Housing benefit for living at a B&B?

AlasInWonderland

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, or if I've missed the relevant info when scouring the government / council websites, but I'm wondering if anyone knows whether it's possible to claim Housing Benefit for staying at a B&B please?

The reason I ask is that, although I own a house (had to pay cash for a 'doer-upper' out of my redundancy money and former house sale proceeds after losing my job in June), it's basically uninhabitable due to the amount of work that's ended up needing to be done and the fact that I've run out of funds at the point where the back-boiler system and lead piping had to be ripped out, leaving no hot water or heating system...

Anyway, I thought I was doing 'the right thing' by registering property ownership for electoral roll purposes - but darn me for playing by the rules! Turns out that as the property is classed as uninhabitable then I should file for council tax exemption, but apparently I can't do that unless I have another permanent address at which I live - but I don't... I'm paying a monthly fee to store my furniture/belongings whilst sofa-hopping with whichever kind people will have me on a rota(ish) basis. As I've had to pay £160 for only 3 months insurance on my house due to it being an unoccupied 'risk' then I have to, somehow, move into it within the next 2 months... so renting somewhere doesn't seem to be an option given that the shortest tenancy terms I've found are 6 months and benefits office said they won't pay the deposit anyway.

I've tried to look into some way of getting help to have heating system installed but as i'm not a parent or disabled then I don't qualify - I was even told yesterday that I could have help but I'm on "the wrong type of JSA" (seems I made the mistake of working my whole adult life, so darn me for being on Contribution-based JSA!!)

Oh, and of course I'm applying for every ruddy job i'm physically capable of doing, cos that's the preferred way out of this situation!

Dunroamin

Why does having no heating system or hot water make a house uninhabitable?

AlasInWonderland

Umm... I guess I could end up with hypothermia come winter.. and I won't be able to maintain hygiene etc very effectively

jacques_chirac

AlasInWonderland wrote: »

Umm... I guess I could end up with hypothermia come winter.. and I won't be able to maintain hygiene etc very effectively

You said you would be moving in within two months, which is why you do not want a longer term let?

Your story is very confusing!

Assuming the property is worth more than £16,000 you will not be eligible for housing benefit as you have capital in a property that is not your main residence.

nannytone_2

you can boil a kettle for hot water and its august, so snow is unlikely

Dunroamin

AlasInWonderland wrote: »

Umm... I guess I could end up with hypothermia come winter.. and I won't be able to maintain hygiene etc very effectively

Of course, everybody died of hypothermia before central heating became common and everybody stank before they had hot running water.:D

AlasInWonderland

No, I said I HAD to move in within two months as the 'unoccupied property' insurance expires then, and I can't afford to renew it.

The only reason it's not my main residence is because I ran out of money due to unforeseen circs, before I could get the necessary heating work installed.

i'm not wanting housing benefit for that house as I don't need it. i'm in a catch-22 situation because JSA are saying my next due benefit will be stopped as I can't give them a permanent residential address, yet Council are saying I can't be exempt from paying council tax on it for the same reason - thus meaning i'm expected to pay council tax out of fresh air?

I know that the people who've been kind enough to put me up over the past couple of months can't continue to do so, not that they'd make it v.obvious, so I need a permanent (even for 2 months) residence so that I can register for the ct exemption and fathom out how the hell I can get the place sorted out in the time I have left on the insurance.

AlasInWonderland

You know what? I'm sorry I bothered asking for help on here - my mistake of thinking that this was a 'help' forum, when clearly it's an excuse for people to fire hostility at others who are in vulnerable / confusing situations.

I'm terribly sorry my limbs haven't fallen off, i'm not at death's door or my situation doesn't appear grave enough to tweak the more humane aspects of your personas, so I'll bow out and find some other way of getting genuine advice.

nannytone_2

you dont need a permenant address for benefits.
just use the address of a family member/friend as a 'care of' address

AlasInWonderland

Dunroamin wrote: »

Of course, everybody died of hypothermia before central heating became common and everybody stank before they had hot running water.:D

Didn't pay much attention to history then eh?!

AlasInWonderland

nannytone wrote: »

you dont need a permenant address for benefits.
just use the address of a family member/friend as a 'care of' address

I've tried that and they won't accept it - as told to me by council tax advisor at local town hall