Repaying overpayment of housing benefit!

caz1965

I have been overpaid, £668.00.
My daughter didn't tell me she had a change in her benefits (she said she was on a training course) and I was overpaid HB.
I am now single, estranged from my daughter, and left with this debt, and 2 children to bring up.
My HB is being stopped by £9.00 a week. I have offered to pay £10, to pay the debt, as I have other debts too I have been left with.
Is this likey to be accepted but my housing association?
I am waiting for areply.
Thanks for any help.

doodledo_2

Sorry I don't have any experience of HB but wish you luck and hope they accept your offer.

johnroberts07

You can appeal about overpayments and not have to pay them back. If you can prove you didnt know they were overpaying you, ask for an appeal then get C.A.B to fill in the form for you and represent you. I did it

johnroberts07

• We will not ask you to pay back overpayments that were our fault, unless we decide you should have known you were being overpaid.
• We won’t ask you to repay if we think this is unreasonable.
• But, otherwise, we usually expect you to pay us back. This is off my councils website, it says you have a month to appeal

teeni

I f you did not know you were being overpaid you can request a revision and explain why. If it is over the one calendar month since you recevied the decison you can ask for a late appeal up to 12 months after this date if you have good cause.

If you accept you have to pay it back and do not want to fight it (some people do not want the hassle) You will most certainly be allowed to pay it back at the rate of £10.00 per week. The recommended rate is £9.00 per week so as this is more it would probably be accepted ..

The problem for you could be that the hosuing associations often return the amount of the housing benefit overpayment back to the local authority and thus leaving you with rent arrears for the said amount. If that is the case it will be entirly up to the housing association and negotiations may be necessary to acheive a figure for repayment that is acceptable to both of you.

SortingIt_2

Hi there,

If the council have gone back and adjusted your claim based upon information that you have supplied them with regards to certain circumstances at a given time it is not likely that they will change their decision as they have recalculated your entitlement based upon what your actual circumstances were at that time and would have amended it to what you would/should have been recieving. However you have said that you did not know this information and also that you and your daughter are estranged so I would def write a letter of appeal explaining this and that you couldn't have possibly know....the letter must be sent with a calendar month of the date the decision was made. This will be on your award letter, if it is outside the month it is likely a late appeal will be made to the appeals tribunal.

You can also request (contact the overpayments department) that they reduce the recovery rate of the overpayment if you send them a letter stating that this may be too much due to other arrears and a kind of SOA to back it up and offer them a more managable amount for you and therefore allow you to pay back other things. I would even consider offering them £1.00 per week if your finances suit that.

Hope this is of help - good luck!

SortingIt_2

P.S - you can also request that a hold be put on any recovery of overpayments until your appeal has been dealt with. May give you time to sort finances.

Make sure you put everything in writing and get a receipt from local council as proof...they have a habit of loosing things!!!!

caz1965

Thanks for all the help.
My daughter told me she was on a training course, but she was getting more tax credits so, should have told me, so I could have informed housing benefit.
My daughter is awful and I would have had trouble getting a penny off her.
She really doesn't care about the mess she has left me in.

The council have stopped my housing benefit by £9.00 a week, so the housing association want that, and £5.00 for the arrears that have built up.

I think I need to throw my debts at someone at the cab.
My break up was caused by my husbands attemps to end his life, he then left me, and I have all sorts of debts to cope with.
thanks agin, I will update when I hear from the housing.

teeni

IS the arrears for the same period? if so this does not seem right.

If you have a housng benefit overpayment say for jan 1st to march 1st and the authority are reclaiming that at £9.00 per week there is no rent arrears for that period as rent has been paid. You can ask to negotiate a lower repayment on this or even to suspend payments pending the outcome of an appeal.

Why are you being asked to pay both.

Teeni

caz1965

The arrears were from february to april.
I didn't know anything about it, till I got a letter telling me I had been overpaid.
my daughter ran off and didn't pay a social fund loan, and I think she was investigated, and that led to them finding out about my overpayment.
My benefit is being paid now, as a single person, just minus the £9.00 a week.

webtalk

You might have some explaining to do if your daughter was no longer actually living with you. I'm saying this because it isn't 100% clear if this was the case.