Housing Benefit, already paid rent?

wiggywoo9

Hi

I've got a HA flat, I paid all my rent in advance to mid-July, I didn't realise I could get HB as I was a student but now told I will get it paid from 13th May onwards.

As I've already paid this rent, what can I do with the money? Will the council check that this exact money is going to rent, cos I have already paid it?

I did ask for backdated as I could've got it from the start of renting- I didn't know I could get HB then as a student and lone parent and desperately needed the flat after being homeless so just put all my loan into the rent to secure it. They said they won't backdate cos its not a good enough cause that I didn't know I could get it, saying my uni could've told me. I went to the uni's housing bit when I had nowhere to go and all they did was help put me up as a temporary lodger with my son. I asked then about what I could get and they said no, my loan was to be used for housing? Not sure what to do there, might appeal but hey, at least its paid.

Thanks.

Nada666

It does not matter for such a short period. You are entitled to the housing benefit. You pocket it and pay the rent with whichever income you like. It does not matter that some rent has already been paid in advance.

Housing benefit often takes longer to settle than other streams - initial payments very rarely end up being for rent.

jamie11

The money is yours. If you took out a loan to pay in advance then pay the loan back with it. Anything left over look after it.

baza52

isn't HB paid direct to to the HA?
If it was a private rent and LHA it would be different.

mazza111

If it's been paid direct to the HA you can ask your HA for a refund on what you are overpaid. I had to do this with my LA when I first went onto benefits. I kept paying my rent until they had sorted out the HB and got it all refunded

fluffymovie

wiggywoo9 wrote: »

Hi

I've got a HA flat, I paid all my rent in advance to mid-July, I didn't realise I could get HB as I was a student but now told I will get it paid from 13th May onwards.

As I've already paid this rent, what can I do with the money? Will the council check that this exact money is going to rent, cos I have already paid it?

I did ask for backdated as I could've got it from the start of renting- I didn't know I could get HB then as a student and lone parent and desperately needed the flat after being homeless so just put all my loan into the rent to secure it. They said they won't backdate cos its not a good enough cause that I didn't know I could get it, saying my uni could've told me. I went to the uni's housing bit when I had nowhere to go and all they did was help put me up as a temporary lodger with my son. I asked then about what I could get and they said no, my loan was to be used for housing? Not sure what to do there, might appeal but hey, at least its paid.

Thanks.

Hi there

Backdating is tricky and it's not for the LA to say what other steps you could have taken to find out about your entitlement so I would not put too much stock in the fact that they have said Uni could have told you. Your friend could have told you, you could have heard about it on the tv, none of these are really relevant.

The regs say that in order to qualify for a backdated benefit, you must have acted as a reasonable person would act and that means finding out about all your entitlements as soon as you required them. We have a phrase which is "ignorance of the scheme is not good cause" and this has been upheld numerous times by Tribunals.

With regards to the payment, we would not check what you had spent it on so you could use it for other things or to keep incase your claim gets suspended for any reason and you have to find a shortfall.