Can anyone give me some advice?

cathogg

This is my first time on a forum so please bear with me if I make any errors.

I'm having a few problems with my flatmate/landlord. He was advised by his university to not tell the council that he had a non-student living with him. This meant that we didn't have to pay council tax. When I left my job and had to apply for benefits I obviously had to tell the council I lived there. This meant that there was just short of £700 council tax needing paid. My landlords opinion was that he is still a student and therefore doesn't have to pay anything. At the time my only income was jobseekers and housing benefit. The housing benefit took ages to come through because they sent me the wrong form. I now have a part time job and a little bit of housing benefit coming through but rent and council tax are so high that it's becoming a choice between paying rent and eating. I have explained to my live-in landlord that I am only just making ends meet and he still expects everything to be paid.

Does anyone know if I would be entitled to any more benefits and how to apply for them? Also if anyone knows of any way to get my landlord to sit up and take notice of my financial difficulties that would be appreciated.

Thanks

gettingready

Are you renting a room in someone's house?

If so, you are probably a lodger and not a tenant and that would make life easier.

Or are you sharing the property (and bills) on equal basis?

cathogg

I'm a lodger, after he realised that I needed the benefits for him to get the money he got a lodger agreement and I've had to sign it. The rent money goes towards the bills but I am the only one in the flat paying council tax. There are only the 2 of us there, me and my flatmate/landlord.

Cyberman60

You say he was advised NOT to tell the council he had a student living there. To get student rebate you need to tell the council. I'm confused !!

cathogg

One of the guys at his university said to leave me off the form telling them about other people living there. At least that's his story.

dippy3103

cathogg wrote: »

One of the guys at his university said to leave me off the form telling them about other people living there. At least that's his story.

The university are advising him to commit fraud to get the student exemption?

If it's just you & him then there is a 75% liability for council tax on the property.

cathogg

Apparently it was one of the student advice services people who told him. That's why I'm not sure if I believe him. The amount of council tax I'm paying has the 25% discount on it but it's still £160 per month with rent on top.

Voyager2002

Two issues:

Depending on your age and the number of hours you work, it is just possible that Tax Credits could help you. I suggest that you use one of the on-line benefit calculators such as Turn2Us to find out whether there are any benefits that might be applicable to your situation.

As for the bill for unpaid Council Tax, who decided to commit fraud by failing to tell the Council that you were a non-student living in the property? If your landlord knowingly signed a form giving false information in order to avoid paying Council Tax, he could face criminal charges. He should consider himself fortunate that he is getting away with paying what is due.

dippy3103

cathogg wrote: »

Apparently it was one of the student advice services people who told him. That's why I'm not sure if I believe him. The amount of council tax I'm paying has the 25% discount on it but it's still £160 per month with rent on top.

I'm not sure it's your liability..

rogerblack

cathogg wrote: »

I'm a lodger, after he realised that I needed the benefits for him to get the money he got a lodger agreement and I've had to sign it. The rent money goes towards the bills but I am the only one in the flat paying council tax. There are only the 2 of us there, me and my flatmate/landlord.

If the agreement came into force only after it was realised HB was needed claimed - doesn't that raise real questions as to the legitimacy of the HB claim?

cathogg

According to a couple of folk I've spoken to technically I'm not liable for the council tax, he is. What he seems to think is that because he's still a full time student he has no responsibility regarding CT.

My housing benefits only started when I needed them and the council made an error by sending me the wrong form in the first place so the claim was paid late. They haven't told me anything's gone wrong.