Housing Benefit Advice Needed ?

JazzFan123

Urgent advice needed regarding Housing Benefit over payment

I moved into a Homegroup housing association flat in April this year and signed my tenancy agreement etc and was awarded housing benefit in full for my rent.

In September Homegroup contacted me informing that I and many other tenants in flats have been signed up to the wrong tenancy agreement and the monthly rent was actually slightly lower. So i had to sign a new agreement.

Now because of Homegroup's mistake my housing benefit claim has been overpayed by £110
and Housing Benefit are taking the over payment back at £10 per week. And Homegroup are now demanding that i pay the remaining the difference of £40 per month towards the rent until the overpayments have been cleared.

Now should i be liable to pay this seen as it was Homegroup messed up and it's not my fault ? (I'm on a really low income and cant afford it )

pmlindyloo

JazzFan123 wrote: »

Urgent advice needed regarding Housing Benefit over payment

I moved into a Homegroup housing association flat in April this year and signed my tenancy agreement etc and was awarded housing benefit in full for my rent.

In September Homegroup contacted me informing that I and many other tenants in flats have been signed up to the wrong tenancy agreement and the monthly rent was actually slightly lower. So i had to sign a new agreement.

Now because of Homegroup's mistake my housing benefit claim has been overpayed by £110
and Housing Benefit are taking the over payment back at £10 per week. And Homegroup are now demanding that i pay the remaining the difference of £40 per month towards the rent until the overpayments have been cleared.

Now should i be liable to pay this seen as it was Homegroup messed up and it's not my fault ? (I'm on a really low income and cant afford it )

I don't understand this.....

Am I missing something?

If the council paid too much housing benefit doesn't that mean that your rent payments were in credit? Or did they give you a lump sum back?

For example, if your rent should have been £100 a week and HB was paying £110 per week then your rent account should be in credit of £10 each week.

JazzFan123

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I don't understand this.....

Am I missing something?

If the council paid too much housing benefit doesn't that mean that your rent payments were in credit? Or did they give you a lump sum back?

For example, if your rent should have been £100 a week and HB was paying £110 per week then your rent account should be in credit of £10 each week.

I don't get any HB it is paid directly to Homegroup. Now my weekly award is - £10 due to it been recovered from the overpayment. Leaving my weekly HB payment to HomeGroup £10 short. Homegroup are demanding that i make up the difference out of my own money . While the overpayment is cleared .

tazwhoever

OP - I think there is a legalisation in HB. I don't know myself but someone with knowledge can update you. Sometimes you don't have to pay back HB unless it purely your own fault.

pmlindyloo

JazzFan123 wrote: »

I don't get any HB it is paid directly to Homegroup. Now my weekly award is - £10 due to it been recovered from the overpayment. Leaving my weekly HB payment to HomeGroup £10 short. Homegroup are demanding that i make up the difference out of my own money . While the overpayment is cleared .

I understand about the overpayment. I understand that your HB is now £10 a week short and Homegroup want you to pay it.

What I don't understand is that if you have a HB overpayment then the council was paying Homegroup too much money!

Therefore. Home group must have extra money that the council paid to them by mistake. What has happened about this extra money Homegroup received?

Ask Homegroup for a breakdown of your rent payments to be sent to you.

parkrunner

HB was overpaid directly to the HA therefore HA has the overpayment. For some reason it appears that the tenant is being made to pay back the overpayment. If that's correct the HA must still have the overpayment and nothing is therefore due to the HA from the tenant.

poppy12345

How is it possible that the tenant is being made to pay back an over payment when they never received the housing benefit it the first place? Agreed, the over payment isn't the tenants responsibility it's the homegroups. OP you need to ring homegroup because they have the over payment, not you.

pmlindyloo

OP, if you are finding this too difficult to sort then go to CAB and ask for some help.

You will need to take any paperwork with you so.....

Any paperwork from Homegroup particularly the letter about the mistake with the amount of rent

Any paperwork from the council re housing benefit plus your letter about the overpayment

A rent statement from Homegroup

The legislation is mighty complicated.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/696191/hbopg-part-4-recovery-of-overpayments.pdf

but basically says that overpayments can be recovered from either the landlord or the tenant or both.

Based on what you have said my reading leads me to believe that you are a 'blameless tenant' and the overpayment should have been recovered from the landlord.

CAB will be able to telephone both the council to see what recovery method they have used and why and Homegroup to find out why they are expecting you to pay the extra £10 a week.

pmduk

IIRC, the legislation exists to claw back the overpayment direct from the Housing Assoc in a case such as this via future HB payments