Housing Benefit - a cautionary tale

I have been in receipt of since 29th September 2003 when I applied for Housing Benefit. Everything was fine - I was getting £43 a week JSA less £10.68 Social Fund repayment and £41 a week HB.

I moved house on 8th March this year and applied for Housing Benefit for my new house. My JSA changed from CB to IB on 1st April and increased to £44.05 a week less £10.68 Social Fund repayment. I received a letter from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (we don't have council housing, all public housing is owned by this government body) on 10th May saying "my house fell under the Rent Order 1979 which limits the rent yor landlord can charge to £1 plus rates". Understandably my landlord was !!!!!! off, but there was nothing I could do and he could not evict me as the Rent Order overrides the tenancy agreement. I have since discovered that the Rent Order applies when a house is of a certain age and the rate value (council tax value) is below a certain level. This applied to my house.

At the end of July my landlord got my house's rates revalued and the Rent Order restriction was lifted. This meant my Housing Benefit was changed from £1 a week to £42 a week. On 9th August I received a letter from my landlord's solicitor - it was an eviction notice due to the arrears that had built up whilst all this was going on. I was told to quit the house on 20th August. I telephoned the Housing Executive to get some advice and was told there should be "no arrears" as my weekly HB was £69.93 a week and on 29th July my landlord got a paymet of £1050.

So I went through months of suspense and a week of worry over Housing Benefit. I never was told why my HB was increased so much, because as I am under 25, living on my own in a 2 bedroom house, my HB is normally limited to £40 a week. At least now it is all sorted and I do not have to take money out of my HB each week to supplement my HB.

Now all I have to look forward to is starting the New Deal placement on Monday...........