UC Been Paying Wrong - How Will It Be Sorted Out?

twinklyspangle

Hi there!

I am in receipt of UC and have been for three months, received two payments,
I've only been getting the Housing Benefit element to cover my own rent, as I am in a joint tenancy. But my ex-partner moved out 6 years ago. My rent officer said to let UC know there was only one person living here, which I have done.

As I have been borrowing money to cover his half of the rent I would like to know if anyone has ever had UC pay them for an error like this, I should have been getting around £200 more a month for the last two months and I have bailiffs knocking at my door for a loan I took out to cover it

11krage

This situation is called an untidy tenancy. Just get a letter from your landlord to say the date the other person moved out and that you're solely responsible for the rent. Some service centers have been instructed to take you at your word, but others will ask for proof so it's best to cover your back.

If they're following the rules correctly they'll then be able to give you an underpayment from the date you told them it was an untidy tenancy forwards. So if there's a record of you say phoning up to tell them they can go from that date. To get back pay you'd need to give them a reason why you didn't inform them of the situation sooner. This would then go to a decision maker who would decide whether you had a good enough reason of not informing them of this earlier. Provided the decision maker gives the ok, you'd be given an underpayment to the start of your claim.

Then comes the difficult part. Despite UC staff constantly asking for it, there's nothing in the system to cover untidy tenancies. The system will automatically send out half the household rent. UC staff will pin a note on your claim to say it's an untidy tenancy so they can manually add an underpayment of the rent once they've approved the calculation.

Unfortunately in your case more and more calculations are being done solely by the system, so the casemanager won't get your claim anywhere on their list so won't have chance to view it when the system sends the payment out. If this is the case for you you'll need to watch the statement when it comes out. Give say half a day or a day for them to manually correct it as when it first comes out it'll show the lesser rent. If it's still incorrect you'll need to phone them to prompt them to calculate and send the underpayment. If your claim is one of the ones done by the system only you'll need to phone to remind them to manually calculate it after the end of every assessment period.

UC staff members get pulled up for suggesting it so they might not risk disciplinary to suggest it to you, but the only real way to improve this is to push the MPs to get them to include untidy tenancies in a system update. UC staff members ask for it to be included all the time, but keep being told it isn't a priority despite hundreds to thousands being affected.

pmlindyloo

You say your ex moved out 6 years ago?

Why have you still got a joint tenancy agreement?

What happened when your ex moved out? Was a new tenancy created in your name?

Forgive me but this really doesn't make sense. Did your ex inform the landlord that he had moved out?

11krage

Unfortunately landlords do refuse to change tenancy agreements if there happens to be any rent owed on the property. I assume this might be why they are refusing in OP's case.

Once rent owed on the property is cleared it is best to try and get the landlord to change the tenancy. As soon as that is done it makes the whole process much easier.

twinklyspangle

Hi,

So, my ex moved out after I discovered he had been avoiding paying the rent. He left me with 6,000 worth of arrears which I have paid off myself and with help from my parents. This has only just been cleared and I am currently in the process of applying for a joint to sole tenancy. I am a single mum, so paying that off has been an achievement for me.

I have spoken to the Job centre who have sent a note through, apparently they will repay me with a same day payment once they receive authorisation, which could take up to 72 hours.

I fell behind on my council tax held with Jacobs Enforcement and the bailiffs are due today. I just have to hold out for this money to come in and everything will be ok.