Renting privately but have been offered a council housing

hapyjo534

I have been renting privately but have had my name on local council housing waiting list and have been offered a council house which I going to see on Monday. As I have never rented from the council I am a bit unsure and worried as I will have to give landlord a month's notice and therefore a month's rent. I am on housing benefit, which doesn't cover the private rent and I have to pay £170 towards rent. How does it work on council rents i.e. will they wait 4 weeks for the housing benefit or will I have to pay the rent weekly and then when housing benefit pays the council, can I claim it back.

aimme13

hi, im in the same position....ive been private renting and have been offered a council property. I view my place on monday too:-).....Although my housing benefit covers all my rent i did have the same query as you. The council want the tenancy to start on the 16th, but I have to hand in a months notice. I have asked the counicl what happens because I cant afford to have the rent money deducted from my deposit, they seem to think that the council will pay both for the period that it overlaps, which is great coz it means i can move in over a period of 3 weeks.
They said it will all be explianed when i go and visit the property, it may also depend on each council.

hapyjo534

Thank you Aimme13. I will query as to whether I will be able to do similar. Hopefully we should both get our deposits back without too much hassle, having read some of the horror stories posted on here about deposits. Like you I need mine to carpet the house and buy a cooker.

Hapless_2

You should be able to get a benefit form to fill in that states you have to pay rent to former landlord as well as new tenency...We had one and the rent was paid for us in both, phone your council to find out.

Penny-Pincher!!

The council will wait for the HB and are used to people being on HB and understand the delays that can sometimes happen. Remember there is not normally a deposit for a HA/Council property and you can normally ask for a voucher to help with decorating (about £100).

You will receive a pack stating all info including who supplies your gas and electric etc.

If you are breaking your current tenancy agreement (check your T&C's) then you may have to forfeit all or some of your deposit. You will be saving the £170 pm though, so this will eventually balance out for you.

HTH

PP
xx

hapyjo534

Many thanks for the useful information given by all, this does settle my mind. My private tenancy agreement was originally for 6 months from 1/3/06 and the landlord did not renew the contract after the 6 months, so therefore I am on a month to month tenancy. I have read through my tenancy agreement and can't see anything about notice except that during the last 28 days of tenancy to allow the Landlord to enter and view the property with prospective tenants.

aimme13

just found out my months notice has to be from the date my payment is made (19th) so it is actually an over lap of 5 weeks.....going to see the housing benefit people tomorrow as i really dont think they will pay for 2 properties for that long:-(......i dont blame them but im happy to wait for the council property till the 19th but they wont let me:-( will see what happens tomorrow