Housing Benefit

emmyjean82

For the first 2 and a half years of living in my house I was in receipt of full housing benefit, which was paid weekly, every 4 weeks directly to the landlord (at his request). However, since I got the job I'm in now 5 months ago, he's since told me that there are arrears due to him not getting enough each month. I asked how this can be seeing as I was awarded full housing benefit, which I've never really gotten a straight answer to.....he said something about per calender month, I said 'but I pay you weekly, every 4 weeks' but he won't budge, says I have to pay these arrears....but my question is, if I wasn't paying him rent and that the council were directly, shouldn't he be telling them? Or am I liable to pay?
I was claiming from June 2010 to september 2012, full housing benefit as I lived alone unemployed, there were no cuts or reductions.
Any answers and help greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Caz3121

how much the monthly rent for the flat.
How much was the housing benefit you were awarded?

If you are under 35 it may be the affect of the change from being entitled to the one bedroom rate to being only entitled to the shared room rate. This change is likely to have happened in the last 12 months for you

bloolagoon

emmyjean82 wrote: »

For the first 2 and a half years of living in my house I was in receipt of full housing benefit, which was paid weekly, every 4 weeks directly to the landlord (at his request). However, since I got the job I'm in now 5 months ago, he's since told me that there are arrears due to him not getting enough each month. I asked how this can be seeing as I was awarded full housing benefit, which I've never really gotten a straight answer to.....he said something about per calender month, I said 'but I pay you weekly, every 4 weeks' but he won't budge, says I have to pay these arrears....but my question is, if I wasn't paying him rent and that the council were directly, shouldn't he be telling them? Or am I liable to pay?
I was claiming from June 2010 to september 2012, full housing benefit as I lived alone unemployed, there were no cuts or reductions.
Any answers and help greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Are you sure you get full housing if you work?

emmyjean82

I claimed from june 2010 to september 2012, my house was between those dates 86.30 a week, I was awarded full benefit paid on a 4 weekly basis at 345.20 every 4 weeks. Please please please read my post again.
I am aware of the cuts now, but when I was claiming there was none, and my benefit never got reduced once. I am now paying full rent because as I stated above I started full time work on 5th september 2012, which is fine, its the bill the landlord gave me the minute I told him I had got a job!!!!
Thanks,

bloolagoon

Full benefit doesn't really mean anything. The council only pay a set rate based on rooms. If your rent is more you pay.

What is your rate that's set, what was the rent (and was it per month or per week) as this will result in 4 weeks underpayment over a year.

Caz3121

emmyjean82 wrote: »

I am aware of the cuts now, but when I was claiming there was none,

The cuts were announced in 2010 and came into force January 2012 with people being moved over to the revised rate on the anniversary of their claim which in your case would be June 2012 unless there was transitional protection in place....do you know if you had this?

emmyjean82

I was awarded 86.30 a week which is exactly what the rent was, but paid every 4 weeks at 345.20. He has given me a bill for nearly a 1000! That's what my worry is, because my benefit was never dropped!

Naf

You need to ask him for details of what payments he has received and when; and get a breakdown of what payments have been sent from the council.

He is right, however, that when rent is paid to him four-weekly, but due on a calendar monthly basis, arrears will form for a period, and then you'll go slightly into credit before it balancing out by the end of the year.
As an example:
Say your rent was £400 per calendar month: that's £4800 per year.
The full HB award would be £4800/52 = 92.31 a week.
Paid four weekly, only one payment would be received by your landlord each calendar month, meaning he only sees £369.23 per calendar month. All except one month where he will get two payments bringing the total for the year to be correct (369.23 x 13= £4799.99)

If he does not understand or accept this, then he should not be receiving your HB directly.
Unfortunately, you are still liable for keeping the rent up to date; so if he does not accept the explanation, you will need to clear the arrears; but then he is going to need to refund you by the end of the year when you go into credit again.

My advice, either arrange to receive your own HB and make up the perceived shortfall each month - but then get what feels like an extra payment each year. Or you'll need two track exactly what & when the LL receives HB from the council, and make up the shortfall for some of the year, and be in slight credit the rest.

Naf

emmyjean82 wrote: »

I was awarded 86.30 a week which is exactly what the rent was, but paid every 4 weeks at 345.20. He has given me a bill for nearly a 1000! That's what my worry is, because my benefit was never dropped!

Then your rent is £375 per calendar month, yes?

BigAunty

emmyjean82 wrote: »

...he said something about per calender month, I said 'but I pay you weekly, every 4 weeks'

Quite often, tenancies require monthly payment while benefit payment is every 4 weeks. They become out of synch because most claimants assume there is 4 weeks to each calendar month, but there isn't because there are often more than 28 days each month.

Over time arrears can accrue, because there is slippage between when rent is due and payment is received due to the monthly rent/4 weekly HB - you may assume you've paid 3 months rent with 3 HB payments every 4 weeks but there's actually 13 weeks in that period, not 12 so you owe a week. Your landlord is perhaps talking about the misalignment.

It is your responsibility to ensure that if x sum of rent is due on x date it is paid, even though these cycles may be out of synch, rather than sleepwalking into arrears because you aren't monitoring the fact that they don't correspond.

emmyjean82 wrote: »

... my question is, if I wasn't paying him rent and that the council were directly, shouldn't he be telling them? Or am I liable to pay?

You are the tenant, you are the one that holds the contract with the landlord, the method of payment and the source of the payment (council) is irrelevant - the council does not have a tenancy or legal relationship with the landlord, only you do, via your HB claim. You have a relationship with both the council and the landlord, he only has a legal relationship with you. Quite often, councils will not discuss HB claims with anyone other than the tenant due to the data protection act.

These arrears are your responsibility to resolve, not the landlord with the council. Arrears can have serious repercussions. One thing that landlords really hate, according to posts I've seen on landlord forums, is that some HB tenants see their rent problems as something that others are responsible for making and should sort out, they don't take ownership of their own tenancy and rent payments, and are passive about it. This issue is your issue. See the Shelter website for info on how to deal with rent arrears.

Ask the landlord for a breakdown in the arrears so you can arrange a repayment schedule. You should also make your own list which will list in columns in the same time span when rent was due and when it was paid, then total them up.

BigAunty

emmyjean82 wrote: »

I was awarded 86.30 a week which is exactly what the rent was, but paid every 4 weeks at 345.20. He has given me a bill for nearly a 1000! That's what my worry is, because my benefit was never dropped!

You haven't actually stated what your monthly rent is, just your HB. Also, you need to tell forum members your age and if you are in a 1 bedroom property by yourself or in shared accommdation. - HB was slashed for the under 35s last year.

If your landlord claims you have arrears of £1000, this is the equivalent of perhaps around 3 months rent, an enormous sum.

However, over a 2.5 year period, if you've been modestly underpaying the rent because your HB sum doesn't tally with this, then this could be a realistic scenario. So, too, if you are under 35 and oblivious to the HB changes.