Benefits Claim Denied - Help/Advice Needed Please!

MickMun

Hi all,

So hopefully I will be able to explain the situation clearly and I would appreciate any help or advice! I apologise as it's a bit of a long one!
My housemate has been unemployed for about 6 months and not been in receipt of benefits awaiting a decision regarding her claim, she has found out today that she has been rejected based on the assumption that she is my partner.

So background - I purchased a house with my housemate when we were in a relationship, however in april last year we broke up. We decided to continue living together however as the mortgage split between the two of us is far cheaper than us living seperately and we have managed to still get on relatively well (with the obvious ups and downs!) - The house is two bedroom so this has not been a problem and we now have a room each.

In September/October last year my housemate left her job due to feeling constantly bullied/harassed at work, since then she has not been successful in finding a job. She was sanctioned from benefits as she had left her job voluntarily. Despite this she has still been signing on every 2 weeks as required and met all requirements. She had savings and so continued paying her half of the mortgage and bills.
After the sanction my flatmate was then having to wait whilst her claim was investigated (afaik) after not hearing anything for a long period of time she tried several times to contact them with repeated promises of being phoned back. Finally she was told that she needed a compliance interview in order to sort out getting her benefits.

So she had a compliance interview and was told to await the result of that. In january she had applied for a dental nurse position (roughly 20 miles away) Although she never got the job they offered part time work to get some experience, however the pay would have been less than benefits when you factor in transport cost. The job centre suggested that she participate in their back to work scheme (or whatever it is called) - they would pay travel costs and she would get her benefits so she would be better off that way.
She received travel expenses but has never received any benefits during this period for working 8 weeks. She now continues to volunteer at the dental practice to try and stay active in a workplace, with the practice only covering travel costs.

As time has passed, her savings have ran out and she is no longer able to pay her half of the mortgage/bills or food which i have had to start paying. She owed me £2500 still from the initial house deposit, and now after missing a 3rd months rent she now owes me over £4000. I am confident she will pay me back when she has the money, and i had thought she would be due backdated benefits. However i am having to support her and pay for her food because she literally would not be able to eat/survive by any other method. She has no family and was brought up in care so has no family home she can return to or anyone else to seek support from.

We had hoped that we could transfer the house into just my name, to repay her debts. However my salary is not sufficient to cover the cost of the mortgage (in the banks eyes, realistically i could cover it myself) unless i put down a further deposit of £7k which i am unable to afford.

After badgering job centre today again about her benefits decision, she finally got through to someone who could give her an answer. Apparently the decision has gone against her because she is living as husband and wife with myself and that i am supporting her, and whats worse is that the decision was apparently made in december but she has not heard a single thing about it until now!! Really at the point now of not knowing what to do.....some points that bother me:

How can we prove that we are no longer a couple?! People who know us know we have separated, my housemate is also now in another relationship!

The decision to reject benefits was apparently made in december, so how come she was promised she would receive benefits as part of the back to work scheme in january.....surely she has now been made to work for 8 weeks for nothing!

Do i have to literally throw her out of the house onto the street and let her starve before they realise that she really does have no income/savings and that she is in debt??!

Help appreciated, sorry for long post!

zzzLazyDaisy

MickMun wrote: »

Do i have to literally throw her out of the house onto the street !

You can't do that, as a joint owner of the house she is entitled to live there regardless of whether she is paying her share of the mortgage.

This is not what you want to hear, but when my son and his wife separated in similar circumstances, she was expected to continue to support him until he found alternative accommodation and set up home independently (she was working, he is disabled and unable to work).

Probably the only way to de-link yourself from your gf for benefits purposes is to sell the house and each go your separate ways.

epitome

She will have to appeal. But AFAIK she will need a letter of benefits rejection for her to appeal against, it sounds like she has been told verbally over the phone. You only have 1 month to appeal (Ithink) so if the decision was made in December they might try to lie that she was told in December by letter and it is now too late to appeal.


I note (and the tribunal will also note) from your statement that you have been feeding her all this time. Yes, we all understand why you have been feeding her, but will the tribunal hold that against her? I don't know, only one way to find out....appeal.

BigAunty

Other members will tell you how to appeal this.

however, I just want to point out that she doesn't owe you rent as such because rent is paid by tenants or lodgers. As a joint owner, she owes you or the lender mortgage payments.

JSA, when it comes through at about £65 per week, will not go very far paying towards the mortgage which seems to be in the region of £500 per month if I've calculated it correctly from your post. I'm sure you are already aware she won't get housing benefit but the Shelter website does have good info for home owners struggling to pay their mortgage.

How much equity is in the property? When will you be in the position to buy her out and take over the mortgage or is selling the property an option (this is what most couples do when one can't find a lender to agree to them having a sole mortgage).

Tell her to post a SOA on the Debt Free Wanabee board (the members there will tell her how to do this) and view the info on the Direct Gov website for Debt Management.

In case she ever moves out, this info is the position on her eligibility for housing benefit (or not) at the next property. See the section about 'property you own but do not occupy'.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/rr2-a-guide-to-housing-benefit/working-it-out/income-and-capital/

joebolton

Micknun, as previously stated, your co-habitee would need to appeal the decision.
I have linked some guidance which it may be worth her while considering, as she may be able to see how the DM reached the conclusion, and allow her to consider making an appeal.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch11.pdf

MickMun

joebolton wrote: »

Micknun, as previously stated, your co-habitee would need to appeal the decision.
I have linked some guidance which it may be worth her while considering, as she may be able to see how the DM reached the conclusion, and allow her to consider making an appeal.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch11.pdf

Thanks its an interesting read. I'm a phd student and still technically therefore in full time education....could this make them re-evaluate the fact about me supporting my housemate?

MickMun

BigAunty wrote: »

How much equity is in the property? When will you be in the position to buy her out and take over the mortgage or is selling the property an option (this is what most couples do when one can't find a lender to agree to them having a sole mortgage).
/

We bought for £83k with 10% deposit put down, house was valued at 86k. Technically if sold at 86k there should be 13k equity.
I guess in this scenario she would then have money to rent a separate flat - but the reason i would prefer to avoid this is because its much cheaper to co-habit! I understand she could share with different flatmates.....but then she could be viewed as LTAHAW with whoever she moves in with as its no different a situation from now except we own the property!!!

Emmzi

just because you aren't sleeping together doesn't mean you are not LTWHAW. It sounds like that is exactly your set up!

MickMun

Emmzi wrote: »

just because you aren't sleeping together doesn't mean you are not LTWHAW. It sounds like that is exactly your set up!

I agree based upon their criteria it does seem we are LTAHAW, but yet their criteria is so ridiculously vague that basically any person that shares a flat with another person can be classed as LTAHAW or LTACP.

Perhaps the only solution is to get a 3rd flatmate and say we are all in a multiple relationship - unless i've read it wrong apparently that way we would all be treated as being single?!!!

poppy10_2

Emmzi wrote: »

just because you aren't sleeping together doesn't mean you are not LTWHAW. It sounds like that is exactly your set up!

Yep, sounds like that to me.

welshmoneylover

MickMun wrote: »

Hi all,

So hopefully I will be able to explain the situation clearly and I would appreciate any help or advice! I apologise as it's a bit of a long one!
My housemate has been unemployed for about 6 months and not been in receipt of benefits awaiting a decision regarding her claim, she has found out today that she has been rejected based on the assumption that she is my partner.

So background - I purchased a house with my housemate when we were in a relationship, however in april last year we broke up. We decided to continue living together however as the mortgage split between the two of us is far cheaper than us living seperately and we have managed to still get on relatively well (with the obvious ups and downs!) - The house is two bedroom so this has not been a problem and we now have a room each.

In September/October last year my housemate left her job due to feeling constantly bullied/harassed at work, since then she has not been successful in finding a job. She was sanctioned from benefits as she had left her job voluntarily. Despite this she has still been signing on every 2 weeks as required and met all requirements. She had savings and so continued paying her half of the mortgage and bills.
After the sanction my flatmate was then having to wait whilst her claim was investigated (afaik) after not hearing anything for a long period of time she tried several times to contact them with repeated promises of being phoned back. Finally she was told that she needed a compliance interview in order to sort out getting her benefits.

So she had a compliance interview and was told to await the result of that. In january she had applied for a dental nurse position (roughly 20 miles away) Although she never got the job they offered part time work to get some experience, however the pay would have been less than benefits when you factor in transport cost. The job centre suggested that she participate in their back to work scheme (or whatever it is called) - they would pay travel costs and she would get her benefits so she would be better off that way.
She received travel expenses but has never received any benefits during this period for working 8 weeks. She now continues to volunteer at the dental practice to try and stay active in a workplace, with the practice only covering travel costs.

As time has passed, her savings have ran out and she is no longer able to pay her half of the mortgage/bills or food which i have had to start paying. She owed me £2500 still from the initial house deposit, and now after missing a 3rd months rent she now owes me over £4000. I am confident she will pay me back when she has the money, and i had thought she would be due backdated benefits. However i am having to support her and pay for her food because she literally would not be able to eat/survive by any other method. She has no family and was brought up in care so has no family home she can return to or anyone else to seek support from.

We had hoped that we could transfer the house into just my name, to repay her debts. However my salary is not sufficient to cover the cost of the mortgage (in the banks eyes, realistically i could cover it myself) unless i put down a further deposit of £7k which i am unable to afford.

After badgering job centre today again about her benefits decision, she finally got through to someone who could give her an answer. Apparently the decision has gone against her because she is living as husband and wife with myself and that i am supporting her, and whats worse is that the decision was apparently made in december but she has not heard a single thing about it until now!! Really at the point now of not knowing what to do.....some points that bother me:

How can we prove that we are no longer a couple?! People who know us know we have separated, my housemate is also now in another relationship!

The decision to reject benefits was apparently made in december, so how come she was promised she would receive benefits as part of the back to work scheme in january.....surely she has now been made to work for 8 weeks for nothing!

Do i have to literally throw her out of the house onto the street and let her starve before they realise that she really does have no income/savings and that she is in debt??!

Help appreciated, sorry for long post!

Aside from claiming benefits, is she making a concerted effort to actually finding a paying job?

Your living arrangements are rather suspicious to me.