Housing Benefit

mulber · 17 October 2019 at 12:37PM

Hi
I have an issue with my social landlord. I have been in full receipt of housing benefit, my son became a non dependant when he left school, I informed the landlord that he had left school but due to severe mental health issues (psychosis) he was mentally unable to claim any benefits (DWP refused to allow me to claim for him). I received a letter from the Landlord stating that there was an overpayment of £130. I wrote back saying if there is an overpayment then that's their 'error' not mine as they were told about my son's status.
They would not accept that argument and have now raised court proceedings against me for eviction, they claim I owe them £596 as there was a 4 week rent free period that I have to pay as they claim I was in debt and therefore no longer entitled to rent free period.
I have looked at the legislation and have seen guidelines re. overpayments and believe I am in the right here. What I cannot find though is anything that allows someone with severe mental health issues to be taken into account in relation to non dependant deducations - surely against the Equality Act?

calcotti · 17 October 2019 at 12:48PM

If you only spoke to your landlord that will not necessarily have resulted in your Housing Benefit award being dealt with. If your landlord is a Housing association they are not the people who administer Housing Benefit. Even if your landlord is the local authority the estates management will be different to the benefits administration. To get your Housing Benefit award updated you would, most likely, have needed to speak direct to the Benefits section of your local authority. The initial overpayment was presumably because of a delay between your son leaving school and the local authority benefits team being informed. For a non-dependant with no income the deduction is £15.60/week.

Your son will be treated as a non-dependant unless he or you are in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit.

Have you tried to see if you can become a DWP appointee so that you can claim benefits on his behalf? https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits. Apologies if this is what you meant when you say "DWP refused to allow me to claim for him".

pmlindyloo · 17 October 2019 at 12:57PM

Since your social landlord has raised court proceedings against you I think you need to contact Citizens Advice for support with this.

Calcotti has already explained how to become an appointee for your son and claim Universal Credit for him. Under Universal Credit there is no non dependent deduction for someone under 25.
https://www.tameside.gov.uk/housingbenefit/nondependentdeductions

The difficulty may be that his Universal Credit would not be backdated and therefore you may still have arrears for this period.

Therefore I would suggest that you apply for a Housing Discretionary Payment from your local authority to cover the arrears. CA would help you with this.

CA may also be able to speak to your social housing landlord and explain the circumstances. It is difficult to know whether the court proceedings can be suspended without seeing your paperwork - hence my suggestion to use CA.

mulber · 17 October 2019 at 1:18PM

Thanks for the response, the DWP would allow me to set up his application online but he would still have to go to the job centre with ID and attend a work interview- his mental health condition would rule this out. Sorry I should also make it clear I did deal with the benefits section of the council. I emailed them two weeks prior to my son leaving school and becoming a non-dependant as he was receiving psychological support from the NHS and therefore knew he was not capable of working etc.
It just seems unfair to me that those suffering from MH that prevents them from seeking benefits should be punished. I also submitted a claim for HDP and was awarded the full amount - however instead of putting it on the rent account the Council put it on the council tax account.

pmlindyloo · 17 October 2019 at 2:11PM

This thread may help you with his claiming Universal Credit:

https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/51906/claiming-uc-with-asd-agoraphobia-cannot-attend-jobcentre

WhenIam64 · 17 October 2019 at 2:35PM

I'd second pmlindyloo's comment about CAB but if they do not have a Housing specialist, try someone like Shelter. Court paperwork for rent arrears is a serious issue as judges have limited scope to refuse the application. Basically you have to pay it or get it suspended for a good reason.

There should be free legal advice available locally to you.

The RSL near us has a "financial inclusion" officer who can help with discretionary housing payment applications which will help support the suspension but don't wait for your day in court. You need to get active now.

Housing Benefit

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