Local Housing Allowance is being decreased - Now have to survive on £58 per week

Jowo_2

RAS wrote: »

...
If her rent goes down from her current "excessive" amount to just over the LHA rate, the LHA paid will stay the same. .

That's a better way of putting, better than I did. The OPs mum, for example, appears to get around £53 LHA per week which leaves her having to pay approx £62 per week because her rent works out at £115 per week (12 months x £500 divided by 52 weeks). If she moves to a place that is £92 per week in rent, assuming her income stays the same, she will still get the £53 per week LHA and will have to find an additional £39 per week out of her own income, saving £23 per week (£99 per month).

stayinganonymous

Jowo wrote: »

It will take you 10 mins on the Turn2us site to identify the impact of moving to cheaper accommodation based on the scenario of living in a £400 property versus a £500pcm property after identifying the maximum LHA on the LHA direct website. Your answer will be there.

I have just been on the Turn2us website and I am unsure if I have done something wrong, it didn't ask how much the rent is for the property? it just asks 'What is your Local Housing Allowance?' I entered the 1 bedroom LHA max allowance for Ipswich (£94.62) and the results were
Council tax would have a reduction of £8.18 making mum pay £14.83 per week.
Rent would have have a deduction of £45.81 a week making mum pay about £79 - which would leave her with about £65 per week. But the figures the lady from local LHA office worked out at leaving mum with £58 per week. Maybe I have done something wrong on the Turn2us website. I would have thought it would have asked the monthly rent of the property?

There was also a link where you can work out your LHA allowance (where I got the £94.62 from), HB update. On that website it says: if your LHA claim started between April 2008 and March 2011...

Your Local Housing Allowance will be reduced sometime in 2012, nine months after the anniversary of your claim. So we can work out when this will take effect please enter the date your Housing Benefit claim started (or is likely to start). For more information see changes to Local Housing Allowance for current claimants.

Then on the next page it says (after entering mums info):

Changes to Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance is changing. Using current Local Housing Allowance rates we have calculated how you are likely to be affected. Your Local Housing Allowance (based on February 2011 figures):
Your current Local Housing Allowance: £94.62
Your Local Housing Allowance from 25 December 2012: £90.00

So from that website, my mums LHA shouldn't change until 2012? wow this is confusing!

Jowo wrote: »

It's possible that her LHA rate could decline to £90.90 per week based on the following estimate - obviously she can check this out with the local council.

http://www.voa.gov.uk/lhadirect/lha-emergency-budget-news-2010.htm

Is her main difficulty is that she is living in accommodation far higher than a single person can afford because of the loss of her ex-partner's income subsidising the rent and bills and no increase in her employment income to counteract that? Do you mean your dad or a subsequent partner? It seems she may have sleepwalked into this scenario by staying on in a property she could not afford and not increasing her income over the past year?

Sorry, I meant my dad, she hasn't had another partner. Unfortunately the relationship broke down and turned violent and she just had to get out of there.

I agree, she could probably get something smaller, this is quite small but there is smaller. I'm going to talk to her about finding another job, she wants to anyway it's just I don't think she knows where to start.

Jowo wrote: »

I appreciate that her health difficulties will probably deter her from finding an extra cleaning round as there are plenty of part time cleaning positions on the job centre website. Perhaps she could find full time lighter less physical work, such as on a supermarket check out?

She has two quite local Aldi and Lidl who I believe are looking for applicants and the pay isn't bad. I am going to suggest she apply, I'll help her all I can but she really hasn't even had experience with interviews. It's such a shame she didn't get a job until she was about 39/40, she had her first child at 17 and looked after us 3 until I was 16 (I'm the youngest) she's also lived quite a secluded life due to my dad.

Jowo wrote: »

Ah, another big issue - benefits don't take into account people's personal debts and can make someone on a low income struggle greatly. Go to the Debt Free wanabee board to get advice how she can manage them, such as negotiating lower repayments with her creditors and other strategies. This wasn't apparent before and merely makes a bad situation even worse.

I didn't want to mention the debts as I feel people would judge. One of the debts isn't even hers, my dad did a transfer on her credit card when they were still together but now refuses to pay the bill since she left him, so she's stuck with a £500 credit card bill that isn't hers, but because it's now in her name she's stuffed.

Would that mess with her credit rating though? I guess she isn't too worried anyway, she can't afford to get into any more debt anyway so wont be applying for any credit again. But, saying that... I think some landlords/estate agents to a credit check, hmm.

Jowo wrote: »

Actually you sound very caring, helpful and thoughtful. However, it seems that she needs to consider cheaper accommodation and better debt management, not just better employment. If she hasn't paid attention to her debts and if she hasn't considered a cheaper place, these are the areas you can help with.

Thanks for all your advice Jowo, I really appreciate it. I would love to have her live with me, but I guess that wouldn't really be a long term solution anyway.

stayinganonymous

RAS wrote: »

I have a nasty feeling that she has applied for and received a single person's CT reduction but may or may nnot have applied for CT benefit. She needs to do BOTH.

I am not sure of this, I will ask her to find out her paperwork to make sure, thanks.

RAS wrote: »

When does the Assured Tenancy Agreement run out? Is it possible that with a year's history of good rent payments, other landlords might view her situation more favourably?

The tenancy was due to be reviewed at the 6 month mark (September 2010) and everything was ok so she’s not due or another review until September this year.
I hope so, that would come in very handy as she would not be able to have a guarantor.

RAS wrote: »

No one says she has to get full-time work; she needs another 10 hours a week employment for get working tax credit. It does not need to be with the same employer.

You keep using the words partner and father, are they the same person. If so, your mother needs to explore whether those debts can be dealt with as part of the divorce settlement.

Sorry, yes they are the same person. They were not ever married.

RAS wrote: »

You mention that you mother does not know how to use a computer. In this day and age that is a major issue if she is looking for better paid employment. She works 20 hours a week, so need to join her local library. Many of them offer free basic computer lessons and free access to computers for anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours a day.

Then she can get on freegle and freecycle. There are loads of freebies on the forum here and lots of advice on the old style and debt free wannabee forums.

She only recently learned how to use a mobile phone, she’s really behind in the times. I’d be happy to teach her, I’ve even offered her one of my laptops I don’t use.

RAS wrote: »

If her rent goes down from her current "excessive" amount to just over the LHA rate, the LHA paid will stay the same. It is only if her rent is less than the LHA rate that she will see any decrease.

Jowo wrote: »

That's a better way of putting, better than I did. The OPs mum, for example, appears to get around £53 LHA per week which leaves her having to pay approx £62 per week because her rent works out at £115 per week (12 months x £500 divided by 52 weeks). If she moves to a place that is £92 per week in rent, assuming her income stays the same, she will still get the £53 per week LHA and will have to find an additional £39 per week out of her own income, saving £23 per week (£99 per month).

Sorry, I wasn’t aware of this. I automatically thought that if her rent was cheaper, they would just allow her less LHA leaving her still on the same money to live on as now.

RAS

stayinganonymous wrote: »

ISorry, I wasn’t aware of this. I automatically thought that if her rent was cheaper, they would just allow her less LHA leaving her still on the same money to live on as now.

No. That is the important thing about the LHA. Up to the point where she claims maximum LHA, her benefit increases in line with the increase in her rent. Once she exceeds the LHA maximum, she has to pay every extra penny.

Which is why increasing her income somewhat might help, but leave her will less LHA. Decreasing her rent will not decrease the benefits she receives but will improve her financial circumstance, penny for penny until she get to £410 per month.

Did she sign a new 12 month contract or was it a roll over for a periodic tenancy?

mumcoll

Hi

I'm sorry for your Mum, it must be horrid for her to have to worry about stuff like this. You sound lovely to pay the extra money she needs, while not having loads yourself.

I hope she gets sorted.
x

Jowo_2

stayinganonymous wrote: »

I have just been on the Turn2us website and I am unsure if I have done something wrong, it didn't ask how much the rent is for the property?

.

Sorry, that's my fault. You are quite right, the rent field is missing. Hopefully the absence of this, plus the advice from other posters, will now convince you that the level of rent is irrelevant to the LHA sum she receives, therefore she has saddled herself with an extra large top-up because her rent is well over the maximum LHA.

stayinganonymous wrote: »

...

I didn't want to mention the debts as I feel people would judge. One of the debts isn't even hers, my dad did a transfer on her credit card when they were still together but now refuses to pay the bill since she left him, so she's stuck with a £500 credit card bill that isn't hers, but because it's now in her name she's stuffed.

Would that mess with her credit rating though? .

She should get expert advice on her debts from a debt advice charity (never pay for it) but members of the Debt Free wanabee board will provide some good basic advice. Here's some info here that could help. How much is she paying back each week and can she negotiate a token repayment?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/index.htm

By debt, do you mean that she has a CCJ? If so, this will be a significant problem when it comes to renting.

pandaspot

One thing you could try and find out if there is a tenant deposit scheme in her area, they would act as a guarantor for her. If she wanted to move

I did have a quick look on ipswiches council website but couldnt see anything straight away. Might be better ringing the hb dept as they would know.

stayinganonymous

RAS wrote: »

Did she sign a new 12 month contract or was it a roll over for a periodic tenancy?

I am unsure, again I'll have to ask her.

mumcoll wrote: »

Hi

I'm sorry for your Mum, it must be horrid for her to have to worry about stuff like this. You sound lovely to pay the extra money she needs, while not having loads yourself.

I hope she gets sorted.
x

Thank you mumcoll. I guess things would be a little easier for her if she had more experience and family to help out when in need.

Jowo wrote: »

Sorry, that's my fault. You are quite right, the rent field is missing. Hopefully the absence of this, plus the advice from other posters, will now convince you that the level of rent is irrelevant to the LHA sum she receives, therefore she has saddled herself with an extra large top-up because her rent is well over the maximum LHA.

She should get expert advice on her debts from a debt advice charity (never pay for it) but members of the Debt Free wanabee board will provide some good basic advice. Here's some info here that could help. How much is she paying back each week and can she negotiate a token repayment?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/index.htm

By debt, do you mean that she has a CCJ? If so, this will be a significant problem when it comes to renting.

Thanks for the link Jowo, I will take a look. She's paying about £10 per week back on the loan, and about £12.50 per week on her credit card (minimum payment).

Oh no, by debt I mean she has a loan (she had to get £1500 up front for 2 months rent and deposit for where she lives), and a credit card. She did have 2 credit cards, but recently put them both onto one with a 0% transfer. No CCJ's.

stayinganonymous

I phoned an older cousin to talk about this and he said she could stay with him in his 2 bed flat until she gets sorted - to reduce her gas, electric and water bills etc, but he is unaware how it will interfere with his LHA and council tax benefit. He has mental health problems and is on middle rate care and lower rate mobility and income support. Does anyone know how my mums wages as a non dependent of £144 per week will interfere with his LHA and council tax benefit? It's an option she could consider.

I'm also in the process of looking for a 2nd job to earn a bit more money, we're all feeling it.

RAS

stayinganonymous wrote: »

. She's paying about £10 per week back on the loan, and about £12.50 per week on her credit card (minimum payment).

Oh no, by debt I mean she has a loan (she had to get £1500 up front for 2 months rent and deposit for where she lives), and a credit card. She did have 2 credit cards, but recently put them both onto one with a 0% transfer. No CCJ's.

Hi

This is the standard SOA that people on DFW use http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Which shows how to put together a budget for your mum. If she is paying off 22.50 per week, that makes he situation very tight.

Pleawse also find out where the deposit is secured; which scheme is it in?

and was there a full dual signed inventory whwen she moved in?