Housing Benefit LHA Rate question

Afraid_of_Kittens

Ask for a copy of the actual legislation used as I can't seem to find anything in the guidance issued by the DWP or the legislation.

TRaven

Am I able to send them a letter requesting an explanation of a housing benefit decision here? I know this was an internal review and they have stated that the next stage would be an appeal, but in reviewing this they have come to a decision in the matter.

tboo

Afraid_of_Kittens wrote: »

There is a rule where a disabled person under 35 for whom someone receives carers allowance so they lose their Severe Disability Premium has their LHA restricted from 1 bedroom to SRR rate.

That doesn't apply in the ops case as no one is caring for him

tboo

Try this

Father and son - joint tenants which went to tribunal

TRaven

Funny. The letter the council wrote back to me contained the term common household. When I searched for it this was one of the few places where it came up. Incidentally their letter in November after the decision had been made asked 5 of the consideration of whether there is a household, the letter in March after I complained about their review taking 4 months asked the first question and their reasoning seems to be almost that they've taken the line:

[FONT=&quot]!!!8220;In my judgment, what is meant is a group of two or more persons living together as a unit where that group enjoys a reasonable level of independence and self sufficiency!!!8221; (at paragraph 14).[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

and decided that somehow finding a lack of [FONT=&quot]a reasonable level of independence and self sufficiency is a reason to dismiss the argument that we are a household altogether.

I find this amusing as this was something we hadn't argued in the first place. In fact due to the way the council stores details of joint tenants on their system, we thought at one point they were trying to make this a living together case.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]SAR has now been prepared and sent, request for them to clarify the legislation and regs used was also sent and an appeal will be lodged this week.
[/FONT]

TRaven

Just an update...
On Monday I put in their appeal form along with an 11 page explanation of why they were incorrect and should pay me the 1 bedroom rate. I also put in a letter asking them to explain their decision along with the exact regulation and legislation used to make that decision. And finally I put in an SAR since if all else failed I hoped the records would show their reasoning.
Tonight I logged into the online service and found that they have seen sense and decided that I should not be paid the shared room rate and have backdated that decision. So either they decided that they had misunderstood what they had been told, or that they had gotten mixed up somewhere else.
Either way I am going to wait to see what they say and what they are paying as they updated the screen layout a few weeks back and no longer show what rate of LHA eligible rent is calculated on.

It appears they have set the LHA to the two room rate.

TRaven

Final update on this. Received a letter through this morning explaining that they had received my appeal and had taken the opportunity to review the decision. Upon review they were satisfied that my brother and I were a common household. They have therefore updated my claim to the 2 bedroom rate and made a payment to cover the arrears. That has in effect erased the original overpayment and paid £600+ to me for the 23 weeks I was paid shared room rate instead of the 2 bedroom rate.
This isn't quite the end of the matter. I am complaining to the council that the letter asking them to explain the decision in November 2017 which should have received a response in 14 days was not answered until January, that it took 4 months to respond to the request for review. Most importantly though I will be asking the council or the ombudsman to look at why they were able to make the decision about my independence since there does not appear to be a regulation giving them that ability, and whether their deciding on that basis when there was no regulation/policy/guidance constitutes discrimination.
But as far as ths goes it has now been sorted. Thank you those who helped