If a person cannot afford to pay their home rent, what happens?

BigAunty

simmed wrote: »

Scenario. A single unemployed person (on JSA), moves to a new area and expects to find work. His/her rent payments eat into his savings, he can't find any work. Eventually their saving run out and they can no longer afford rent. Do they get kicked out? If so, would the council give a temporary home?

You don't mention housing benefit which they still can claim in full if they have savings of 6k or partially as their savings approach 16k?

So this person takes themselves off to a new area and doesn't investigate their primary benefit entitlement of HB? They are savvy enough to claim JSA but have never heard of HB?!

simmed

iluvmarmite wrote: »

You say the person is already on JSA and moved to find work, I assume that means they are still claiming, then they should apply for housing benefit, it depends on age as to how much rent will be paid as under 35 will only get a shared room rate, they won't get the full rent paid if they live in a flat on their own for example.

They will only get as much rent paid as the local council think their needs are, a single person would not get the whole rent paid on a 2 bed flat or house so it's highly likely they will still end up paying a proportion of their rent out of JSA anyway.

Their is no longer a requirement for a local authority to house people in social housing now and families are in emergency accommodation or bed and breakfast places for a couple of years or so, maybe longer so a single person has virtually no hope of getting rehoused unless they are vunerable and being evicted through not paying your rent and ending up homeless is not classed as being vunerable.

I really hope you can get sorted out and maybe you can go back to your original area where your family is or friends and they can help you.

As I said in the OP this isn't about me, you should not make assumptions like that.

simmed

Ok this is complicated, let me make the scenario more clear.

1. The person moves to a new area to find work, they have some savings (e.g. £1500)
2. They live in a small shared flat
3. They are on JSA
4. They use their JSA and savings to help pay the rent. Can they also claim housing benefit? How much of the rent is the HB likely to cover?

dancingfairy

The short answer to your question is yes you should be entitled to housing benefit. The rate will depend on what local area you are in and your age. If you are under 35 I think it is then you will only get the shared room rate (even if you rent a whole house).
Best thing to do is put the details into a benefit calculator - there is one at direct.gov. It does ask you loads of questions though and is a right faff but will tell you how much benefit you are entitled to.

Step 1: work out the local housing allowance rate in your area. See here: http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/RentOfficers/LHADirect.html
This does not tell you how much you will get put you will need the local rate to put into the benefit calculator.I think you will need the LHA rate for a shared house.
Step 2: fill in the benefits checker here: https://www.gov.uk/benefits-adviser You will need the local housing allowance that you have worked out from Step 1.

Just as an example the local rate in my area is 83 a week. I actually get 44.00 a week as I am working (so get less) but the 83 is used in the calculations as a starting point.

I hope this makes some sense.
Best of Luck
df

Mrs_Arcanum

simmed wrote: »

Ok this is complicated, let me make the scenario more clear.

1. The person moves to a new area to find work, they have some savings (e.g. £1500)
2. They live in a small shared flat
3. They are on JSA
4. They use their JSA and savings to help pay the rent. Can they also claim housing benefit? How much of the rent is the HB likely to cover?

They should be claiming HB ASAP. Particularly if they are in a shared flat there should be no problems, unless of course the other occupant is also claiming HB. Then you are in to another issue related to the type of tenancy the other person may or may not have.

dancingfairy

I would assume you would get most if not all of your housing costs paid (it depends on how much you rent is compared to the local 'average') and may even get help with council tax. It depends what type of tenancy agreement you have whether you have to pay council tax and what help you'd receive with that - you need to do the benefit check to find out.
df

dancingfairy

Go down to your local council and get the forms to fill out for housing benefit as soon as possible. Make sure you have evidence of everything you can possibly think of. You will need to take your passport, rental agreement, the most recent copies of all bank accounts, savings accounts etc etc. Put everything you think you may need in a paper file and take it all down there with you if possible. They will need to take photocopies of everything from your documents and it may take them a week or 2 to process so make sure you get there as soon as possible.
df
Edit: just as an aside if the person is having trouble with their rent it does not automatically mean they will just be thrown out on the street. Landlords have to follow certain procedures and can't usually throw someone out in the middle of their contract (unless they have been to court). It may be worth the person concerned applying for benefits and finding out how much they will get and when and then communicating with the landlord.

BigAunty

simmed wrote: »

... How much of the rent is the HB likely to cover?

How long is a piece of string?

Those who haven't claimed HB in the recent past will have their HB paid in full, even if it is above their LHA rate, for the first 13 weeks, giving them ample time to make necessary changes and decisions.

If their rent falls within the Local Housing Allowance rate for a shared property in their area, then their rent will be covered in full. If their rent is above the LHA shared property rate after 13 weeks, then they will have to pay the difference out of their JSA.

It is still possible to claim the full entitlement of HB with savings of 6k and it modestly decreases as their savings are greater, until 16k wipes out any entitlement.

LHA is set at the cheapest third of local rents, meaning that 30% of properties in theory should be affordable to them. This is known as the 30th percentile. It used to be that 50% of properties were supposed to be affordable to those on LHA/HB in the private sector but this was reduced.

I don't buy your theory that someone on JSA in a new area will be sped quickly into homelessness.

Charityworker

sammyjammy wrote: »

It depends where you live. I live in Sheffield and could sell my house, bid for a one bed flat and get it within months.

Doesn't mean it wouldn't be the scariest place to live though!

Yep, took me 10 years to get to the top of the housing waiting list and was made homeless with 2 small kids twice within that time. However, my MIL and FIL just stopped paying their mortgage because they couldn't be bothered, applied for a council place and waited 2 weeks.

simmed

BigAunty wrote: »

I don't buy your theory that someone on JSA in a new area will be sped quickly into homelessness.

I think you are very confused, asking a question is not a "theory" :rotfl: