LHA has been reduced so going to struggle - what's my best option?

ElleWoods

Eton, the landlord only has one other property and that's a student house on the other side of the city. Good thinking though.

evoke

Have you tried working to pay for your house like some of us have to?

Sorry but living in a 3-bed house with only you and one child in it, which is partially funded by taxpayers like me, is one of the disgraceful legacies of New Labour and unlimited benefits.

LHA should be zero. If you can't fund a property through hard work like the rest of us, then tough. I know i'm going to get flamed by the benefits brigade on here but I am sick to the back teeth of the the benefits system being abused in this country.

You simply don't need a 3-bed house. Live in one that is just sufficient for your needs and then work to pay for a larger one.

thequant

evoke wrote: »

Have you tried working to pay for your house like some of us have to?

Sorry but living in a 3-bed house with only you and one child in it, which is partially funded by taxpayers like me, is one of the disgraceful legacies of New Labour and unlimited benefits.

LHA should be zero. If you can't fund a property through hard work like the rest of us, then tough. I know i'm going to get flamed by the benefits brigade on here but I am sick to the back teeth of the the benefits system being abused in this country.

You simply don't need a 3-bed house. Live in one that is just sufficient for your needs and then work to pay for a larger one.

evoke beat me to it!

my tuppence worth is

a) you should not be in a 3 bed property if others are paying for it and you dont need it!

b) LHA has been cut to the 30th percentile for a reason, if you dont earn average pay then why should get an house on average rent!

Morglin

You may not be affected until January 2012, as you have a current tenancy:

...........When will these changes affect me?
Some changes may affect you from 1 April 2011, and others may be delayed.
If you make a new claim for Housing Benefit (based on LHA rates) from 1 April 2011, the changes will usually affect you from the date of your new claim.
If your circumstances change after 1 April 2011, so that you are entitled to housing benefit for a smaller home (for example someone in your family leaves home), the new rules will apply and your LHA will be reassessed at the lower rates.
Many of the changes will take effect on the anniversary of your claim, when your entitlement is reassessed. For example, if your claim was made on 2 May 2010, the anniversary will be 2 May 2011. This means the changes will not affect everyone at the same time.
In some cases, if you are worse off as a result, your Housing Benefit will be calculated on your pre-April 2011 rent level instead of using the new, lower levels straight away. This protection can last for up to nine months. After this, your Housing Benefit will be calculated under the new rules and your benefit may be reduced.
For example:

• If your claim was made in April 2010, the anniversary of your claim will be in April 2011. The reduction in your benefit resulting from the new rules could be delayed until nine months after this in January 2012.
• If your claim was made in March 2010, and reassessed in March 2011 under the old rules, it will be due for review under the new rules in March 2012. The reduction in your benefit resulting from the new rules could be delayed until nine months after this in December 2012.

After 1 April 2011, there will also be some protection for people whose family size increases, or in some circumstances where someone has died.......................

Give SHELTER a call:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/future_changes_to_local_housing_allowance


Lin

silvercar

You are living, as one single adult plus a 4 year old, in a 3 bedroom property and you complain that you are struggling with the amount of benefit you receive because you only get the amount based on a 2 bedroom property.

You should be able to work out the answer for yourself.

dancingfairy

CubaCat - hopefully you can continue with the debt busting as you are now but if necessary you may have to reduce the payments in order to pay your rent as rent is more important. It sounds like you have the leeway there though if neccessary.
A dmp can be for any amount - it's basically splitting what you have available between your creditors. Some of the debt charities may not want to activiely help you with an amount that small but you can run your own if neccessary. It will affect your credit rating so is not ideal and if you can pay the minimums then you should carry on as you are to protect your credit rating. It's just if the worst comes to the worst.
df

dancingfairy

The OP took a house/property based on what she was entiteld to at the time - whether that is aceptable to you or not is irrelvant - she had the choice and made it based on the information available.
The OP may/may not have had much choice and may have just been grateful to have a house.
The OP will struggle to pay moving costs as they have stated.
df

izzybusy23

Cuba_Cat wrote: »

I work part time and receive some Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to help pay my rent. I currently pay £500 per month to rent a 3 bed terrace privately, and as there is only myself and my 4yo son (plus cat!) living there, I only get the 2 bed rate of LHA, which is fair enough. My LHA has just been reduced by £12.23 per week, which means I now need to find an extra £53 per month. It’s really frustrating as I was just getting back on an even keel financially by making lots of cut backs, shopping at Aldi, changing utilities etc., and there’s not much else I can cut out to make up the extra £53. I'm really going to struggle to find the extra money.

So, I need to make a decision. My tenancy agreement is for 24 months and ends in August this year, when it will move on to a rolling contract with one month’s notice from either party. I have a fantastic landlord and really like the house but I can’t really afford to stay where I am given the decrease in my LHA payments. It seems I have the following options:

1. Discuss the situation with my landlord, and hope he will offer to reduce the rent slightly in order to keep a decent tenant in the property. However, obviously I’ll need to report the change in rent and will be reassessed, which may well mean that my LHA will drop even further as I’d be paying less rent, if that makes sense. I’d also still be on the 2 bed LHA rate in a 3 bed house.

2. I look for a 2 bed property in the same area and move. This would be cheaper to rent by around £25-50 per month, and I’d then get the 2 bed rate of LHA. However I will incur removal fees and may have to pay agency fees if I rent via an agency next time (I currently rent direct from the landlord, so no agency involved), so would have to bear that in mind. I’ve also heard some horror stories about letting agencies but realistically I expect it depends on the agency/branch.

3. I try to get a council property. I’d say this is the least realistic option as in my area the waiting list is huge. I only joined the waiting list last May so by the time my tenancy ends in August I’ll only have 15 months’ waiting time, which won’t be enough waiting time for most of the properties that are advertised. They are also let via a bidding system so I’d have to fight with dozens, possibly hundreds, of other people for each property as so few properties come up.

I need to stay in the same area as my son is settled at a localschool and my parents (who do the school run on days I work) live nearby. So what would you say is the most financially-savvy option? Are there any other options I haven’t considered that I could look at? All advice greatly appreciated.

I thought for existing HB claimaints, the new LHA rules wouldnt come in until 9 months after the anniversary of first claiming benefit; therefore my benefit started Feb 10; anniversary was Feb 11, new rules come in April 11, next anniversary Feb 12, new LHA rules take effect Sept 12... or have I got that totally wrong?

It doesn't affect me now though as I'm having to move and will go straight on to new LHA rates as new HB claim

Edited due to Morglin posting the same as I thought a couple of posts above.. OP, new LHA rules shouldn't affect you until 9 months after your anniversary date so if thats still a few months away then you should have at least a year to look for a smaller house / up your income.

Laurenj22

Hi

I've just come across your thread and wanted to confirm that the LHA changes will come with a transitional protection of 9 months from your LHA anniversary date so your current HB shouldn't have decreased already ???

If you are struggling with your rent it may be worth considering applying for a DHP (discretionary housing payment) this comes from a pot of money allocated to the LA's and this is being increased to allow for the knock on effect of the LHA reductions

Hope this helps

ElleWoods

Apologies for not attending to this thread today but I’ve been at work. Wow, there are a few really venomous people on this forum aren’t there?! I came on yesterday to genuinely ask for some advice, not to receive a public flogging because my circumstances don’t match the stereotypical ideal of mummy, daddy and 2.4 kids living happily ever after in their 4 bed detached house paid for by daddy’s six figure salary, while mummy bakes cakes and whizzes round the house with feather duster in hand like a 50’s housewife, all in between doing the school run (looking immaculate at all times, of course). Sorry that I don’t live my life the way some of you think I should but life isn’t perfect and circumstances change. I am not ‘abusing’ the system at all. I don’t use my LHA or tax credits to fund flat screen wall-mounted TVs, Waitrose finest food or plastic surgery. I use it to survive. If you bother to read the whole thread you’ll glean that I do work, I get some of my household items from freecycle and I Ebay a lot of things to help make ends meet, so I’m hardly taking the proverbial. I’m in my late 30’s and have paid taxes on a full time wage since leaving university in my early 20’s. I still pay tax now on my part time salary but, unlike some, I don’t begrudge my taxes going to help people in real need.


I shouldn’t really have to justify myself as to why I am currently in the situation that I am but I will, because it’s my right to stand up for myself against judgemental harpies. Settle down with a cup of tea, people, because this is better than Jeremy Kyle.


- I was originally looking to rent a 2 bed house, not 3 bed because obviously I only need 2 bedrooms. However, in case you don’t read the news, there’s a national housing shortage so needless to say, decent houses to rent in my area are snapped up. I’m in a 3 bed house as it was the only house I viewed that wasn’t full of damp and I needed to rent quickly because I’d sold my old house and the new owners wanted to move in.


- Yes, you read that right - I used to own my own house. I ended up selling because despite going back to work full time after my maternity leave, I couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage, buy food, pay bills and fund my son’s nursery care – you know, the nursery I had to pay for so that I could work full time. So I sold my house in order to rent, as renting is cheaper on a monthly basis. Unfortunately due to the recession and drop in house prices, I only received £1700 equity from the sale, which was used up in the moving costs. In case you’re wondering how I could afford to buy in the first place, I bought the house with my ex and we both worked full time but he effed off while I was pregnant and left me to pay the mortgage by myself. I struggled to pay for basic things like food while on maternity leave because I only had the basic rate of SMP coming into the house, hence the credit card debt which I have obviously taken responsibility for and have been paying off for over 4 years, ever since I returned to work. I have not gone bankrupt, done an IVA or DMP – not that those are bad options at all, but I recognise that it’s my debt to pay off and felt I should pay it off no matter how long it took, so I’m doing just that. As I said earlier, I have about another year to go if I stick to the current repayment amount, then it will be gone.


- Just in case you’re thinking I shouldn’t have had a child if I can’t pay for him myself (which I’m sure some people are), let me pre-empt you. I was with his ‘dad’ for over 4 years and my son was planned. As we had two full time incomes, money wasn’t an issue. Then, when I was 4 months into my pregnancy, my ex went off with some bint he’d been, erm, ‘seeing’ behind my back and I haven’t heard from him since. My situation changed in a heartbeat. I can’t be responsible for someone else’s actions, I can only control my own. It’s a shame that people can’t see any further than one element of a situation quickly written down on a forum and realise that there is more to it and they are berating the wrong person. I’m not the one who disappeared into thin air, I’m not the one who shirks my responsibilities. Like other single parents, I’ve been left to bring my son up on my own and I’m doing the best I can, yet I'm the one who’s vilified?! Maybe people should be looking to place the blame and condemnation elsewhere, namely on the ex who did a runner without so much as a backward glance. Just a suggestion.


- About 18 months ago I became ill and after many tests was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease. At the time I was juggling working FT in a stressful job where I often worked unpaid overtime, bringing a child up on my own, running a house, having to deal with the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of a serious chronic disease, plus weekly hospital appointments, not to mention the distress that goes with being diagnosed with a disease that will in all likelihood shorten my lifespan. The stress of coping with everything meant that a few months after my diagnosis I ended up one step away from having a breakdown and was diagnosed with stress, anxiety and mild depression. The doctor told me I was coping with too much and had to do something about my situation otherwise I’d end up being hospitalised. At this point I realised that something had to give and I didn’t want it to be my health. I approached work with a view to cutting my hours and thankfully they were very understanding as I’m a good, loyal worker and they didn’t want to lose me. So about a year ago I went part time. It was the best thing I ever did. Ok, so I now have to claim some LHA but so what? My blood pressure, kidney function and general health have all improved and the anxiety/stress/depression have in the main abated. I also learnt a very important lesson – that no matter how many 'single parent benefit sponger' comments I receive, my health is more important than running myself into the ground for any amount of money.


- LHA rate should be zero? Really? What planet are you on, seriously? Do you really want to see thousands of people who are genuinely trying to make ends meet, dumped onto the streets with their kids because they can’t afford to pay the rent due to their low wages? If wages were a bit higher, the government wouldn’t need to subsidise those on low salaries with tax credits, housing benefit and the like. My company hasn’t given any pay rises at all for the last 4 years, not even a rate of inflation rise, but I know I’m lucky to have a job in the current climate and am grateful for that. As I said above, even on a full time wage, I couldn’t make ends meet and still relied on tax credits to help pay my rent and bills. Rents (not to mention house prices) are also extremely high at the current time. There isn’t a lot I can do about that. I either live in a rental property and claim some LHA to help pay the rent, or my son and I are homeless. No brainer really, isn't it?

Thank you to all the posters who offered genuine advice and suggestions. I will re-read this thread now and have a good think about what my next move will be. The fact is, we are all living in difficult times financially, and we need to empathise with others in need, not judge them. Not everyone is fortunate enough to earn a high salary or bring in two incomes. People fall upon hard times. Circumstances change. So for those of you who criticised me for receiving some LHA (I don’t even receive the full amount because I work!), before you judge, remember that all it takes is a redundancy, divorce or death and anyone could be in the same situation as me, or worse. Remember that, won’t you, while you’re looking down on me and others like me from your high horse.