are "Housing Association" NOT "Private Landlord"

    And for the earlier poster who did not want to mention the private firm that deals with claims and seem to request the same information over and over again - I will name them:

    "CAPITA"

    The same outfit that messed up CRB's and Passports but yet they continue to get contract after contract from the government!!
  • sandraroffey
    sandraroffey Posts: 1,358 Forumite
    silvercar.

    yes some was put aside for one month, and the claim took much much longer than it ever should have. they lost paperwork, then they lost it again. it was just a nightmare. it was a simple claim - a claim was already in place, then someone moved out. so it wasnt a new claim as such, just a change of circumstances. all they had to do was take her name off of it and sort it to be equal amounts between myself and my son. they couldnt even get that one right. outrageous. and a terrible worry.
  • socrates wrote: »
    And for the earlier poster who did not want to mention the private firm that deals with claims and seem to request the same information over and over again - I will name them:

    "CAPITA"

    The same outfit that messed up CRB's and Passports but yet they continue to get contract after contract from the government!!

    Thats hilarious - I never hear any good about Capita - ever. Cheap and fast with no eye for quality of delivery.
  • This is not new - HB takes ages and thats all there is to it, I have similar stories to those above - landlords beware (of the HB department) and if you are taking someone in that needs to claim it please don't automatically assume they are doing one. Oh to work in local authority eh?
  • lfckerry
    lfckerry Posts: 122 Forumite
    well the tenant went to the housing office on thursday and they have told her that her claim should be dealt with by this friday(i wont hold my breath)
    she said shes getting me £200 today so thats a start i guess. i think the only way to hurry them up would be to threat eviction but obviously i dont want to do that. will see what happens this week and update!
  • peainapod
    peainapod Posts: 264 Forumite
    How on earth can someone on HB be expected to set aside money for rent, I was a single mother, barely managing as it was between bills and providing for the little one. If a landlord accepts HB then he should accept that there might be problems along the way, the council are known for their delays etc so its not simply a case of "another tenant on HB not paying the rent on time"
    While I agree that there are many people who abuse the new rule that the money is paid to the tenant rather than direct to the landlord (very stupid idea) there's many of us that dont abuse it and just want to live in a house, pay our rent and live happily.
    You can't have the rent paid direct to the landlord unless you fall into certain categories. A delay in the claim is not one of them.
    I can't believe the attitude of some people towards tenants on HB, its the councils fault there's delays, not ours ! I was pregnant when trying to sort out my claim, and no word of a lie, I called them everyday for 6 months trying to sort it, I did everything in my power to make them sort it out, unless you've got connections in the council nothing will make your delayed claim go faster.
    Hang in there Ifckerry, all the money will be backdated and paid to you, did your tenant give consent to share ? If she didn't you should ask yourself why she didn't, but if she did then you can ring them yourself and tell them that you are very out of pocket.
    My previous landlord had another tenant who was paying with HB, she didn't give consent to share and kept saying the rent wasnt getting paid to her from the council and when he finally rang up he was told that all the rent had been paid. So there are bad eggs out there but chances are your tenant is not the one to blame here. You should really consider all this before taking on someone on HB.
    Keep us updated and good luck ! :)
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,914 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    peainapod wrote: »
    How on earth can someone on HB be expected to set aside money for rent, I was a single mother, barely managing as it was between bills and providing for the little one. If a landlord accepts HB then he should accept that there might be problems along the way, the council are known for their delays etc so its not simply a case of "another tenant on HB not paying the rent on time"
    While I agree that there are many people who abuse the new rule that the money is paid to the tenant rather than direct to the landlord (very stupid idea) there's many of us that dont abuse it and just want to live in a house, pay our rent and live happily.
    You can't have the rent paid direct to the landlord unless you fall into certain categories. A delay in the claim is not one of them.
    I can't believe the attitude of some people towards tenants on HB, its the councils fault there's delays, not ours ! I was pregnant when trying to sort out my claim, and no word of a lie, I called them everyday for 6 months trying to sort it, I did everything in my power to make them sort it out, unless you've got connections in the council nothing will make your delayed claim go faster.
    Hang in there Ifckerry, all the money will be backdated and paid to you, did your tenant give consent to share ? If she didn't you should ask yourself why she didn't, but if she did then you can ring them yourself and tell them that you are very out of pocket.
    My previous landlord had another tenant who was paying with HB, she didn't give consent to share and kept saying the rent wasnt getting paid to her from the council and when he finally rang up he was told that all the rent had been paid. So there are bad eggs out there but chances are your tenant is not the one to blame here. You should really consider all this before taking on someone on HB.
    Keep us updated and good luck ! :)

    All of which: the bad eggs, the council delaying claims and the attitude of "landlords should accept there might be problems along the way" are the reasons fewer and fewer landlords accept HB tenants.
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
  • lfckerry
    lfckerry Posts: 122 Forumite
    I will hang on a while longer but i cant wait forever. i accept that it is not the tenants fault but i am not suprised landlords dont let to HB tenants and i would think twice in future. it annoys me that the housing dept think its ok to take so long. will update when i hear any more.
  • lfckerry
    lfckerry Posts: 122 Forumite
    just a quick update..
    had a call from someone at the housing today just confirming my address as they were dealing with the claim today-fingers crossed all is ok and i have some money by the end of the week
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