Advice about housing benefit etc. please

rubble2

Hi,

I am asking this on behalf of my daughter, I have no experience of the benefit system so any advice would be gratefully received.

Daughter and partner and 4 month old baby are in private rented property (daughter is still on maternity leave from her job) Daughters partner lost his job just before Christmas so they struggled paying the rent at beginning of January.

They have started things rolling with regards getting housing benefit to tide them over and daughter rang letting agent immediately after the holidays to explain the situation and to ask if they could come to an arrangement regards paying back the late rent for January once the housing benefit payment was finalised.
The lady at the letting agent said that this should not be a problem but that they would have to issue a letter of intended repossesion of the property to protect the Landlord if things didn't get resolved.

This weekend the immersion heater in the flat failed leaving them with no source of hot water so Laura rang the agent to tell them, and spoke to another person who said ' there is no point getting the hot water fixed as you will be evicted soon'.

So questions - I have offered to pay the overdue rent for January, Laura and partner are going back to housing benefit office to day to push things along.

Can the letting agent refuse to fix the hot water if the overdue rent is paid ?

If it is true that they are going to be evicted anyway is there any point in paying the rent that is due?

Can they in fact be evicted if the rent is now paid, albeit two weeks late?

Will the housing benefit payment be back dated to the date they first applied?

Thanks in advance for any info

silvercar

Can the letting agent refuse to fix the hot water if the overdue rent is paid ?
No, the landlord has an obligation to repair.
If it is true that they are going to be evicted anyway is there any point in paying the rent that is due?
Yes. they can be pursued for it even after they have left the property and end up with a CCJ. Also the council may consider them voluntarily homeless if the landlord evicts for unpaid rent.
Can they in fact be evicted if the rent is now paid, albeit two weeks late?
NO, they would need to owe two months rent ie the day the second months rent was due with the first month totally unpaid would be the first date the landlord could serve notice. They would also need to owe this amount at the court date for the landlord to secure an eviction order.
Will the housing benefit payment be back dated to the date they first applied?
Yes, but they can take ages to sort a claim. The landlord may not be prepared to wait that long. A notice threatening eviction could speed up the claim.

rubble2

Thanks Silvercar,

Laura has spoken to the letting agent again today having first consulted with Environmental Health agency who confirmed that the landlord has a legal duty to maintain essential service like heating, sewage etc. So she should be ok on that score.

We will pay the rent for her until the housing benefit kicks in so hopefully this will be a short term problem.

If she had let us know that they were going to default on the rent before it was due we could have avoided all of this hassle - Kids! (said she didn't want to worry us over Christmas)

Jowo_2

rubble2 wrote: »

..

Can the letting agent refuse to fix the hot water if the overdue rent is paid ?

A landlord must attend to their repair obligations regardless of whether the tenant is in breach of theirs and owe rent.

If it is true that they are going to be evicted anyway is there any point in paying the rent that is due?
The fact that the landlord may not be meeting their responsibilities doesn't make it acceptable for a tenant to stop paying the rent. How do they expect to find another landlord to accept them if their landlord reference is poor because of intentional rent arrears?


Can they in fact be evicted if the rent is now paid, albeit two weeks late?
A landlord may serve notice to regain possession and as long as it is served correctly, it is valid. An S21 (in England and Wales) is known as a no-fault notice - it doesn't require the landlord to justify it or provide a reason, unlike an S8 whose grounds cite things like rent arrears. When does their fixed term contract end or do they have a periodic tenancy?

The Shelter website is an excellent source of information for tenants and includes a section on how to get the landlord to do repairs.

rubble2

Thanks Jowo.

Laura just let me know that the agent has sent an electrician round to look at the immersion heater even though they were told it would need a plumber as the electrical side is ok (the electrician has confirmed this and they are now waiting for a plumber to arrive).

By an S21 notice I take it you mean a simple termination of tenancy as per the rental agreement, of course I realise that the landlord can do this at any time within the terms of the tenancy agreement, (as can the tenants). I am assuming that as the rent will just be a couple of weeks late and that as the flat was unoccupied for a couple of years before my daughter moved in that this is unlikely as long as they now keep things up to date.

At least if they have to leave without any rent owing they should be OK to get another property without any bad credit history I am guessing.