Claim for Universal Credit being made from property I have just purchased

Manxman_in_exile

And that is perfectly understandable and acceptable - but the OP doesn't seem to have interpreted what she has been told in that way - she seems to have been told that there is definitely no fraud as opposed to being told that if she returns the letter it will be investigated appropriately, but that it cannot be discussed with her for reasons of confidentiality.

The problem is that if it is not made clear that investigations will be made if necessary, people start to wonder what the point of reporting potential fraud is in the first place.  They should be assured that matters raised will be treated appropriately.

calcotti

swingaloo2 said:.. Im concerned that my husband claiming a benefit may be affected by this other person claiming to live here. My husbands benefit is not means tested so hopefully we cant get into any trouble. 

This part of your post appears not to have had an answer. If the benefits your husband are claiming are not means tested then be assured that even if DWP thought somebody else was living with you it would make no difference to his benefit.

swingaloo2

Thank you calcotti. Thats another thing the made me think that the person I spoke to didnt really have much of a clue. I told her that my husband was on a benefit but not means tested and she told me that there would not be a problem as the UC claim was not in my name. I said 'But you must cross reference and if my husbands claim had been a means tested one it would look as if we had more money coming in because of this guys UC claim' to which she just repeated 'Its not in your name so cant affect you'.  Not very reassuring!

A_Lert

A single address could legitimately have many separate UC claims if it's an HMO, or even the home of a large extended family. So I think it's unlikely (though not impossible) this has any effect on your own benefits.

And claimants can have their correspondence sent to an address where they don't live.

huckster

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

swingaloo2

huckster said:

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

Well I do have the letter in front of me and it definately came in the post. Its headed 'Claimants Account' 'Universal Credits'.  Its 2 pages saying what his payment will be this month, what his earnings for the month are and on the back it says they are deducting a sum for DWP benefits recovery and another sum for Tax Credits recovery. 

TheShape

swingaloo2 said:

huckster said:

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

Well I do have the letter in front of me and it definately came in the post. Its headed 'Claimants Account' 'Universal Credits'.  Its 2 pages saying what his payment will be this month, what his earnings for the month are and on the back it says they are deducting a sum for DWP benefits recovery and another sum for Tax Credits recovery. 

Sounds like a statement sent out for a claimant with a Phone claim.

huckster

swingaloo2 said:

huckster said:

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

Well I do have the letter in front of me and it definately came in the post. Its headed 'Claimants Account' 'Universal Credits'.  Its 2 pages saying what his payment will be this month, what his earnings for the month are and on the back it says they are deducting a sum for DWP benefits recovery and another sum for Tax Credits recovery. 

As already answered the person who lived at the house that had a UC claim was incapable of managing an online claim, so had statements posted to them.
If you have a way of forwarding it on  such as to pass it on to the Solicitors that acted for the person, then it may be helpful.  The claimant will need to call UC on 0800 328 5644 to update their claim.  It may help you to do this, as you would question what other companies this person has not contacted to update their information.  Perhaps sending the UC statement on to this person, might lead to them updating their address details with different companies/organisations and prevent you from being hassled.  

swingaloo2

huckster said:

swingaloo2 said:

huckster said:

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

Well I do have the letter in front of me and it definately came in the post. Its headed 'Claimants Account' 'Universal Credits'.  Its 2 pages saying what his payment will be this month, what his earnings for the month are and on the back it says they are deducting a sum for DWP benefits recovery and another sum for Tax Credits recovery. 

As already answered the person who lived at the house that had a UC claim was incapable of managing an online claim, so had statements posted to them.
If you have a way of forwarding it on  such as to pass it on to the Solicitors that acted for the person, then it may be helpful.  The claimant will need to call UC on 0800 328 5644 to update their claim.  It may help you to do this, as you would question what other companies this person has not contacted to update their information.  Perhaps sending the UC statement on to this person, might lead to them updating their address details with different companies/organisations and prevent you from being hassled.  

Ive actually found him on Facebook. He is about 30, a personal trainer and boxer and blogger so I dont think he is incapable of doing an online claim lol. Ive also seen that the person who sold the house is his sister and she is on Facebook and we have a mutual friend although I had no idea of this before. Ive now managed to contact the sister as she was the one who told me to just throw away any mail that came for him. Ive asked her to get him to update his details with UC and she has told me that he has no fixed address at the moment as he has split with his gorlfriend and he is sofa surfing. Apparently he had been sleeping at this property whilst it was empty. 

Spoonie_Turtle

swingaloo2 said:

huckster said:

swingaloo2 said:

huckster said:

UC is an online benefit for most people and therefore UC/DWP don't send letters in the post.
Only time UC/DWP post letters, is where the claim is a phone claim, as the claimant could not manage the claim online or there may be debts owed to DWP and the Debt Management part of DWP write to chase the debts.
As already advised return the letter marked, return to sender addressee not resident at the address.

Well I do have the letter in front of me and it definately came in the post. Its headed 'Claimants Account' 'Universal Credits'.  Its 2 pages saying what his payment will be this month, what his earnings for the month are and on the back it says they are deducting a sum for DWP benefits recovery and another sum for Tax Credits recovery. 

As already answered the person who lived at the house that had a UC claim was incapable of managing an online claim, so had statements posted to them.
If you have a way of forwarding it on  such as to pass it on to the Solicitors that acted for the person, then it may be helpful.  The claimant will need to call UC on 0800 328 5644 to update their claim.  It may help you to do this, as you would question what other companies this person has not contacted to update their information.  Perhaps sending the UC statement on to this person, might lead to them updating their address details with different companies/organisations and prevent you from being hassled.  

Ive actually found him on Facebook. He is about 30, a personal trainer and boxer and blogger so I dont think he is incapable of doing an online claim lol. Ive also seen that the person who sold the house is his sister and she is on Facebook and we have a mutual friend although I had no idea of this before. Ive now managed to contact the sister as she was the one who told me to just throw away any mail that came for him. Ive asked her to get him to update his details with UC and she has told me that he has no fixed address at the moment as he has split with his gorlfriend and he is sofa surfing. Apparently he had been sleeping at this property whilst it was empty. 

In that case he needs to update to an appropriate address - perhaps his sister's, not someone's who is neither family nor friend.  I would suggest returning any post for him unopened from now, then he'll have to either deal with the details himself or deal with the consequences of not receiving his post.  I know sometimes organisations take a while to update their systems but it very much sounds like he's not actually bothered to change his address.  Just out of curiosity, when did you start the process of buying the house?  You moved in getting on for 3 months ago which in itself should be ample time, but really he should have done something about it as soon as he knew the house would no longer belong to the family.