eviction if benefits arent sorted

martin_241

im a newbie to the forum so please be gentle.

We live in a housing association house and had paid rent on it. However my mum left a few months ago and we were told we could claim housing benefit because my dad had no income. So we applied for it back in February. We received a phonecall from our housing association today saying that this hadnt been sorted out and (the woman on the phone was sympathetic enough) but they said that if its not sorted by the end of this week then they would be forced to send a notice of eviction.

They reckon the council wont pay housing beneefit now because my dad isnt claiming Jobseekers Allowance(which he isnt because last time he was on it they gave him so much grief when he tried to do a bit of work that he was seriously ill). However we've had no phone calls from the people dealing with our housing benefit so havent been told about any problems. I am currently on Employment support Allowance due to a permanent health condition and my sister is also unemployed but not claiming JSA. Apparently the rent is now £950 in arrears which we cant afford to pay, we're struggling to live already. The housing benefit people havent told us that we cant get it because he wasnt on JSA, in fact they told us it wasnt a problem but we cant prove that

Can anyone please help as we cant get evicted, due to my health condition and he is becoming very stressed and depressed by the situation.

BitterAndTwisted

How much is your weekly rent? Usually no eviction process will begin until you owe eight weeks rent. Do not sit around waiting for things to happen! You need to get down the the Council Housing Dept's offices and get someone to look at your application as a matter of urgency.

Generally, local Authorities and Housing Associations are a great deal more lenient and understanding of arrears than private landlords BUT you must get to grips with the situation so you know what you will be awarded and then you can give them a proposal as to how you are going to clear the arrears, if there are any.

Bubbabinks

Who reckons the council won't pay?
Have you tried calling the housing benefit department at the council to clarify this with them?

If your claim is approved they usually backdate it to the date your application was submitted.

In the mean time whilst you're waiting for the claim to go through you should try to make payments towards your rent, however small that is.
If it does then go to court it will be looked on more favourably by the judge.

Call the arrears officer back at the housing association to discuss a re-payment arrangement.

Also get onto the council for an update on your claim.

BitterAndTwisted

There are three people living in this property but the only income is one person's ESA? Who's buying the food? Your father and sister need to get down to the JobCentre and start a claim each for JSA tomorrow!

martin_241

my sister has only just turned 18 so she's planning to start claiming JSA soon. Long story short she was expecting to get a job when she was 18 but theyve turned around and told her no so that screwed up things. My dad has been suffering with depression since the separation (and he has been waiting to hear from the hospital about an operation he was supposed to have 2 months ago so he's had a lot on his mind)but cant claim disability or anything as its not severe enough. I saved up a bit of money and we sold our car to get a bit of extra money.

as for the rent thing how much are we talking about a week as I can pay a little bit but literally like a tenner a week. going in council tomorrow as its 4 months rent due just that they told us we would get it and backdate it.

thanks for the advice guys.

boo1

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

There are three people living in this property but the only income is one person's ESA? Who's buying the food? Your father and sister need to get down to the JobCentre and start a claim each for JSA tomorrow!

I agree, the Housing Benefit department will want to know how you meet your general day to day living expenses if there is only one income as it is impossible for 3 people to live on one persons benefit to buy food, pay bills etc. Also, if the HB claim is in your Dads name (I assume the tenancy is in his name) then there may be non dependant charges for you and your sister. If this is the case then you will have a deduction made from any housing benefit that is awarded to you. You do need to act quickly as there is usually only four weeks to supply all information to the Housing Benefit for a claim to be processed before it is cancelled and then it is a real job to get a backdate. If your dad is under his GP for depression get a letter from the GP stating this and that he is unable to deal with paperwork, because if you do have to make a backdated claim (which normally means completing a new claim form from scratch) in my experience HB are normally sympathetic to mental health problems. Good luck.

Bubbabinks

martin_241 wrote: »

my sister has only just turned 18 so she's planning to start claiming JSA soon. Long story short she was expecting to get a job when she was 18 but theyve turned around and told her no so that screwed up things. My dad has been suffering with depression since the separation (and he has been waiting to hear from the hospital about an operation he was supposed to have 2 months ago so he's had a lot on his mind)but cant claim disability or anything as its not severe enough. I saved up a bit of money and we sold our car to get a bit of extra money.

as for the rent thing how much are we talking about a week as I can pay a little bit but literally like a tenner a week. going in council tomorrow as its 4 months rent due just that they told us we would get it and backdate it.

thanks for the advice guys.

Speak to the arrears officer, anything is better then nothing and make sure it is every week that you are paying.

martin_241

my sister is going to claim JSA tomorrow and I think dad is going to try. apparently the council didnt believe my mum had moved out so they need more proof. because she was helping us pay some of the bills because we cant afford them. told them the address she's staying now but they need a bank statement that proves the bank was stealing our money (long story short - overdrawn charges spiralled out of control and we told them that the only money going in was for direct debits which they agreed to but then took the money for their charges against their word and made us get in trouble with all our direct debits) to prove that we are financially ruined. Just to rub our nose in it