can i claim housing benefit?

shabaash

Hi. Im a long time lurker and first time poster, really in need of advice please.
I am a single mother with a 15 year old son, recently divorced, living in west midlands. Ex lives in another country and has done for past 4 years - get no financial help from him.
I work part time £85.00 a week, and get child benefit for my son £18.80 a week.

I have just checked on the entitld to website, and it says i could get about £119 a week in working and child tax credit. Does anyone know if this is right? I live with my sister and her family at the moment, and have done so since i split with my ex, so for the past 4 years really.

This is where it gets messy, I was getting housing benefit when i was with him but we had rented the house from his brother, but he put that landlord was not a relative on the form. After he left, the housing people got me for fraud basically saying we lied on the form to get the money, and could have been keeping it ourselves. It didn;t seem to matter that he left in me thousands of debt, all utility bills unpaid etc. Anyway, they took payments back out of my income support to cover the housing benefit we had had inthis time.

What i need help on please, is how can i move out & get my own place? My parents have both passed away, and i have no other family who can help me. Brothers & sisters all have their own homes, lives and kids, and i know i am now getting in the way of my sisters life, especially with her husband. I share a small room with my teenage son - toally inappropriate and he has his exams this year, so reallly stressed!

I am scared to even get in touch with the housing benefit people. When my income support finished coz i got a part time job, i have made no claims for anything, not even working tax credit as i was scared that they would say i had done fraud again. But i need to get a flat or house and move out, and i know the only way i can do this is with getting some kind of help from the benefits people.

Would i be able to get any help with housing, council tax or extra working tax credit? or will my past dealings with them, mean i can't get anything?
i would really really appreciate any advice. Am realy determined to sort things out now for once and for all.
thank you so much for reading, and sorry for going on!

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Gillianh2

First off are you on any housing waiting lists? Also have you repaid the money that was claimed back by housing benefit?
You can claim housing benefit and working family tax credit. They will make stringent checks as they do or should on all claims.:rolleyes:

I think I am right in saying that so long as you have repaid all outstanding monies owed to housing benefit this will not affect your new claim. I would if I were you and to avoid any more suspicion or problems when claiming housing benefit to try to see if you can or are eligible for either Council Housing or Housing u
Association. You will need to make an application to these so you should do this as soon as possible.
You could make an appt at your local CAB office who will help you complete the working tax credit forms and also advise you on how to apply oufor council housing and any housing associations in your area.

shabaash

thanks so much for taking the time to reply Gillian - really appreciate it.
No i am not on any waiting lists - ex would not let me put name down at the time, and then with all of stuff about the housing benefit, was scared to put my name down on anything! i paid back £1000 and had about £800 left to pay. When i started working, i stopped my income support, so they stopped taking any money to repay the housing, so i guess i still owe this, Have never heard from them to chase anything up so i haven't done anything about it either. If i have to, i will borrow the money to pay off the remainder, so at least i can start getting housing benefit.

I have been looking at private houses, and have just seen on the birmingham council website that they pay £126 a week rent for two people (me and my son) as we will need 2 bedrooms. ive got their number down tomorrow so will ring them. I'm just really scared that they will keep watching me or something, even though i'm not doing anything wrong! for the past 4 years, my and my son have been sharing a room, and its too much for both of us now! i have had no relationships of any kind, and really want to start seeing people (whole other thread i guess!). My son is now a young man, and i know he needs his space too.
do you know if they can backdate working tax credit? have been working for over a year now, and never claimed!
thanks

DaisyFlower

You can only backdate WTC by 3 months.

Gillianh2

You should also contact housing benefit now and make an arrangement to repay the £800 in instalments if neccessary. It will make making an new claim for HB easier.
So tmwr you need to be contacting Housing Assc and Council Waiting list and make an application, and also make a new application for WTC.

Come back and tell us how you get on.

shabaash

thanks for the advice. have added it to my list tomorrow! thanks again

daveyboy998

The fact that you owe money to the Council will not influence any claim to Housing Benefit. When you claim they will reduce your benefit by a set amount - most likely £6.10 per week - to recover the balance.

Also do not worry that they wont pay any new claim - provided that you have a genuine liability to pay rent and live in the property you will be able to claim. However, although the Council will base your claim on a set amount (£126?), your wages, Child Benefit and Tax Credits will mean that you probably wont receive this amount.

You need to claim Tax Credits now - you are losing money that you are entitled to every day you dont claim. If you know how much Tax Credits you will get the Council Website should have a calculator where you can put your details into, and it will tell you your Housing Benefit entitlement.

bestpud

Yes, your first priority is a tax credit claim! You are definitely entitled to them and the sooner you are in the system, the sooner you will get paid.

seven-day-weekend

I would go on the Council/Housing Association list for a property, given your housing situation at the moment.

gb57

Although I have thankfully never been in your situation, I think that you should, as Gillian suggested, get in touch with the Citizen's Advice Bureau. They will be able to tell you all sorts of stuff, help with forms, tell you which housing lists to get on and hopefully enable you to get the Working Tax Credit, or whatever. Hopefully they will be able to give you enough advice to really get your life back on track.

Best of luck.

PS Your sister sounds like a real brick, perhaps in a year or so when all is right with your world you should treat her to something really nice as a thank you.

MummyHol

I don't really know much about the benefits and tax credits side of things, but if you need any help with housing application PM me.

Good luck xx