Should I apply for housing benefit for rented property?

littleboop

Hello all, after some advice really!

I'm due to move into a new rented flat on Friday with my partner. We are moving to a new town as there are no opportunities where we currently live. We both have degrees but after 3 years graduated we still have pub jobs.

My partner has a job lined up for the move as he could transfer with his work as its for a big pub chain. I am currently applying for work, but have not heard anything back yet after 6 weeks and so have started to applying for job seekers for the move (reluctantly as I hoped to have something lined up as soon as possible but money is so tight).

As we are currently living with my partners parents until the move we haven't looked into housing benefit or council tax benefit etc. as we don't currently qualify. But I've heard that LAs react badly when you say you're on benefits even though my partner works he's only on about £13,000 a year and is currently supporting both of us, all bills, food etc. I know a lot of agencies say no DSS on their listings and I don't want to cause problems with them refusing us to rent the property or asking for extra fees. Although to be honest I can't remember if our LA said they flat out refused DSS, but they are charging extortionate fees for absolutely everything else so it wouldn't surprise me.

I don't know whether the small amount of money we might be entitled to is worth the problems we might encounter when trying to get the LA to fill out the forms. Especially if its only for the short term (hopefully!)

Any advice, or people experienced this problem? Thanks

Hump

Housing benefit (HB) is paid into your bank account, there's no need for your landlord to know. If you're on £13k household income then your lettings agent must already know there's a chance you'd be claiming HB. However you may find your household income is too high to get any help. Most Councils have online calculators to give you an indication of your entitlement - otherwise you could try http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Werdnal

Hump wrote: »

Housing benefit (HB) is paid into your bank account, there's no need for your landlord to know. If you're on £13k household income then your lettings agent must already know there's a chance you'd be claiming HB. However you may find your household income is too high to get any help. Most Councils have online calculators to give you an indication of your entitlement - otherwise you could try http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Although it is correct the HB is paid direct into your account and no longer goes to your LL, many HB departments request a copy of the TA to verify your claim, and they sometimes contact the LL to check.

TBH, if I had new tenants who failed to tell me they were on HB, and I later found out, I would wonder what else they were trying to hide. A LL/LA will require full credit check on prospective tenants aswell, so may wonder whether you could afford the rent on your current single income - maybe a successful HB claim would put their mind at rest that you are able to cover rent, bills etc.

I have let my flat for 11 years now, and one previous and our current tenant are HB supported and never been a problem to me, even when I let through an agent!

littleboop

TBH, if I had new tenants who failed to tell me they were on HB, and I later found out, I would wonder what else they were trying to hide. A LL/LA will require full credit check on prospective tenants aswell, so may wonder whether you could afford the rent on your current single income - maybe a successful HB claim would put their mind at rest that you are able to cover rent, bills etc.

We've already had the credit check and we meet the minimum earnings to rent the flat, its only a cheap 1 bedroom so it wasn't hard to meet requirements. I've phoned them to confirm today and they said we can move in as planned on Friday. When we filled out the application forms for the flat I wasn't in the process of applying for benefits so just put my earnings as £0 which was true at the time. Do they need to know if I start receiving benefits/start a new job if they have already cleared us? I never told my last LA about any changes in employment.

theartfullodger

If you are entitled to any benefit (child benefit, OAP pension, free 'bus pass, HB/LHA..) you should apply & it is no business of the LL that you do so...

Cheers!


Artful (LL since 2000)