Housing benefit overpayment- URGENT

Marktheshark

As I said, stop worrying and arrange a meeting, if the ex refuses to attend they will send for her under caution and stop her benefit until she does.
They can recalculate the claim but only if you work with them.
Co-operation now will see it kept out of court.

helping_hand2014

im sure housingbenefitofficer will pop in soon to give you some good advice

no point stressing about it all yes i know its hard but it will not make the situation any better.

your ex is clearly invoked in this too yes you was the main claimant but she knew what she should have done dont let her get away with it as others have said make sure you do what the council says and work whit them

lighting_up_the_chalice

You need to speak to the council to understand where this over-payment came from. Pure speculation but, you say you are not claiming HB now, so I assume you are/have been working. Could it be that they are assuming you were still living at the marital address after you left? If that is the case, it should be simple enough to resolve.

benniebert

Poppie68 wrote: »

'Why me'? Unfortunately if you didn't contact them and cancel the claim when you left then you are still responsible for at least half of the overpayment.

That's not entirely right, he is responsible for the whole debt, not half of it.


The council are entitled to go to both or either party to get their money. They aren't too fussy who pays it or how, just that it gets paid. If the wife is on benefits and the husband isn't and is working - who do you think is the better option her or him?

tucia

They know that I don't live there. Spoke with them already. I am self employed and rent a room so I don't really need HB.

benniebert

tucia wrote: »

I know that I made mistake but when your wife is cheating on you do you think clearly about other things?!
I want council to allocate to me only 50% of this overpayment and I will try to pay this but will take very long time for me.

What you want is one thing, what the council will do is another.


If you were on the HB claim and you failed to advise of a change of circumstances then you will have to pay up in full.


The council don't particularly care who pays just as long as they get their money. You are both responsible to pay the whole amount.


Probably going for you is the better option of getting the money.


More importantly and what worries me more is what is this doing to your children? Would you seriously want your wife to have to pay a debt of this size causing financial mayhem on your family when you could do the decent thing by them (not your wife) and just arrange to pay up? So sad with three kids in the middle of all this.

lighting_up_the_chalice

tucia wrote: »

They know that I don't live there. Spoke with them already. I am self employed and rent a room so I don't really need HB.

If you've already spoken to them then how did they explain the over-payment?

It doesn't matter what you've told them. It matters what they believe. Even if you've told them you no longer live there, they may believe that you still do. If that is the case, it should be easy enough to resolve. But only they can tell you the reason for the over-payment.

tucia

The reason was that I moved out and didn't let them know. Only my ex informed them after 18 months. So I wasn't eligible for HB during this period.

tucia

Bennienert the sad thing is that in the meantime she got another child with other guy.

lighting_up_the_chalice

tucia wrote: »

The reason was that I moved out and didn't let them know. Only my ex informed them after 18 months. So I wasn't eligible for HB during this period.

Well, there you go. All you have to do is provide sufficient evidence that you weren't living there during that period. They may then re-assess your wife's entitlement and make the necessary adjustment to the over-payment.