housing benefit gone down!!!

hmc

hello

please i need help, panicking here

rent went up july 1st i sent letter from landlord etc in for a review

had nothing back from assesment officer which i should have

today recieved letter from housing benefit with their decisision and my benefit has gone down by £10 a week!!
my situation hasnt changed at all

i just rang and their systems are down so ive to keep trying to ring over the next week
why would this happen.i only asked for a review to increase my allowence why would it not at least stay the same!!

help anyone

Scarlett1

I dont know why its gone down that seems bazaar, keep trying until you get an answer, if anything they will send a rent valuation officer round to make sure that the rent that is asked of you is suitable for the property, I recon its probably a mistake.

hmc

thanks scarlett

i hope its a mistake,im still not working and i have the minimum rooms we need here
i was so hoping for a slight increase as rent has gone up £50 a mth

CIS

Its may have been that an original overpayment has come to light and has been recovered by an adjustment. The only way to find out is to contact them and see what they say.

Valley's_girl

Hi Hmc
A similar thing happened to me my landlord put my rent up after seven years, because my rent was a reasonable rent I didn't have to pay any shortfall.
But when it changed they carried on paying the full rent amount to my landlord, then I had a letter 11 months ago to say that the council were dropping my benefit, I queried it but apparantly(sp) the rent officer accessed my rent without my knowledge and said my rent was too expensive leaving me to pay the shortfall. I hope that's not too confusing.
I would ring the council if you have chance and see what they have to say.
Hth
ally xx

alwaysonthego_2

If you get no joy go to your local CAB

hmc

thanks everyone
ive been paying a shortfall of £25 a mth for a year

rent went up and i was paying £75 mth shortfall
so this is why i asked for an increase
i am going to try ringing again this afternoon and not wait till tomorrow

they say their systems havnt been right since the floods 2 wks ago, i ask you!

hmc

me again

well ive just managed to get through to housing benefits and the bloke read out the rent asseser(sp?) letter
basically he says rent is too high £425 a mth! for area

i still dont get why my benefit didnt stay the same if they didnt want to put it up
to drop it is criminal
he said i have to wait to get rent assessers letter and then write to appeal

but to bear in mind a different officer could drop it further

well thats it i will be homeless
not sure what to do now

there is nothing cheaper around here and if they are they are for 6 mths then they put it up

daisy_doughnut_2

hi there
if it turns out that what there saying they can pay is right an they wont budge you can ask for a discrsionary payment to top it up i did this a few years ago an as far as i know its not changed

you have to prove that without the top up from discressionary payments your family will undergo exceptional hardship
this is hard to do as there guide lines ares so stict i was refused at first but when appealed i wrote and said that i will inevitabley end up robbing peter tp pay paul an the extra rent money will end up coming out of my food/clothing allowence hence my familly will suffer
i was granted it in the end
you may be best to call an start applying now if it turns out they pay the extra rent then your discressionary payment application will just cease

good luck

dmg24

dd2 is correct, the council can lower your housing benefit entitlement according to the Rent Officer's assessment. dd2 is also correct about applying for a discretionary payment.

Hope you get something sorted x

hmc

thanks everyone

i will appeal when the letter arrives

i just cant get my head arround the fact i have recieved the same payment for 2 years and housing prices havnt dropped as far as im aware and yet my payment goes down when my rent goes up

i shall fight this as much as i can and will go to cab nxt week

thanks again