Big Badger House (aka Noisy Lodger) HE'S GONE!

JanCee

Ask her to show you her bank statements to verify that no HB has been paid into her account. If she has nothing to hide she will agree.

Jowo_2

I think if I lived with a suspected liar who suddenly acquired a credit card despite having no income, I would probably register with CIFAS and get a copy of my credit record from Experian to check whether there were any strange transactions, such as credit cards that I did not remember applying for...

beanielou

HB is paid by the council.
DLA is paid by DWP.
Wonder what the lodgers disability/illness is?
Wonder if she would even be entitled to DLA?
Mobility or care or both.

Jowo_2

What has the lodger been living on for the last 3 or 4 months if none of her benefit claims appear to have been progressed in this period and she requires others to purchase goods for her?

I can believe that state bureaucracy can be clumsy (though a DSS worker on the front line has defended complaints about in the Benefit forum by saying that the majority is caused by the claimants failure to provide supporting documentation or complete the paperwork).

But I am baffled why this issue has not been resolved in months. A person in a financial squeeze is highly motivated and incentivised to sort things out. A person who isn't feeling any great impact is not...

The lodger is still entitled to an interim housing benefit claim according to this explanation (though of course the LA maintain she's been paid it in full continuously since May). Any person who risks eviction because of rent arrears would have applied for this long ago.

Interim payment of Housing Benefit
Your Council can make an interim payment of Housing Benefit when they have all the information they reasonably require from you in support of your claim but are waiting for further information from another source to complete the assessment of your claim.

The only reason that payment can be delayed beyond 14 days is if the delay is caused because you did not provide the council with the information it asked for.

furndire

I'm sorry that you have had this news BadgerLady, but at least now you know. I know what you feel like, you really want to believe people, but there are some lying cheating thieving people out there, and the ones who do it the worst are the ones who can blatantly look you in the face and lie. That's how con artists work.
We've had a few, but fortunatley not lost much over the years. One thing I would suggest is when you find out where she has gone, just let the people know where she has moved to - to prevent someone else being conned.
Just put all her stuff out, and get an ad put out for another tenant. Not all DoHSS tenants are the same, I was skeptical off the 17 yr old lass and her young son who wanted one of our places - but she has turned out to be a very responsible young woman, who never misses as soon as her rent arrives. She didn't have a deposit either!!! But she has been paying £20 a month extra, so that she is now 1 month in advance with her rent. At least now if she decides to move on she will have a months rent to pay somewhere else with - so long as she had given me a months notice! I don't think she will ever move out though. BUT the day she says it hasn't, is the day that I will "helpfully" suggest we both go down to HB to see why.

Badger_Lady

Thanks all... she's definitely been home since yesterday and collected her post... plus she let the plumber in to do his thing, which is cool. There are two new letters for her today, one from the council and one from the local health authority, so I'm a bit nervous about her reading those...

Those who asked what she's been living off, well she told me in August that her bank had given her a £2,500 overdraft which is now maxed out (and having charges applied), so that explains that... how she managed to do so in such a short space of time without paying rent baffles me though! That's an awful lot of money to spend on eggs...

Jowo, the more you contribute, the more I suspect that you're my BF (are you?)...

With everything we've now heard and discussed there's only one tiny glimpse of a possibility left that she's been (relatively) honest... that when she took out this new overdraft-endowed bank account, she forgot to inform anyone and therefore the payments have continued to go to her old account... yeah, it's unikely, I know... I just like to believe in people

BitterAndTwisted

Honestly Badger_Lady you're entirely too kind, generous and trusting for your own good. I dearly hope this experience has been a wake-up call and you start putting your own well-being first in future. You'll get your reward but it won't be in this life, I suspect

Emmzi

I wish this looked brighter for you

Time to plan a holiday so you have something to look forward to when the ickiness is finished I think

Maybe also time to spend more time at home... you're too avoidable right now!

PasturesNew

I skimmed, but I think you've got yourself somebody that knows how to work the system and manipulate others.

You have a female, pregnant, disabled lodger, who has obtained a credit card and not paid you rent for months....

Look Badger... the bottom line is this: Ship her out. Every day she will become more pregnant, possibly exacerbating her disability, or her ability to manipulate you through emotional blackmail.

Get rid.

Jowo_2

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Jowo, the more you contribute, the more I suspect that you're my BF (are you?)...

You can rest assured that while I seem to share your boyfriends attitude, I am not currently in a relationship with a landlady who has either a devious scrounging lodger or one of the most unluckiest - sick and pregnant and unsupported by the state, the father of the baby and her family - and where the social security system and banking system appear also unable to process simple forms and transactions for many months.

Obviously it's too early to prove yet if she is a can pay/won't pay type or if she's just incapable of resolving simple administrative problems. However, you have to admit the gamut of explanations are very diverse...

Was she employed when she moved in and did you take up employer and ex-landlord references, run a credit and electoral register check and so on?

Screening of this type reduces the risk of dodgy lodgers by 90%. It acts as a deterrent for those who know their past behaviour will be exposed so they will simply withdraw their interest once they realise its taking place.

Conversely a broke tenant who has been previously evicted for arrears will rub their hands in glee at yet another sucker gifting them a key for many months for free rent and perhaps a lift into social housing through the eviction process.