People not councils will beat new housing rules

whalster

I had meant to post this on here last week following the telephone call but still shake my head in disbelief and a little admiration for the people involved.
In brief – we have a young girl in a very small one bedroom flat, she has been looked after by social services prior and since moving in nearly a year ago .She has since given birth to a baby now around 3 weeks old having a long standing on off boyfriend.
We have been fully expecting a phone call to say she is giving notice as I have said above it is not suitable in my opinion for a mother and baby .
Her social worker rang last week saying that she had applied for housing benefit on a 2 bedroom property and had been turned down as our local authority deemed her flat to be adequate and would we mind giving her two months notice as then they would be obliged to re-house her .
What a silly state things are when you have 2 different sections of the same local authority working seemingly against each other .
We have given her the notice as it is the right thing to do ,the new welfare reforms have been put in place by people who have a whole cupboard full of intellectual tools at their disposal , its just a great shame they chose the axe.

brit1234

Why is a 1 bed not sufficient? Its not as the child is a teenager in need of own space.

Looks like the tax payer is again being shafted.

lighting_up_the_chalice

whalster wrote: »

Her social worker rang last week saying that she had applied for housing benefit on a 2 bedroom property and had been turned down as our local authority deemed her flat to be adequate and would we mind giving her two months notice as then they would be obliged to re-house her .
What a silly state things are when you have 2 different sections of the same local authority working seemingly against each other .

Her Social Worker is being less than honest with you. She is ENTITLED to the 2 bed rate of LHA regardless of her current living circs. That would apply if she was currently living in a shoe box, or a mansion.

They want you to serve notice so that she can use (abuse?) the homeless route into social housing.

lighting_up_the_chalice

As an aside, the cynical landlord would be increasing the rent, not issuing notice.

whalster

Ok I may be a pushover and believe me this is not the case however for whatever reason in my mind the circumstance remains the same ,it is not the right flat at the right time for her

Fire_Fox

So instead of just moving into a two bedroom privately rented flat and claiming housing benefit she will leap up the queue for social housing, meaning that another family who has been waiting longer won't get housed. Well done.

The next step is you will be asked to take her to court to evict, or she will be deemed to have voluntarily made herself homeless, many overstretched councils are advising tenants to sit it out.

lighting_up_the_chalice

As a landlord, that's not really his problem. The Social Worker, however, has acted in a deplorable way. The irony is that, if they keep giving this sort of miss-information to landlords, they may well eventually find themselves wondering why they are spending ever increasing amounts of their time visiting young mums in grotty bed and breakfasts.

tbs624

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

Her Social Worker is being less than honest with you. She is ENTITLED to the 2 bed rate of LHA regardless of her current living circs. That would apply if she was currently living in a shoe box, or a mansion.

I may be wrong but I read Walster's comment as his T having been turned down in her application for the 2 bedroomed property itself

lighting_up_the_chalice

tbs624 wrote: »

I may be wrong but I read Walster's comment as his T having been turned down in her application for the 2 bedroomed property itself

The OP said she applied for Housing Benefit on a 2 bedroom property and had been turned down by the local authority as they deemed her flat to be adequate. Hmmm... If you substitute "Housing Benefit" with "Social Housing" (not a million miles apart) you could be right.

Perhaps the OP could clarify.

Madjock

The fact is that she is adequately housed until the child is at least 12 months old, and come next April she would have to pay 14% of her rent for under-occupation, if she was housed in a 2 bedroom property. And she is not "entitled" to any LHA if she moves to social housing.

lighting_up_the_chalice

Madjock wrote: »

The fact is that she is adequately housed until the child is at least 12 months old, and come next April she would have to pay 14% of her rent for under-occupation, if she was housed in a 2 bedroom property. And she is not "entitled" to any LHA if she moves to social housing.

No she wouldn't.

As soon as the child was born, she would no longer be liable for the bedroom tax if she was in a 2 bed Social Housing property.