Council Tax Support denied because rent was paid 6 months in advance

bilabonga

The Council included rent paid 6 months in advance as part of the capital and because of that they did not award the Council Tax Support for several months. They claimed that this was included, because the tenant allegedly was not required to pay this far in advance.

However, the rent had to be paid in advance for 6 months, as otherwise the landlord would not rent it, and that accommodation was the only one at that time, which was suitable to rent for a disabled person (it was on the ground floor without any steps), so there was no choice really. That disabled tenant would have become homeless if he did not rent that accommodation.

Have there been any successful appeals against such Councils decisions?

rogerblack

bilabonga wrote: »

However, the rent had to be paid in advance for 6 months, as otherwise the landlord would not rent it, and that accommodation was the only one at that time, which was suitable to rent for a disabled person (it was on the ground floor without any steps), so there was no choice really. That disabled tenant would have become homeless if he did not rent that accommodation.

Were the council aware of all of the above?
First step would be to request a statement of reasons for the decision, if one has not already been supplied.

On the back of that, mandatory reconsideration.
How much was the rent? Where did the money for the rent come from?
What was the normally allowed savings?

Did the claimant have any other savings?

Council tax support is a devolved benefit, and councils have different rules in place.
Look at the ones in question, they should be on the councils website.

tomtontom

Is the claimant claiming housing benefit also? With the six months rent, would they have had more than the relevant capital limits? Keep in mind that CT support schemes vary between areas.

bilabonga

rogerblack wrote: »

Were the council aware of all of the above?

When requesting to look at the decision again they were made aware of all that, and in reply they said that they are not aware of the legality whereby a landlord can demand that rent is paid 6 monthly in advance.

The savings (not including the rent paid in advance) were about £2000 less than the £6000 limit (I do not know if that was the limit for CT, but it appears so).
Those £4000 saving were paid as compensation for moving out from the previous accommodation where the landlord passed away. His death caused in the end that the disabled tenant had to move out (the mortgage lender possessed the premises some time after landlords death).

Because of that I wonder if [FONT=&quot]the article 10 of The Housing Benefit Regulations, SHEDULE 6 can be used (any sum paid in consequence of loss of the home is to be disregarded).
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]However, they agreed to pay only after moving out, so that amount could not be used to pay for 6 months rent in advance. Part of the money was borrowed from a family member to pay that.[/FONT]

Because of the death of the landlord it was not possible to provide a reference from that landlord and that is why the new landlord demanded 6 months rent in advance, as he could not get the insurance to guarantee that his rent will be paid in case when tenant would not pay.

Topcat1982

What was the total of the 6 months rent?

bilabonga

Topcat1982 wrote: »

What was the total of the 6 months rent?

It was £3570.

pmlindyloo

Was housing benefit awarded or was the claim for council tax support only?

You do need to look at the relevant council's website to see what the upper capital limit is for council tax support. From what you say it looks like the council in question has an upper limit of about £6000 if CT wasn't granted for a couple of months.

All that can be done is to follow rogerblack's advice.

HappyMJ

bilabonga wrote: »

It was £3570.

Of which only £2,975 may count. The first months rent would have been due in any case.

You said they already had £4,000 so the reduction of benefit is about £4 per week for the first month then £2 per week for the second month and no reduction after that.

Is it really worth pursuing? It's maybe £24. The stress you will have getting council understanding where payments are from and where they are going to will be quite high.

bilabonga

HappyMJ wrote: »

You said they already had £4,000 so the reduction of benefit is about £4 per week for the first month then £2 per week for the second month and no reduction after that.

They did not reduce it. They did not award any Council Tax Support for that time when they considered the capital to be above 6000.

HB was claimed also.

HappyMJ wrote: »

The stress you will have getting council understanding where payments are from and where they are going to will be quite high.

Yes.

BigAunty

I can't give any specific advice about successful appeals or HB regs.

However, you could consider the claimant contacting their MP to advise them of their situation - MPs work for their constituents and ought to be made aware of issues on the ground that they face.

Having said that, I fully understand why the claimant was obliged to pay the 6 months rent upfront and had no discretion in it and its a shame that council seem to think it was a choice they made rather than being compelled to cough up in advance to secure the tenancy..

However, if the claimant had found a place where the landlord didn't demand so much rent in advance, they would not have qualified for council tax discount in this scenario either - their savings would have been too high, so if they got a typical tenancy with a month's deposit and months rent in advance, they would not have qualified for full CT discount anyway. Or have I misunderstood?

bilabonga

BigAunty wrote: »

their savings would have been too high

[FONT=&quot]No, becuase [FONT=&quot]m[/FONT]ost of the money was borrowed from a family member to pay that 6 months rent in advance[FONT=&quot], so he would not have too high savings, as those savings were not his[/FONT].[/FONT]