Outstanding rent

jayship

A friend let his property out to his brother as he had to relocate with his work. However his brother was on housing benefit and has paid the rent regularly Recently he failed his DWP medical test as they felt that he is fit to work Suddenly they stopped most of his benefit including housing. The property is in London.

Hence he has not paid the rent for 2 months and his brother as the landlord is unable to continue paying the mortgage. He is left with no choice but to serve a S21 plus Section8 notice to vacate the property. This would mean that his brother and his family will be homeless and the local council may be forced to accomodate them or reinstate the housing benefit.

He issued a AST for 12 months which ends in August 2013. He is anxious to know that he follows the right procedure as he feels helpless that he may be forced to make his family member homeless. No deposit was ever asked or paid.

His brother has appealed but is not confident that he will succeed. With 3 kids to look after and no money coming in has left him depressed and heartbroken.

How can he have the Housing Benefit reinstated immediately and stop him becoming homeless?
What are his options?
Can DWP stop his benefit and put him in the above scenario without recourse to some financial help until his hearing or until he is able to work?

Thoughts from forum members will be appreciated.

Manchee

jayship wrote: »

A friend let his property out to his brother as he had to relocate with his work. However his brother was on housing benefit and has paid the rent regularly Recently he failed his DWP medical test as they felt that he is fit to work Suddenly they stopped most of his benefit including housing.

Hence he has not paid the rent for 2 months and his brother as the landlord is unable to continue paying the mortgage. He is left with no choice but to serve a S21 plus Section8 notice to vacate the property. This would mean that his brother and his family will be homeless and the local council may be forced to accomodate them or reinstate the housing benefit.

He issued a STA for 12 months which ends in August 2013. He is anxious to know that he follows the right procedure as he feels helpless that he may be forced to make his family member homeless. No deposit was ever asked or paid.

His brother has appealed but is not confident that he will succeed. With 3 kids to look after and no money coming in has left him depressed and heartbroken.

How can he have the Housing Benefit reinstated immediately and stop him becoming homeless?
What are his options?
Can DWP stop his benefit and put him in the above scenario without recourse to some financial help until his hearing or until he is able to work?

Thoughts from forum members will be appreciated.

I cannot advise about the rest of this, but regarding his HB being stopped, I was in the same position about a year ago, a while after being made redundant. All my benefits were stopped as they assumed that my volunteer position had turned into a paid position for some reason.

I would advise him to see citizens advice. They helped me appeal mine. But be warned, even if he does appeal it could take a long time to get to appeal. By the time they decided they had made a mistake I was so, so far in debt (sure they give you the money back they owe you, but what about all charges for being in debt and the interest??). It took months and months to even hear back from them, let alone for them to get round to sorting out my case.

As for his housing situation, again this may change from council to council, but if he leaves before actually being evicted by the courts his council may deem him as being 'voluntarily' homeless and wont give any housing help, so his brother (the Landlord) is prob going to have to push it through the courts to get an eviction, and so is prob in for a while longer of not being able to afford the mortgage. There maybe financial help for the brother who is the tenant in the form of a crisis loan, but again this would depend on your council and his individual situation. But if he is given this loan, whos to say he would use it on rent? I know when I was in that situation my priority was not freezing or starving to death. In any case, he needs to get him self down to his local housing office asap.

RAS

Two things

1. Even if the brother has faled a DWP test, he should still be getting his housing benefit paid although he may have to make a new application.

2. If the rent is two months in arrears, the friend can ask that the Council pays the LHA direct to him, limiting the amount of debt he gets into on the mortgage.

pmlindyloo

RAS wrote: »

Two things

1. Even if the brother has faled a DWP test, he should still be getting his housing benefit paid although he may have to make a new application.

2. If the rent is two months in arrears, the friend can ask that the Council pays the LHA direct to him, limiting the amount of debt he gets into on the mortgage.

The brother must have his HB reinstated and backdated to when it stopped.

This is a 'quirk' of the system that all benefits stop when one does (must be some alert on the computer system. )

So, all being good there will be no need for any action.

Manchee

RAS wrote: »

1. Even if the brother has faled a DWP test, he should still be getting his housing benefit paid although he may have to make a new application.

It certainly didnt work like that for me. From what I have been told if your benefits have stopped, the HB people generally want to see the outcome of any appeal before sorting out the HB. Thats how it worked for me anyway.

Yorkie1

OP, you mention an "STA". Is the property in Scotland or England / Wales?

G_M

jayship wrote: »

...
He issued a STA for 12 months which ends in August 2013.

A 'Shorthold Tenancy Agreement' is Scottish. The law, and procedure, is very different to England Wales.

Or do you mean 'AST'?

A bit late now, but for others considering doing the same, read this post:

And don't let to friends or family - only to people you will be willing to evict if you have to, and losing whose friendship you are not concerned about.

jayship

The property is in London.
I should have used AST.
Not STA as mentioned in my original post which i have now amended.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention and sorry for the mistake.
Thanks to those who have replied so far and sharing their thoughts and experience.

pmlindyloo

Manchee wrote: »

It certainly didnt work like that for me. From what I have been told if your benefits have stopped, the HB people generally want to see the outcome of any appeal before sorting out the HB. Thats how it worked for me anyway.

Housing benefit can be linked to a claim for JSA, ESA or IS.

However, HB can also be paid if you are on a low income. Therefore, the brother should be able to make a claim based on his low income.

G_M

The government (via DWP) are getting stricter on incapacity benefit claims and similar. If he has failed the medical, he will not receive the benefits.

If his appeal is successful, it will be backdated.

He may be eligible toother benefits eg via Jobseekers so could look into this.

He will not be re-housed by the council unless he is made homeless, which means he must be evicted by a court order.

As I said, letting to family is not wise (as this shows) - either brother allows him to stay rent-free.... or evicts him via a S8 Notice for rent arrears.

Manchee

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Housing benefit can be linked to a claim for JSA, ESA or IS.

However, HB can also be paid if you are on a low income. Therefore, the brother should be able to make a claim based on his low income.

Yes thats the key word, should. In reality it doesnt work like that if you already have an ongoing claim.

When I was in my situation, I appealed for my HB to be reinstated, I also submitted another claim based on the fact I didnt have a penny coming in, in an attempt to get some kind of money to survive on. They didnt want to know, I was told different things every time I called. It appears that on the local council systems once one benefit is suspended they all are and any individual appeals that is made for each benefit is looked at as a single appeal. All they tell you is that it is being looked at, but what they are waiting for is to hear the outcome of the appeal for the benefit that was originally suspended. I wrote countless letters, got my local mp involved, phoned god knows how many times with no result. The day I got the letter saying I had won my JSA appeal I called the HB people and told them, within something like 3 days my HB was reinstated and back dated.