Can she claim back Council house overcharge of rent ?.

amberz

My friends been since 2000 filling out forms for rent rebate as single working mum, she's been continually told by people it's not correct, but friend thought as she handed in the rebate forms then it must be correct. Recently she was finding it increasingly difficult to pay her rent, made an appointment to speak to council and the lady told her she could not understand it but yes, she has been overpaying for years. They have sent her a box with all the back years rent charges she has payed. No letter to say what she has to do with it lol. Can anyone give me advise to pass onto her?. She owed them £46 only once in those years and they had her wages arrested. Different when shoes on the tenants foot I fear though consumers rights woman said she wouldnt get anything off them, wasnt helpfull really and was very vague with her. Maybe tooooo much to go through eh? hahaha. Anyway please let me know if there is any way she can claim back.

Horseunderwater

Not too sure if she can get it back, but she may be able to get the overpayments set against her current rent perhaps. That would be the route I'd go. After all they have had effectively 12 years of overpayments. Has your mate added it all up? Did that letter state what her rent was and then how much she paid weekly - you'd need to find that info out if not.

wayne0

rent is basically an account, just like a bank account etc...

there should be a positive balance that she can either ask for a cheque to be sent to her to settle it back to 0, or not pay until said balance is 0...

if your refering to housing benefit...
say her rent is £200. she earns £200, she legally needs 71 (not certain if this is the right amount) so housing benefit should pay £71 towards her rent, plus certain disregards for her working etc...)

if you mean she did not get this housing benefit, usually it cannot be back dated... before she first requested it, and i doubt they would pay back more than say 3 months in any occurance... it was her job to chase it up...

same goes with council tax benefit...

what your friend needs if its the fact her rent was say 80 week, she was paying 85 a week, then this money should be clear on her account balance...

ask for a statement of the account... (rental accounts should send out a statement of balances as far as im aware with social housing... - my midland heart housing association did when i was living in birmingham) - we often paid £10 a week over so as we could have a couple of weeks "free" over christmas...

amberz

She filled her form for rent rebate/council tax rebate everytime she was asked to, and always said she had to pay full rent, we all told her it was wrong, and she said she had asked them to check it many times and they said it was correct. The lady at council said she cannot understand it specially with all the queries. One thing we cant understand is among the years she paid full rent, she now and then had a rebate on council tax lol. She worked 16hrs per wk, therefore should have had rebate. Bar work has always been bassic rate by law. so wasnt like she was making a good wage. I'll let you all know the outcome. She has only ever owed the once and before she could get it payed they had arrested her wages but I mistakenly blamed council for this but it was counciltax who arrested her wages. Really isnt fair tho is it? As I said if we owed then? we would be evicted by now lol thanx for the input folks...

amberz

oops sorry forgot to add They have sent her a box full of her account statements which date back to the year 2000. She hasnt asked them for this, they just sent it to her llast week. Maybe for her to go through.

wayne0

rent rebate... im guessing you mean housing benefit...

this would depend on how much her rent is, and hor much she was being paid

also her circumstances...
is she single/parent or?

go through all assesment letters they sent back to her~?

Mara69

You are not being at all clear. Try to answer the following questions:

1. Are you referring to housing benefit when you talk of rent rebate?
2. Are you telling us that your friend has been paying full rent on her council home, when she was actually entitled to housing benefit?
3. Is she now in receipt of housing benefit?
4. Is her rent account now in credit?

IF it were the case that she was entitled to claim housing benefit and did not, she can apply for her current claim to be backdate (I think for three months). She'll need to demonstrate good reason for not claiming previously. Ignorance of entitlement is not considered good reason. If, however, she has something in writing that states she was not entitled when she actually was, that will help.

If her rent account is in credit she is entitled to write to her landlord and request a refund. Depending on how much it is for, it might be wiser to leave it on the account as a buffer.