Getting money back from Housing association

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Scott1965 wrote: »

yes, I now no longer pay towards my rent. I get full HB. The money in credit is mine, what I paid because the council got it wrong. There is nothing in my tenancy agreement/handbook about needing to have two weeks always in credit or any amount in fact other than fully paid.

Housing benefit is paid in arrears while your rent is due in advance.

missbiggles1

nannytone wrote: »

if you read the OP properly, you would see that housing benefit had been calculated incorrectly meaning that the OP was paying more of a top up than they should.
so the overpayment would be the OP's money and not the HB

I think that's debateable but I'm not going to argue it.

Delree

What a terrible policy. I work for a HA and we would refund that money.

nannytone_2

strangely enough, i received a letter from my HA this very morning!
it states that all tenants need to be 4 weeks in advance with their rent.
this has been the case for new tenants for 4 years, but they are now going to enforce it , even for those that receive HB.
they are willing to make arrangements for those in 'financial difficulty' but will expect everyone, over a period of time, to comply.
as i said before, i am fortunately already in that position, but i know many will face problems, die to the spare room subsidy.
if a person is on JSA and already topping their rent up by £14 a week, how can they manage to get 4 weeks in front?
i know JSA is a temorary thing ... but carers on £106 a week and already paying for the spare room....
things are gettimng really bad now

wozearly

Most HAs have something in the tenancy agreement indicating that part, or all, of the rent is due in advance. 2 weeks rent or 4 weeks rent is fairly normal.

In the past, this was generally not enforced. Due to the nature of social housing allocation, most people aren't arriving in the properties with money on hand to pay the rent up front. As benefit payments are made in arrears, this caused a bit of a double whammy. In practice, most organisations left tenants alone if they were keeping up with the rent and were in credit or not in serious arrears, rather than enforcing their stated 2-4 weeks credit policy.

As others have said, this wasn't so much of a problem when rents were covered in full by HB and where HB was paid directly to the HA by the council. Universal Credit and various welfare reforms have scotched both of those, and quite a few HAs are being stricter than they used to be in case their previous leniency accidentally blows up in their faces when universal credit kicks in.

It's very unlikely they'll have made this up on the spot as an excuse not to refund you, but it won't hurt to ask them to provide you with a copy of this policy or challenge them if it's not in your tenancy agreement.

lighting_up_the_chalice

The OP could always secure alternative accommodation and end their secure, affordable tenancy. Any credit on the rent account at the end of the tenancy would then be paid to the tenant.

lukieboy96

My rent agreement says 1 week in advance but they have said that people will need to be a month in advance when Universal Credit comes into force. Will they have to get people to sign new rent agreements? I have got mine to a month in advance by paying extra each month but this could catch people out I think

t0rt0ise

My HA agreement says nothing about paying in advance. I don't receive benefits so pay it all but they bill weekly and I pay monthly so I'm usually in credit for two weeks and then debit for two weeks. I've been doing this for years and nobody has ever said anything.

I don't imagine they could really enforce this rule as long as the rent is paid. I can't see a court evicting because there wasn't money in advance in the account.

t0rt0ise

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

The OP could always secure alternative accommodation and end their secure, affordable tenancy. Any credit on the rent account at the end of the tenancy would then be paid to the tenant.

You'd think so wouldn't you, however when I left my last HA house (exchanged with someone from a different HA), my old HA wrote to me at my new address asking if I would like my overpayment returned! Of course I did, stupid people. It then said that if I did want it returning to complete the enclosed form which simply asked for my name and new address, the address that they'd just sent the letter to. So stupid.

Scott1965

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

The OP could always secure alternative accommodation and end their secure, affordable tenancy. Any credit on the rent account at the end of the tenancy would then be paid to the tenant.

Guess you don't like people being in social housing. After being homeless I was very lucky to get somewhere to live. I wanted to better myself. I have suffered with serious mental health issues for a long time. the money I paid toward the rent was a struggle for me. I paid it as I always pay what I owe. In this case, I didn't owe it at all. Quite honestly I could do with that money right now. I am sure many people here will understand that. So your patronising, privileged and very ignorant response is pathetic.

On a postive note, thank you for all the other responses. It's really good to hear lots of different view points that are useful and sensible.