Having a flat and getting HB for a room?

purpleroad

When having housing benefit for a room in a shared house (if on tax credits) would the council know if you already had bought a flat elsewhere? Would they know from electric, water bills coming out of one of your bank accounts? (maybe a different account to the one you used for the HB payments.

fed_up_and_stressed

Be prepared for getting yourself in deep doo doo if you intend claiming housing benefit if you haven't told them you own a property.

Editted to add - I assume you also haven't told them either about the income you are hiding from the tax man in a prior thread ?

Topcat1982

Yes, they could find out from data matching checks. It's benefit fraud.

Mojisola

purpleroad wrote: »

When having housing benefit for a room in a shared house (if on tax credits) would the council know if you already had bought a flat elsewhere?

They would know because you would have answered all the questions on the claim forms with the truth, wouldn't you?

densol_2

Is this the flat you " textbook " ( other user name ) is paying cash for?

Are the earnings you declare for HB not including the extra £100 you thought was a waste of time telling HMRC about ?

What about the fake certificates your " friend " wants to strongbox hide ?

Or how about the other " friend " who is purging his bank account of money as he might loose job and need to claim benefits ?

Dont assume HB, HMRC and any others are stupid ! Lol

Housing_Benefit_Officer

purpleroad wrote: »

When having housing benefit for a room in a shared house (if on tax credits) would the council know if you already had bought a flat elsewhere? Would they know from electric, water bills coming out of one of your bank accounts? (maybe a different account to the one you used for the HB payments.

We Data Match with Land Registry. You might get away with it for a month 6 months a year or a couple of years. But somewhere in the system your details will be linked with the other property. Do you know what details your solicitor passes on to Land Registry to prevent identity fraud?

tomtontom

purpleroad wrote: »

If you only earn £100 a week, is it worth declaring this to the taxman (for second job)- what I mean is for such a little amount is it worth hassle? If you are already paying it in main job. Isnt nice hiding your work though!

textbook wrote: »

Claiming benefits with too much money in the bank?
A friend transferred some money out of his bank account to an etrade account as he thinks he will lose his job in a couple of months, and wanted less than £6,000 in the account, but worries that housing benefit and DWP will do data matching or go into his accounts and see the transaction and then look into the etrade account (which isn't trading at the moment). Will they notice the money being sent out, do they monitor transactions three months before and do data matching? Does the DWP employ credit reference agencies who pick up on these transactions and etrade accounts?


He's thinking of closing this bank account and opening another one in another bank. To stop this transaction being fund for £6,000 out of account. Obviously, he will get contribution based benefits after working for four years.

OP (and his "friends") do have difficulty with honesty!

purpleroad

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

We Data Match with Land Registry. You might get away with it for a month 6 months a year or a couple of years. But somewhere in the system your details will be linked with the other property. Do you know what details your solicitor passes on to Land Registry to prevent identity fraud?

Oh right. So this information in the land registry is accessed all round the country and between different councils. I thought that only if the flat and HB were in the same council area then they would get caught?

tomtontom

purpleroad wrote: »

Oh right. So this information in the land registry is accessed all round the country and between different councils. I thought that only if the flat and HB were in the same council area then they would get caught?

You don't think that the Land Registry is a nationwide database?

duchy

If you were an honest taxpayer who paid their tax and didn't claim benefits you weren't entitled to.....would you expect the councils and government to run checks to make sure scammers weren't stealing your taxes or would you prefer they used documents of public record (like land registry) with name matching technology to ensure your taxes weren't wasted on false claims by the greedy and dishonest.

Strangely the government and councils have a duty of care - which is why if they suspect fraud they can also access your bank accounts etc.

I hope you are a troll because it's hard to believe anyone is genuinely this "confused" !

Poppie68

purpleroad wrote: »

Oh right. So this information in the land registry is accessed all round the country and between different councils. I thought that only if the flat and HB were in the same council area then they would get caught?

It's not just Land registry that gets checked, data matching is used by all agencies, the time will eventually come for all fraudsters when bank accounts, utility companies, insurances etc are checked. Your time will come the longer you continue the more chance you take of getting jailed and a larger fine.

Hopefully they will catch up with you very soon and pile a load of crap on you which will affect the rest of your life.....It's a disgusting scummy thing to do.