[Help] Council Tax + Housing Benefit

pineapple123

I can understand you being angry but that will not help the situation £4,000 is alot of money to repay. Take a deep breath and have a think as Housing benefit officer (reply 10 ) has given you some excellent pointers in ways you or your friend can provide evidence to prove you where not living at your mothers home. You have left home quite a while now and you or your friend must have informed someone with regards to you living there , Tax office, mobile contact etc you must have something offical to prove you lived there and as others have said a letter from a friend Im sorry to say is not worth the paper its written on.


just a thought do you drive where is your insurance address, did you pay regular by cheque every month or was it paid every month into his bank account, did you have a rent book etc.

Dunroamin

Jordxn wrote: »

Hello,

I can provide them with the date as it's when I started my employment, but I can only get my friend to write a letter as I don't think he contacted the mortgage company to make them aware of me staying at the address. I paid him £200 cash a month to stay at his house.

I assume I'm still at my Mother's address on the electoral roll, but I've never voted.

I haven't seen my doctor in 3 years, I didn't see the point of changing doctor. I've never suffered from any major illnesses.

Yes, all of my letters are registered/sent to my Mother's address, I go back once a week to pick them up.

It looks like the odds are just not in my favour with this.

You're right - you sound as if you've really dropped her in it!

poppasmurf_bewdley

Having read this thread, it is obvious that Housing Benefit Officers has hit the nail on the head, and that you need to take heed of what HBO has said and provide your council with documentation to prove that what you say is true.

This will then solve most of the problem.

The only difficulty will be if you are unable to provide proof of the items HBO has outlined.

You do seem to be ignoring his post.

Jordxn

pineapple123 wrote: »

I can understand you being angry but that will not help the situation £4,000 is alot of money to repay. Take a deep breath and have a think as Housing benefit officer (reply 10 ) has given you some excellent pointers in ways you or your friend can provide evidence to prove you where not living at your mothers home. You have left home quite a while now and you or your friend must have informed someone with regards to you living there , Tax office, mobile contact etc you must have something offical to prove you lived there and as others have said a letter from a friend Im sorry to say is not worth the paper its written on.

Thank you for your reply, sorry if It appears that I'm angry - it's just very stressful to hear that they expect my Mum to pay this amount of money. She tries her bloody hardest to get a job, she never has a holiday, she never has any money, she doesn't go on luxury days out to get away from it all. She has nothing, yet they expect her to pay so much money.

I have looked at Housing Benefit Officer's post and it's the perfect explanation to my problem, but I haven't changed anything.

I haven't changed my address for anything. I don't vote on the electoral roll or changed the address. I haven't changed my doctor. I haven't changed the address of where my bills go to. I haven't paid my friend by bank transfer, I just give him cash every month. My friend hasn't notified his mortgage company and my friend doesn't receive a council tax discount. I register everything to my mum's address as I go there once a week to pick my letters up and see her. It's only until I looked at her council letters that I knew she is having a problem with them. She doesn't know what to do or where she stands, she doesn't read all the mumbo jumbo terms and conditions, because this isn't what my Mum is capable of doing. I will seek help from her doctor and whoever else, but what can I do? should I just pay the amount? or what? should I move back home and just pay the rent? They want £90 a week as far I know.

princessdon

Jordxn wrote: »

I only stayed at his house, I'm not sure if he notified the mortgage company. I just paid him £200 a month for the 4 weeks. There was no official agreement between me and him.

Past term, where do you live now?

Your mum got letters every year, she can't say she didn't know.

There is plenty proof you moved out. Mobile phone address, credit card, bank accounts, electoral role, tenancy agreement etc.

If you have none, they'll assume you still live there as of course they won't take your word for it, they check many things like credit history etc.

Dovah_diva

So what's actually happened is that your Mum has been claiming a wide array of benefits for years. You got a job and failed to notify the relevant authorities so Mum carried on claiming all the benefits should could. Mum got found out. You are now claiming that you actually moved out. However, you did not bother to change your correspondence address, the electoral roll, your details with your GP, your bank, driving licence (passport?) - in fact, you told no one in authority at all. Be interesting to know what your employment details show as your home address.

Your 'friend' with whom you have lived failed to notify anyone either.

Given all the facts above, I think it is perfectly right and fair that your Mother pays back her overpaid benefits. You can help. I don't believe that you moved out at all and you certainly can't prove you did, so you and Mum are stuffed.

Jordxn

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Having read this thread, it is obvious that Housing Benefit Officers has hit the nail on the head, and that you need to take heed of what HBO has said and provide your council with documentation to prove that what you say is true.

This will then solve most of the problem.

The only difficulty will be if you are unable to provide proof of the items HBO has outlined.

You do seem to be ignoring his post.

What's wrong with the people on this site? you seem to make so many assumptions as If I'm not reading what you are all saying. I have read and understood all of your replies. I replied to HBO and said "That's exactly it" but he edited the last part of that post and I didn't see what he added as the discussion moved onto the next page. HBO's 4th point wasn't there when he first posted that reply...just a heads up before you make assumptions such as "you seem to be ignoring his post"

Jordxn

Dovah_diva wrote: »

So what's actually happened is that your Mum has been claiming a wide array of benefits for years. You got a job and failed to notify the relevant authorities so Mum carried on claiming all the benefits should could. Mum got found out. You are now claiming that you actually moved out. However, you did not bother to change your correspondence address, the electoral roll, your details with your GP, your bank, driving licence (passport?) - in fact, you told no one in authority at all. Be interesting to know what your employment details show as your home address.

Your 'friend' with whom you have lived failed to notify anyone either.

Given all the facts above, I think it is perfectly right and fair that your Mother pays back her overpaid benefits. You can help. I don't believe that you moved out at all and you certainly can't prove you did, so you and Mum are stuffed.

No, you clearly think my Mum is one of those people who get to go on luxury 2 week holidays every year, who get to fully furnish their home, who get a wide screen TV in the living room, all courtesy of the government and local authority. No, she gets none of that, and she doesn't want any of that, she just wants the help she needs. She has tried to find a job, it hasn't worked for her, so before you start preaching on your high horse, maybe you should consider that not everyone on JSA and benefits is reaping the luxury lifestyle and not everyone is capable of work. My mum doesn't know what to do with these situations, hence why I've stepped in to try and sort it out. It was only the other week when she told me about the letters, she can't cope or deal with them, she doesn't know what to do. You can believe what you want, I only pay my friend to rent a room...didn't realize you had to change everything over...even though I don't know how long term this will be...I don't want to go through the effort of changing addresses on all of my stuff, fair enough if the room was a permanent solution, but it's not...it's only until I rent my own property or share with someone else who doesn't have a partner. It's not long term and it wasn't an official agreement. I just give him money every month, just so I can eat, wash and sleep somewhere. I'm only 19 years old, I'm new to all of this myself, which is why I have come to this site for help.

I seem to be getting more people bashing me for no reason, rather than the actual help and advice I need.

If you're hear to doubt or make assumptions then don't bother posting, your input simply isn't needed. I just want to find out what I can do if anything, or would it be best to just pay the bill and update all of my addresses?

pineapple123

If you have no way of getting any evidence that you live somewhere else then I think there is very little you can do to get this overpayment squashed.
It is unfortunate for your mother and yourself that no one informed anyone of your change of address.

I think your mother will have to pay up but because she is on benefits she would be paying only what she could afford back each week however she will find money tight as it is both your fault (hindsight if only) then you should also shoulder some of the repayment as well.

We live and learn and this is an expensive lesson however well done for getting a job in the first place.

Dovah_diva

Jordxn wrote: »

No, you clearly think my Mum is one of those people who get to go on luxury 2 week holidays every year, who get to fully furnish their home, who get a wide screen TV in the living room, all courtesy of the government and local authority. No, she gets none of that, and she doesn't want any of that, she just wants the help she needs. She has tried to find a job, it hasn't worked for her, so before you start preaching on your high horse, maybe you should consider that not everyone on JSA and benefits is reaping the luxury lifestyle and not everyone is capable of work. My mum doesn't know what to do with these situations, hence why I've stepped in to try and sort it out. It was only the other week when she told me about the letters, she can't cope or deal with them, she doesn't know what to do. You can believe what you want, I only pay my friend to rent a room...didn't realize you had to change everything over...even though I don't know how long term this will be...I don't want to go through the effort of changing addresses on all of my stuff, fair enough if the room was a permanent solution, but it's not...it's only until I rent my own property or share with someone else who doesn't have a partner. It's not long term and it wasn't an official agreement. I just give him money every month, just so I can eat, wash and sleep somewhere. I'm only 19 years old, I'm new to all of this myself, which is why I have come to this site for help.

I seem to be getting more people bashing me for no reason, rather than the actual help and advice I need.

If you're hear to doubt or make assumptions then don't bother posting, your input simply isn't needed. I just want to find out what I can do if anything, or would it be best to just pay the bill and update all of my addresses?

No, I think your Mum has committed benefit fraud. 19 years of claiming benefits is clearly not enough. Fact is, neither you nor she can prove she hasn't. So she is going to have to pay the money back.

Advise is change all your details asap and get your Mum some legal advice. If you're paying so little in rent you can afford to pay for it for her - and help out with her overpayment.