Housing Benefit & Landlords

Noob4now

I have just rented a bedsit from a private landlord. He has other bedsits in the same building and some are rented by those on DSS, so I would assume he knows the conditions regarding housing benefits and private landlords. I am on Jobseekers Allowance and the landlord had no problem with that. He assured me verbally that the rent would be covered by the Local Housing Allowance.

Tenancy agreement signed, deposit and advance rent paid to landlord, housing benefit claim submitted, housing benefit will be paid direct to landlord.

Now begins the problem.

While several rooms in the building have been assessed by the council and classed as bedsits; the bedsit I am renting along with 2 other rooms next to it were originally part of something called HMO in the building and have not yet been assessed as bedsits for housing benefit purposes. This is now delaying housing benefit payments to the landlord.

The landlord has said that I will have to pay the rent out of my benefits until it is sorted. I get £74 a week and the rent is £60 a week, which would leave me with £14 a week to live off and pay bills (electric alone on a prepayment meter is running at £1 a day with just an under-counter fridge running and nothing else).

I was lucky to get this bedsit as I was homeless but if the council don't deal with this soon I will be homeless again as I cant afford to pay so much out of my benefits.

Can the landlord insist I pay the rent out of my benefits or are there any options open to me?

The landlord is accredited with the local authority but not sure if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any replies

Ames

Surely even if the council think it's a HMO you should be getting the shared room rate? What reason have the council given for not giving you anything?

Just to check, are you over 35? If not you might not get the full rent paid. If you look on your council website it'll tell you the Local Housing Allowance, which is the most you'll get.

Your electric sounds incredibly high. I'm on a pre payment meter, I'm not particularly careful with usage and only spend around £1 a day. Have you made sure the supplier know you live there now, so you're not having to pay for a previous tenant's debt?

Noob4now

The council said they cant pay anything until an assessment has been carried out. I took that to be true as I was dealing with the benefits section. Should I ask if they can at least pay the lower rate until it has been sorted?

Im 48 and the LHA is at least £20 more than the landlord is asking for rent so the bedsit is within the allowance for bedsits. The HMO rate is £45 so even if they paid that rate until it was sorted the landlord may be happy to wait. As it is now he is getting nothing.

I don't know my supplier. The landlord put the meter in and set the tariff. I go online to a site for the meter, not a supplier, and put money on the account for my room. Nowhere does it say which supplier is used and the tariff just states 'tariff for room No. ' and then my room number. The reason I know how much it uses is because it was a week before I actually moved in and the meter was showing usage of £1 a day and all that was on was a fridge. At that rate it will be £30 a month minimum on electric before I plug anything else in.

Bogalot

You are still liable for rent until your LHA is assessed.

What has the LL done to convert them to bedsits? Do you share any facilities with other tenants?

Noob4now

The only shared facility is bathroom. Other than that the rooms are self contained with bed and kitchen.

Originally the floor I am on was 4 separate rooms (bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom), which is how the council have it assessed as. The bathroom remains the same but is now shared between the other 3 rooms which were converted into bedsits with bed and kitchen in each room.

The LL advertised it as a flat and the tenancy agreement says it is a flat, but it is a bedsit. If it is neither a flat or a bedsit then the LL has surely misrepresented the room and should therefore allow some leeway. Shouldn't all this have been sorted out by the LL before putting it up for rent.

Voyager2002

Call Shelter urgently: tell them that you are at risk of being made homeless by the delay in processing your LHA payment.

Noob4now

Thanks. Just looked at Shelter website and there is something called 'payment on account' which i should automatically get if they take over two weeks to process my claim. I will go to council this week and see about that as it was not mentioned to me when i was there last. Would have save a lot of stress and worry if they told me this.

[Deleted User]

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[Deleted User]

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon (housing not telling you things that involve paying money or a commitment, that they should). Well done for finding that out. A discretionary hardship payment might be possible as well, but this can vary borough to borough.

I am afraid also that what we used to call bedsits are now called flats, just the way it is. It tends to be a way to squeeze as much rent as possible out of a building, not always meaning that regs are complied with (they can be incredibly small and badly maintained, I hope yours isn't as bad as that).

I don't know, but I would have thought if you click on the red button of your meter, it should (with repeated clicking) tell you the actual tariff per unit of electricity you are being charged. I thought the LL was only allowed to charge what he was being charged but I could be wrong.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/what-your-landlord-can-charge-for-energy/

However, unfair as it is, now might be a bad time to bring this up with the LL, I'd look at getting some rent paid first. I know you don't have much money, but I'd try and pay half the rent out of benefits if nothing else. I did actually have to manage for weeks (with a two year old) on £13 a week while my income support was being sorted (inept Job Centre). If you are short on food, your local council will let you know where to go to get food parcels (might give you a referral or give you the name of the organisation that does this). Not brilliant I know but its better than nothing.

CIS

If the flat is now being banded as a individual dwelling then you'll also need to check and make sure that the council tax is being sorted for it as that'll be to pay as well - it sounds like the landlord hadn't kept everyone updated as to what was happening with the property.

Craig

Noob4now

Thanks all. LL responsible for council tax of entire building and it is included in the rent of each individual room.