Housing Benefit

emmyjean82

Naf wrote: »

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

yes that is correct

Bollotom

He should give you a breakdown of exactly what he has received and dates, sort of like a rent book. It's no good him saying you owe a grand and expecting you to pick it up. At present you are just stabbing in the dark. If he gets his every 4 weeks then there are 13 payments in the year. Big Auntie summed it up perfectly. I should print off a copy of BAs post and show it to him in case he doesn't understand what he is about. I would also be down the council to see if they have made any errors and check your tenancy again to make sure there are no hidden bits like some of your rent is for service charges. Can I ask how you can prove he was taking £86-30 per week (even at 4 week period) ? :cool:

BigAunty

Lord amercy - are you under 35 and is it a room in a shared property or do you live alone in a 1 bed place to yourself?

This is key to trying to understand why your landlord is alleging such big rent arrears.

BigAunty

emmyjean82 wrote: »

yes that is correct

Okay, that means that ultimately your LHA should virtually have covered your rent since £345.20 every 4 weeks in HB is £4487.60 over the course of the year (paid in 13 periods) while your rent is £375 per month over 12 payment periods in a year £4500.

As indicated previously, they don't fully synchronise because the timings are out so there are periods where the tenant dips into arrears before catching up.

Ask your council to provide you with a list of HB payments since the start of your tenancy.

Were you entitled to any benefit run on when you started employment?

Naf

emmyjean82 wrote: »

yes that is correct

So the longest this scenario I described above could go on for is 11 months (the 12th month being when the LL would receive 2 payments), monthly he is underpaid by £29.80, so the highest these arrears could get is £327.80 in your case, and would then correct themselves.

As before, you definitely need to know exactly what your LL thinks her has received, and exactly what the council has sent. Only then can you see what discrepancy there is, if any.

emmyjean82

BigAunty wrote: »

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.

im 30 years old, and the rent was 96.30 a week, 375 a month
no, i signed off the dole, and told the council i had started work so the benefit ended, which i was aware of and is fine with me i would rather support myself

emmyjean82

Bollotom wrote: »

He should give you a breakdown of exactly what he has received and dates, sort of like a rent book. It's no good him saying you owe a grand and expecting you to pick it up. At present you are just stabbing in the dark. If he gets his every 4 weeks then there are 13 payments in the year. Big Auntie summed it up perfectly. I should print off a copy of BAs post and show it to him in case he doesn't understand what he is about. I would also be down the council to see if they have made any errors and check your tenancy again to make sure there are no hidden bits like some of your rent is for service charges. Can I ask how you can prove he was taking £86-30 per week (even at 4 week period) ? :cool:

the council sent me letters stating how much and when it was to be sent

BigAunty

Yes, there are lots of scenarios we can suggest but ultimately the OP must check the payments made by the council and hopefully secure a written breakdown from the landlord of all the occasions when he received HB.

These could include changes to HB rates that the OP was oblivious to - there were significant changes to HB in this period and while the HB claimant should have been informed, perhaps they missed letters from the council.

Perhaps the transition into employment, from HB to paying full rent was not managed very well.

Perhaps the landlord is wrong.

EDIT - perhaps when the OP started work, there is some kind of gap between the final payment of HB and the first payment by the OP of the rent from her wages since HB and wages are paid in arrears but rent is typically due in advance.

BigAunty

emmyjean82 wrote: »

im 30 years old, and the rent was 96.30 a week, 375 a month
...

It's like trying to pull teeth here - DO YOU LIVE IN A ROOM IN A SHARED PROPERTY OR DO YOU HAVE A SELF CONTAINED PROPERTY TO YOURSELF LIKE A STUDIO OR 1 BEDROOM PROPERTY? This is significant information.

If you lived by yourself in your own place, you may have been affected by the under 35 benefits changes which slashed LHA rates for them. If so, read the following. If not ignore it.

You may have had transitional protection so may not have been affected but do ask the council and read the 'when will the changes affect me' on the link below which asks you when the anniversary is of your claim.

I'm assuming the anniversary of your Local Housing Allowance claim would be June 2012 if your initial claim was June 2011 when you first moved to the property and so the rate of LHA would decrease to the shared room rate after the anniversary.

Info from the Shelter website:-


From January 2012, if you are single (without dependents), in private rented housing and aged under 35 you will only be entitled to housing benefit at the same rate as you would get for renting a single room in a shared house.

Before January 2012, the shared accommodation rate only applied to people under 25. Changes to housing benefit rules will also affect most single people aged 25 to 34 already living in privately rented self-contained accommodation. Reductions in their housing benefit will result in a shortfall between the amount of benefit paid and the rent.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/housing_benefit_if_you_are_under_35

BigAunty

emmyjean82 wrote: »

the council sent me letters stating how much and when it was to be sent

That's what they were proposing to do in the future.

Now ask them for historic statements that show the actual payments to the landlord in the past. That way you can identify that they held true to it.