moving from private to housing assocation

sliddon_2

hi me and my wife plus 2 kids have been private renting for 5 years never missed a payment and due to our income we get under half the rent in housing benift and pay full council tax however the rent the last 2 years has gone up 15% but hosuing benift rate has not so when we was offered a Housing Association home after 15years waiting we jumped for joy but we have been told by the Housing Association that if we take the house the moving in date is the end of noveber but our current private renting home has a contract untill end of january i spoke to my council and was told they might pay half the rent for the new house but not council tax

so i thought at best im looking at paying a extra 2 months of council tax plus 2 months of half rent thats a total over £1000 but then looking online it seems they only allow this for 4 weeks if so its going to cost even more and we just dont have it am i missing somthing my landlord wont let me leave early i told the housing assocation i would rather move in after xmas due to this plus moving our kids school would be better after the xmas holiday but they dont seem to want to change the date:mad:

pmlindyloo

Have you paid your rent in advance where you are now?

If so then you will only have December's rent to pay when you leave and the council may pay for both places for 4weeks.

The other option is to ask for a discretionary housing payment to cover any shortfall.

Have you a deposit.for your current place? Would the landlord accepted this in lieu of any rent owed?

Doesn't help with the council tax, I know but may ease the burden.

kelpie35

I can only say it will be worth the financial struggle to have a secure home for you and your family.

Hope you have a happy life in your new home.

sliddon_2

yes but our rent here now isnt per month its every 28days so the lanlord gets 13 payments a year we have 3 left to pay if he takes the depoist as one we still have 2 payments left here

we havnt viewd the house yet but they are sure we will be in the end of noveber i have been to see the house and it does seem to need work i dont know if they do this or we do but the wallpaper is hanging of the walls the back gate is missing im just thinking if i can get them to agree to do some work before we move in it could increase the date apart from that i havnt a clue my wife doesnt want our kids taken out of school only to start a new school for a few weeks before xmas hoildays and i just dont know how we can pay for 2 homes even if we get the keys noveber we wont be able to move untill after xmas with so much to sort out and then xmas on top

sliddon_2

kelpie35 wrote: »

I can only say it will be worth the financial struggle to have a secure home for you and your family.

Hope you have a happy life in your new home.

thanks i just hope its doable the worse thing is untill i agree and give the paper work to the council i wont know for sure how much it will cost us and then its to late to say no i only have a guess using the rates and the help the council say we "might" be allowed

marliepanda

The HA don't want an empty house with no rent being paid.

Your landlord doesn't want an empty house with no rent being paid. You're in contract with him. You have to pay.

If you want your HA place you'll also have to pay.

Where you actually live and what school your kids stay in til Christmas is up to you, but in terms of finance you're just gonna have to do your best.

sliddon_2

marliepanda wrote: »

The HA don't want an empty house with no rent being paid.

Your landlord doesn't want an empty house with no rent being paid. You're in contract with him. You have to pay.

If you want your HA place you'll also have to pay.

Where you actually live and what school your kids stay in til Christmas is up to you, but in terms of finance you're just gonna have to do your best.

i do understand that but the way housing it is now you cant just get a council house its not a choice to private rent you are forced on low income to priavte rent while waiting for a council house to come up and the chance one will on the date the private contract ends is 1/365 what if a family had 10 months left they would owe over £7000 they could never agree to move the landlord would know that they have little to know chance and they would be kicked off the waiting list

the system is wrong because to get a housing Association house you HAVE to bid EVERY month and can only say no once before being kicked off a good way would be to use the contract dates when working out points if 5 familys bidding on the same house all have the same points then the family with the contract ending soonest gets first chance to say no if you have familys bidding on houses knowing they have many months left on contract so could never agree but dont want to be taken off the list and familys bidding at the end of the contract but turned down due to the numbers bidding the system isnt working

[Deleted User]

Re Decorating - if you ask, the HA may give you a decorating voucher.., but it'll be for a minimum amount. They don't normally do the decorating for you now. if its hanging off the walls, that's good, won't take much effort to strip the walls and do your own thing - just think, you never have to look at magnolia again if you don't want to! Just do the decorating slowly over time. It'll take time to learn what you like and what you can do (and build up skills) so that can work to your advantage. Use Youtube - its brilliant at explaining a lot of DIY jobs. I just had manuals when I started out and a lot of hard thinking he he! The pride when you look at a room you've done yourself is enormous though!

I think you need to go to the HA offices and have a long talk with them so you understand what you need to do and what they will do/help you with.

Often HA's will have a website that explains things.

You could ask your LL if he will allow you to find another tenant, allow viewings etc - try to achieve a compromise with him if you can. I don't understand what you are saying about 2 payments unpaid etc. I get HLA and its 26 payments a year, paid every two weeks in arrears. I do pay calendar monthly though (in advance). Try and work out on paper what you need to pay and what you have paid. As said HLA is paid for a month on two properties when moving - phone housing and clarify. Phone Shelter and see if you qualify for special treatment for any reason (seriously) or a discretionary housing payment that may help with double rent periods. Make sure you look at your tenancy agreement and are clear what your tenancy periods are. See if there is a break clause in your tenancy agreement. If you don't understand it, take the TA to the CAB and ask them to help you understand what you need to do re payments.

I'm afraid a HA is unlikely to leave the property empty.., they are usually non profit organisations and just can't afford to leave a property empty while waiting for a new school term to start. Your kids will cope. It doesn't really matter when they move. They will still need to make that move. Remember you are doing this so you won't have to move again (and I assume the property is cheaper than your private rental right now), and its as near your own property (once through the first year) as anything can get without buying a property. I'd knock a policeman over in the rush to get what you're getting lolol.

Good luck,

Housing_Benefit_Officer

You can get up to 28 days full Housing Benefit on your old home where there is an unavoidable overlap on tenancies.

You overlap will start from the date you move into the new home and an last for up to 28 days. The 28 days will start from the date you accept the new property but won't be paid until you move in.

So if you accept on the 1st December and move in on the 7th December you will be paid from the 7th to the 28th December - 21 days only. If you accept and move in on the 1st December you will be paid fro 28 days to the 28th December. The overlap is only paid on the property you move from not the property you are moving into. You will be paid your full LHA rate even if you only receive partial HB.

You might be able to claim help with moving costs via the Discretionary Housing Benefit scheme.

sliddon_2

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

You can get up to 28 days full Housing Benefit on your old home where there is an unavoidable overlap on tenancies.

You overlap will start from the date you move into the new home and an last for up to 28 days. The 28 days will start from the date you accept the new property but won't be paid until you move in.

So if you accept on the 1st December and move in on the 7th December you will be paid from the 7th to the 28th December - 21 days only. If you accept and move in on the 1st December you will be paid fro 28 days to the 28th December. The overlap is only paid on the property you move from not the property you are moving into. You will be paid your full LHA rate even if you only receive partial HB.

You might be able to claim help with moving costs via the Discretionary Housing Benefit scheme.

thank you so much can i just check if i move in at the end of november and the overlap payment is 28 days so untill the 28th dec my payments for housing benift are paid in 4 week arrears so i should be paid the 4 weeks overlap between the 4th jan to 25 jan?

also when i spoke on the phone to the council they said the LHA rate would be worked out on both homes laping using our payslips the same way meaning partial hb on both i pointed out that then they would be using our income twice when we only get paid once was this a mistake by them as you pointed out the lha rate would be paid full on the old house?

sliddon_2

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

So if you accept on the 1st December and move in on the 7th December you will be paid from the 7th to the 28th December - 21 days only.

but i guess for the missing 7 days i wouldnt be charged rent on the new house if i havnt moved in yet so it evens itself out????