Housing benefit query

Jen_Jen1985

I posted on here a couple of months ago and received some good advice so just hoping I can get some more.

This is in regards to my bf's ex (mother of his child), last time I posted was because she had been gambling away her housing benefit and not paying her rent. She claimed she she was gonna be made homeless and was told she could no longer get housing benefit so was going to move away with her and bfs daugher.

Things went quiet until this morning when my bf phoned me up saying he had been talking to his ex again and she has told him, she has told him that she spent her next 2 months rent and has to pay the council £3k in the next 3 weeks or she is going to end up living in a YMCA with her 2 kids and no longer entitled to housing benefit. My bf is worried for his daughter and is asking everyone he can for the money to stop this happening.

Am I right in thinking, she will still be entitled to claim housing benefit but if evicted the council won't pay a deposit on a new place as they will deem her to have made herself homeless?
And it will be up to her landlord to take her to court to try to reclaim the unpaid rent (although not much hope of that as she's on benefits).
I said to my bf her best option is probably to try to scrape together a deposite for a new place and then have the council pay her housing benefit direct to her landlord so theres no chance of her having another spending spree.

On another note, does anyone know how an eviction process works, as far as I know she hasn't been been served eviction papers but from what I know its not a simple case of being told "get out by this date" and then you're gone.
For me there are a fair few holes in her story and to be honest I think shes just using my bfs daughter as an excuse to try and get money out of him.

Mrs_Arcanum

Surprised the Housing provider hasn't requested HB be paid direct to them. This is the normal route for rent arrears over 8 weeks.

doodoot

I'd be asking to see proof of everything she's claiming if you think there are holes in her story.

Also, I'd be wondering why it is that BF is allowing his daughter to stay with a gambling mother who has a total disregard for her children's welfare.

Morlock

Jen_Jen1985 wrote: »

Am I right in thinking, she will still be entitled to claim housing benefit but if evicted the council won't pay a deposit on a new place as they will deem her to have made herself homeless?

The council do not usually provide deposits for people wanting to rent properties. It is likely that she will still be able to claim housing benefit for another property. But considering that she has received housing benefit to pay the rent, and has not done so, if she is evicted the council could deem her to be 'intentionally homeless' and will not be obliged to rehouse her.

paddedjohn

Sounds like your boyfriend is being taken for a mug. Is he in a position to look after his daughter himself rather than subsidising his ex's lifestyle?

Jen_Jen1985

I think his ex knows he will do anything for his daughter and uses this against him. She sheds a few tears and says how it will affect their daughter and hes there with his wallet out. He would love to have his daughter full time but thats not possible atm, but things change in the future he wont hesitate going for full custody.

Caz3121

We had this with OHs ex, she was being evicted as her private let was sold, her and the children were going to have to live in a hostel in a rough area unless he gave her money for a nice house...he said, 'that is awful, I think the children should come and live with me then'....she stayed in her 'non-sold' private let for the next 4 years

BigAunty

Just get your boyf to ask the ex to show her the council letters on this - it sounds like a whiny exaggerated fib so while she may be able to show she has arrears and may be able to show how the council have defined her housing need if she applied for homeless, I doubt that she'll be able to show that on x date if she doesn't give them 3k, she'll end up in a hostel.

Another way for him to get to the truth, rather than just feed her gambling and blackmailing habit by handing over money, is to offer to accompany her to the council offices to sort it out. I don't expect she'll accept.

Another way to wind her up is by telling her that you've contacted the local MP about the council's outrageous abuse of their power, making her homeless unless she pays back 3k in the near future.

Some councils do operate rent deposit schemes for those on low income or in housing need - you'll need to check her local council website for the criteria if they operate it. I don't know that debts or rent arrears will be an issue to access it - should probably just be on income or need only.

If a person is in social housing, the housing benefit is paid directly to the social housing landlord so I assume she's a private tenant?

A council has no obligation to assist someone evicted from a private tenancy if it was due to their own actions, such as not paying rent when they could have or anti-social behaviour. This is a concept known as 'intentional homelessness'. However, perhaps those with dependents are protected to a degree so perhaps that's why they will put her in the YMCA as an interim step but not give her a council house? I don't know.

To understand how a local council processes a homelessness application (such as when a person is served notice by their landlord and has no security of tenure) see the Shelter website. It provides excellent info on the process, what the council check for.That site also details the eviction process, too.

Again, a local council has nothing to do with the eviction of a private tenant for rent arrears in a private property, other than advise them of their housing options if they apply as homeless.

A landlord serves notice to a tenant, then if the tenant doesn't leave, then needs to go to court to get a possession order, then if they ignore the possession order, needs to return to court to get a court appointed bailiff to enforce it.

There are two main ways of serving notice, one via an S21 (a no fault notice) or one via an S8 (if the landlord is going to cite the rent arrears as the reason. Some landlords with rent arrears will only serve the first notice, some will serve both, some will serve the latter.


If she has spent her housing benefit on things other than her rent, this is a civil matter solely between her private landlord and her. It is absolutely nothing to do with the council -they won't stop paying her housing benefit and they will not intervene between landlord and tenant (other than to allow the landlord to apply to be paid the HB directly if there are arrears).

However, if she's fraudulently claimed housing benefit and therefore has been overpaid, she might get prosecuted or might be expected to pay it back via small sums from her other benefits so she does not experience hardship. I do not believe for one minute that a council will demand a 3k HB repayment in that manner.