Tenant with housing benefit

tamarto

lfckerry wrote: »

ok so if no news today i will issue S8 on Monday,that will make her 11 weeks in arrears.
will i be able to go to court on the 15th day,ie the 1st Feb?(im hoping it wont get that far)
anyone any ideas on the court costs?

As soon as you issue the s8 and the tennant takes it to the council they will miraculously sort the claim and pay you your money due. I'd be very very surprised if you needed to go to court as that would then leave the council open to a civil claim from your tennant. The council know exactly how far they can push things and they will be in no hurry to sort out this issue until forced, the s8 is that force.

lfckerry

ok so if no payment by 20th then i will issue S8,sounds fair right?

tamarto

lfckerry wrote: »

ok so if no payment by 20th then i will issue S8,sounds fair right?

If you are happy to wait that long, if not issue it now, tbh it's not as if you've been impatient, i would be far from amused to have been told it's still going to be another month.

Jowo_2

As long a tenant has submitted the correct information, they can apply for an interim housing benefit payment after 2 weeks if their application has not been processed by the council (payment on account).

(I haven't read through all the thread so apologies if this has already been recommended or requested).
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/rent_arrears/arrears_due_to_housing_benefit

lfckerry

it was the way the woman said 'you have missed the payment cycle for this month', that really annoyed me. I havent missed anything!! i really cant see it coming on the 20th but am willing to wait a week. thanks for the advice

lfckerry

Jowo,i spoke to the housing and they said they dont offer that,i thought i had applied for one but apparently was only filling a form in for the first payment of arrears to come directly to me. ive been told lots of times there is such a thing as an interim payment but my local council seem oblivious to this!

SlinkySelina

Not allowed to post links yet, so sorry if this is long!

Payment on account
[FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman]6.158 If you cannot decide a claim within 14 days of receiving the claim, you must consider making a payment on account. It is not the claimant’s responsibility to ask for a payment on account and you must not wait for them to ask.
6.159 A payment on account
• [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold]must [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman]be made if the claim cannot be decided and this is not because the claimant has failed to provide, without good cause, evidence reasonably needed and requested
• must [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold]not [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman]be made if
- you do not consider that a payment on account is appropriate because the claim will probably be decided and paid within the 14 days. If the claim is not decided within 14 days you must reconsider your decision immediately, or
- it is clear from the information already available there will be no entitlement to benefit, or
- you cannot decided the claim within 14 days because the claimant has failed, without good cause, to provide evidence or information which you reasonably need and have requested
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman][FONT=Frutiger LT 55 Roman,Frutiger LT 55 Roman]6.155-6.159 [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold][FONT=Frutiger LT 65 Bold,Frutiger LT 65 Bold]HB/CTB Guidance Manual (If you have a google for this you should be able to find the rest easy enough. It comes up as first on the list and is on page 17. Print it out and take it down to the HO. Person at the HO was probably talking about the discretionary housing payments which they try and deny exist
[/FONT][/FONT]

lfckerry

I and the tenant have tried getting this but they are insistent that its not something they offer. there was nothing wrong with the paperwork either,the delay is purely down to them and their crappy system.
maybe payments on account vary between councils??

SlinkySelina

Housing Benefit Regulations are law, councils cant just ignore them if they feel like it.
So no, it doesnt vary between councils.

JonathanJ

I had this problem soooo many times when me and my wife were trying to rent a house while on HB, luckily we had a very good letting agent and landlord who had dealt with the system before.
The council, by law is not allowed to put people at risk of being made homeless due to inefficient processing of a claim. I spent a lot of time getting advice from places like Shelter who can be VERY helpful in situations like this.
The last time we moved we made an agreement with the letting agent and landlord that I would make no effort to pay up the difference and the moment I fell into arrears they would sent me an eviction notice and start charging me all kinds of fees for late payments and reminder letters.
One month in when the council still hadn’t even looked at our claim and we went into arrears I started getting the letters and warnings, I took the down to the council, two days later the claim was done and the landlord had all his money. The even paid the fees as it was their fault I was charged them.

I don’t know if it is the same any more as it has been a few years since I have had to deal with them, but it used to be standard practice for my local council to actually refuse to pay out any money until the tenant had received an eviction notice, claim processed or not!