My contribution based JSA has just been exhausted. I have filled in form JSA 3 and sent it off first class. For some reason they sent a letter the day it exhausted (9 September) that arrived by 12th class post on the 16 September. Anyway I called the contact centre and they told me to do form JSA 3 which I have done. The latest payment I got was for only £38. Odviously this will not keep me going for long. How long does the change from contributions to income based take after sending the JSA 3 form off? Can I apply for a crisis loan once my £38 runs out if it is not sorted? My experience with these people is everything takes weeks to sort out. Also will they make an interim payment once it is sorted, or will I have to wait till my next sign on date plus 3 days?

This is a difficult ask as lenders at the moment are very strict. You may require a deposit in the 30 - 40% range to be accepted and even then it will be at a high rate of interest. How old is the CCJ?

People with better advise than me will be along shortly to help. Have you opened a new bank account and ensured all your earnings go into it? Payday lenders will just take your money without permission and nothing short of a new account can stop this. Sometimes it is best to concentrate on one lender at a time. Pay everything you can to them, then move onto the next, hopefully this snowballs until you have paid of all your debts. If you do it this way start off with the ones you have not defaulted, so you can avoid charges with these loans. This might not be suitable for you due to the amounts and number of payday loans you have. Generally it is best to offer/pay the loan amount + one months interest. Their high interest and charges make it unlikely for them to take you to court if you pay this amount as they are hard for them to justify. I would not take paydayoverdrafts offer. It is usually easier to negotiate with DCAs rather than the payday companies themselves. A CCJ is an order from the court that you owe a debt. They are not a form of debt relief but a form of enforcement. A CCJ can lead to further enforcement action and are best avoided where possible. If you get court papers do not ignore them but seek advise from a professional or at the least come here. Finally do not worry. These companies are the modern equivalant of loan sharks and deserve little respect. Put everything in writing.

So lets say for instance they applied a 6month sanction? I would be loathed to attend the biweekly sign ons for 6 months for nothing. Lets say I appealed and the sanction stood. What would happen if I stopped attending? Still have not heard anything. Another thing, my father is gifting me very generously £500 a month to help out. This is an informal arrangement from his personal account to mine. Should I declare this? The council picked up on it with my claim from them but a letter from my dad to them stating it was a gift was sufficient. I do not think there was any field in my original application covering gifts like this. I guess this might only matter if I required income based JSA? Thanks for all the help so far. I have an interview next week. Hopefully I will get that job and all this will no longer be a concern!

I hope not. Although I stated as said above on that form I did fill it in briefly and did not provide supporting evidence (such as job offer) as I did not have it on me at the time (I was told to only bring CV, P45 and ID)! I did ask the person whom I was having the interview with and they said it should not matter. Now this letter. Grrr. I did like my 25k a year job and had no urge to live on pretty much nothing. Would that not be odvious to the decision team?

How long does it take for them to decide this sort of sanction? I am finding this difficult and I only got the letter today!

When would that sanction apply? From when I signed on, now or when I left my job? Would 26 weeks be the usual sanction for voluntarily leaving a job? 6 months seems harsh!

Good evening. Today I received a letter from the jobcentre that they think I may have left my job voluntaraly. The letter states that until they make a decision they will continue to pay me. I have been signing on and received a seperate letter that I am entitled to contribution based JSA. I left my previous job as I had an offer of employment else where. Unfortunately the new job fell through as it turned out I had only been driving 6 months and the new company could not get insurance for a company car (the perfect job fell through!) and therefore could not employ me. The company I was with (a small company) did inform me prior to this that due to a decrease in work load I would soon be made redundant unless things changed (which prompted me to look for a new job). Unfortunately after I left to take my new position they could not give me my old job back. I have spoken to my previous employers and they will confirm if asked by the jobcentre that in all liklihood I would have been made redundant. The job fell through in January. I claimed JSA in March (if that makes any difference). What happens next and what investigations will the JC make? Will they ask me to fill out a form or speak to my previous employer? (I filled out a form stating the above story at my first meeting) If I am found to have left my job voluntarily what are the sanctions they will impose? How long will this all take? Will this affect my housing and council tax benefit? They have paid me for 10 days and on the phone after signing on today have stated that the usual £130 will be sent for payment today. If I am sanctioned will they attempt to claw this back? Thanks for any help.

To be realistic your friend is on borrowed time until a court chucks them out with arrears of 52 weeks. Short of deposit protection issues or the local authority deeming the property a hazard to health. The landlord may take the view that making a claim for the rent would not be worth the costs (I would not make a claim, it would only cost me money as the tenant odviously has no money). The council should consider her homeless and if she is deemed a priority could get rehomed reasonbly quickly (though they do not have to provide a home if she is not). She should talk to shelter and continue talking to her local authority. I think she will have to rely on friends and family for the short term.

Check how the landlord is allowed to levy service charge in your lease. It may be that you are only ever liable for a 5th of any charge. If that is the case then the landlord could be responsible for empty units. This sort of point needs checking ideally by a solicitor. Leases are complex contracts.

There are generally two ways of checking managing agents / landlords use and levy of service charge. The first and easiest is under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sections 21 and 22. Section 21 allows you to ask for a summary of service charges. This must be put in writing to the landlord or their agent. You can only ask for the last 12 months or so of service charge (though feel free to ask for a longer time scale). Section 22 allows the tenant (or leaseholder) to view all documents, receipts etc relating to the service charge. You must have requested a summary under section 21 before requesting more detail under section 22. There is another way, however you will need the majority of tenants to agree. This is called a management audit which is availiable under some Act and is usually carried out by a chartered surveyor and is extreme and potentially costly way forward. The obligations of the landlord and how the service charge is levied will be contained in the lease. Cross check everything with this. It may be worth taking photos of the state of the building as it is at the moment.

Terrible spelling of advise by me! After seeing the break down of costs etc, if anything does seem irregular you could ask the other tenants in the block if they are willing to join you and share costs (such as professional fees) with regard to the service charge. Also if monies have gone missing (esp if a previous agent has gone bankrupt) check if the firm was regulated or the staff were members of RICS. They will almost certainly have insurance. I am not implying any theft has happened, just dont be too careful. From my experience odd things can happen to service charge money!

Contact shelter and council above. It may still be possible to find somewhere to rent. Do you both have a job? Would anyone be able to provide a guarentee for you? This is a big ask of someone but is acceptable to most landlords. Edit: Sorry just read no guarentor. Be upfront with landlords/agents. Providing you can show you have been paying rent and have a stable job you will be suprised who will accept you. They may ask for employment references and something from your current landlord. Do speak to shelter and the council though!

This will require solicitor advice. Ask the management company for a break down of all items relating to the service charges and projections for this years budget. There should be a record of all expenditure from their client account. You are allowed access to this information so do not get fobbed off. What is the yearly ground rent without service charge? How many tenants are in your block? Is the service charge divided equally between tenants? If they have not done any of the work claimed, it is of poor quality or the cost seems excessive you may need a chartered surveyor to provide an expert witness report. With regard to the mortgage company paying and adding it to your account and suing you, you will need legal advice. Edit: Just to add the client account runs with the building. So even the new agents should have all the details relating to it. In their projections they should also have an idea of any large items that may be required in the medium term (such as re-roofing). Good agents should add this to the service charge so leaseholders do not have a shock large one off expenditure. Check that the management fees charged by the agents is reasonable and competitive.

Yes I filled one in last month. They do ask for the Landlord details. The council does not normally contact the LL unless you cannot provide any recent documents showing you still live at the property or a valid original signed lease. They might contact your LL if they believe you to be in arrears or that your LL is a family relation. At my last meeting I asked if they contact my LL as I feared I would be evicted. They said no aslong as the above criteria is met. I have checked my lease and there is no covenant relating to HB.

Direct debits are fortunately easy to reverse if you notice it on the day it comes out (so check your account daily) as the bank can reverse the charge. Fortunately there is a guarentee from banks relating to them. Card payments are almost impossible to get back. It depends on the card as well. I believe if you cancel a visa debit it is still possible for them to get money from it (by way of recurring payment authority or something). I believe that this type of authority is not allowed on maestro cards so cancelling should work with these. I wouldnt take my advice though. Just open a new account.

My claim has been approved for my full rent on the basis of an expired (the fixed term has) AST lease. They did require an electric/water/gas bill from the last month to prove I still lived there. Fortunately I am in the position to pay this and next months rent. I can see how a tenant could get into arrears if they are unable to cover those 4 weeks before the first payment + the time taken to complete a claim. My claim again was straight forward and I had all details to hand. My LL is a large commercial company that owns the entire block I live in, and which is considered 'exclusive'. Fortunately I share the flat with another joint tenant so my rent is halved, and again fortunately my half of rent is covered by the LHA. I feel if my landlord had found out about my claim I would have been served notice to leave or I would have had to provide a guarentor. I have no intention in telling them of my claim.

Are you required to notify your landlord that you are claiming housing benefit? I made a claim 2 weeks ago and was assured that the council will not inform my landlord nor will I have to tell them. They just asked for a signed copy of my lease.

Ok all sorted. They have frozen interest and I will be paying by SO over 8 months at £48 a month. I am pleased with this outcome and after this should be payday loan free Thanks for all the help!

Tell your bank that as far as you are concerned fraud has taken place on your account. Say you have received no service or goods from these people. If you have a visa debit you maybe able to use their charge back scheme. In the mean time write them a letter threatening trading standards unless they return your money immediately as per their terms and conditions. Write to trading standards anyway. Hopefully this should get your money back within the next week, maybe 2.

From my understanding even after a debit card is cancelled they can force through payment. From my research however this only applies to Visa debit as they allow continuous payment authority. Maestro cards do not so cancelling should be enough. However I would not rely on this if you hold a Maestro card and would set up a new account.

I called yesterday. They said they wanted it paid in 2 months, not the 8 months I was offereing. I cannot afford more. I will try emailing him. Thanks!

Not getting anywhere with Wonga. I have spoken to them with a reasonable offer after they ignored my emails but they seem uninterested and are demanding full payment. Interest and fees are just going up at an amazing rate.

Watch your account like a hawk. Once you have cancelled and written to both the bank and lending stream if they attempt to take money phone your bank and they will return it same day. They will only do this in cases of fraud or no direct debit mandate (which would apply esp if you have written to them withdrawing mandate).

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