Hi I'm just wondering how long it takes for a passport fee to leave a bank account? I sent the passport application form on Friday second class recorded delivery with the mandate form for taking it from my debit card and wonder if it will leave my account today when it should be received? Looking for peace of mind that the application is being processed. Thanks in advance.

My HB was suspended on 15th April due to a change of circumstance of partner moving in and making a joint claim for ESA. A decision cannot be made on my ESA until I have attended an ATOS medical assessment on 31st May I have not received any HB since 25th March and my landlord is now chasing me for eight weeks rent which is understandable. I have been to Shelter about this and my landlord has given me more time to pay luckily. I have also wrote to my local council asking them to pay my benefit based on the only income I have which is Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits. Today I checked my benefits online which I can do with my local council and my account is saying that the next payment is due on 17th June which will be 12 weeks benefit. Can HB only be suspended for 12 weeks and then a payment is released? Shelter has even telephoned my council to make a payment and they still haven't I have also read on here that if I email the CEO of my council, the problem will be resolved much quicker. Any help would be much appreciated.

I paid a deposit of £143 on Thursday for a holiday to Torquay in March and have changed my mind due to financial problems and cancelled the holiday. I received an email today that I will not be refunded unless I provide a reason for cancelling such as medical problems or redundancy. I have a Reward Bank Account with Santander which includes travel insurance so would it be possible to claim a holiday cancellation refund from them? Any help/advice would be much appreciated

In February this year I had to cancel a standing order I had set up with my bank to pay my rent to my landlord as I couldn't afford the full payment that month. I went to my local branch and asked them to set up the standing order again going to the same place it went to the previous month. This was all done verbally and I never checked the receipt as I trusted my bank had put the correct details through. In April my landlord got in contact with me to say he had not received any rent for two months and it turned out that my bank had put the details through for a standing order I had set up in June last year but cancelled. £860 was paid to my previous landlord, a lettings agency in February and March and they will not pay me the money back. They are now saying that I owed them this money because I left my previous property without giving notice. I have complained to the bank and after over 8 weeks of waiting, they have decided today that there is nothing they can do unless I can prove I cancelled the standing order last June (The account of which my money went to in error) Apparently, the standing order was still active on the banks computer yet no payments have been made since. I don't remember getting a receipt for cancelling it or whether I did it online as it was nearly a year ago. My bank is saying they have no record of me cancelling it online and the branch has no receipt for me doing it either. If I took this complaint to the FOS, would there be a chance I could get this £860 back from the bank as it is their error and I owe it to my landlord? Luckily, he has been willing to wait for it until this complaint is dealt with.

In February this year I had to cancel a standing order I had set up with my bank to pay my rent to my landlord as I couldn't afford the full payment that month. I went to my local branch and asked them to set up the standing order again going to the same place it went to the previous month. This was all done verbally and I never checked the receipt as I trusted my bank had put the correct details through. In April my landlord got in contact with me to say he had not received any rent for two months and it turned out that my bank had put the details through for a standing order I had set up in June last year but cancelled. £860 was paid to my previous landlord, a lettings agency in February and March and they will not pay me the money back. They are now saying that I owed them this money because I left my previous property without giving notice. I have complained to the bank and after over 8 weeks of waiting, they have decided today that there is nothing they can do unless I can prove I cancelled the standing order last June (The account of which my money went to in error) Apparently, the standing order was still active on the banks computer yet no payments have been made since. I don't remember getting a receipt for cancelling it or whether I did it online as it was nearly a year ago. My bank is saying they have no record of me cancelling it online and the branch has no receipt for me doing it either. If I took this complaint to the FOS, would there be a chance I could get this £860 back from the bank as it is their error and I owe it to my landlord? Luckily, he has been willing to wait for it until this complaint is dealt with.

I've recently found out I am entitled to Child Tax Credits and have three months backpay due to me. I am claiming Housing Benefit and need to notify them of this change of circumstance when I receive my award letter as I may be entitled to less benefit as my income has increased. Will the backpay I receive mean that Housing Benefit will have technically "overpaid" me for the last three months and they will want money back or not pay me any Housing Benefit for a while? Or will the new calculation just start from when I start to receive the tax credits?

I have recently found out that I may be entitled to Child Tax Credits as I have a five month old son. I have done a calculation and may be entitled to £65 per week but am worried this will affect my Housing Benefit as I also claim Incapacity Benefit. Will I still receive the full LHA for my 2 bedroomed property as I have a child or will my Housing Benefit be reduced greatly because of my Inacapacity Benefit and Child Tax Credits?

I moved out of a private rented property in October last year as a leak was not repaired leading to the ceiling falling through when I was 28 weeks pregnant. I had not seen out the full 6 month of my assured shorthold tenancy when I moved out but I had to leave as I felt the property was too dangerous especially for a baby. The lettings agency asked me to ring them sometime to arrange payment of what I owed which was about £600 and I gave them my genuine new address. I have not been able to afford any payments to them since I left and they have not chased me for it either through letter or email. I now have a 3 month old baby and it has turned out that my current landlord has not received any rent payments by standing order since January and after checking with the bank, the money has been paid to my previous landlord. I had to cancel a standing order with Santander bank for February's payment as I lost some money and could only afford to pay £400. I went to the branch and just asked for it to be set up again to the account that it had been going to the month before. Two payments of £400 and £460 have now gone to my previous landlord even though this standing order mandate was cancelled last June. I just paid the lettings agency cash or debit card payments. The cashier has obviously put the wrong mandate details through but the ironic thing is that I owed them some of this money anyway. Are they legally allowed to take it as it wasn't meant for them and can I claim this money back from the bank if my previous landlord refuses to give it back? I need some advice before I contact the two landlords

I moved out of a private rented property in October last year as a leak was not repaired leading to the ceiling falling through when I was 28 weeks pregnant. I had not seen out the full 6 month of my assured shorthold tenancy when I moved out but I had to leave as I felt the property was too dangerous especially for a baby. The lettings agency asked me to ring them sometime to arrange payment of what I owed which was about £600 and I gave them my genuine new address. I have not been able to afford any payments to them since I left and they have not chased me for it either through letter or email. I now have a 3 month old baby and it has turned out that my current landlord has not received any rent payments by standing order since January and after checking with the bank, the money has been paid to my previous landlord. I had to cancel a standing order with Santander bank for February's payment as I lost some money and could only afford to pay £400. I went to the branch and just asked for it to be set up again to the account that it had been going to the month before. Two payments of £400 and £460 have now gone to my previous landlord even though this standing order mandate was cancelled last June. I just paid the lettings agency cash or debit card payments. The cashier has obviously put the wrong mandate details through but the ironic thing is that I owed them some of this money anyway. Are they legally allowed to take it as it wasn't meant for them? I am now two months behind with my rent and can my current landlord evict me because of this error? Please help as my tenancy is on the line.

Am I entitled to a crisis loan for a washing machine and tumble dryer if I am 35 weeks pregnant and need them to wash/dry my baby's clothes in the winter months? I cannot get a budgeting loan as I claim Incapacity Benefit. Any help will be much appreciated.

I've only been in my new house a week and the boiler doesn't work. I am 34 weeks pregnant and the house is freezing and have no hot water. A handyman has been out to check it yesterday and has told me he can't get it to work and will let me know if he can organise a new one to be fitted. My landlord is on holiday until Wednesday so I'm hoping he can get in contact with him. What are my rights to have a new one fitted? I have read that it needs to be done within 48 hours and if this is the case can I organise my own boiler to be done and bill the landlord if I don't get one by tomorrow? Surely there are health risks involved as it's winter and I can't be getting ill while 34 weeks pregnant?

Question in the title really. I cannot find a guarantor at all to get a new house with an estate/lettings agency yet I have the money for fees, deposit and first month's rent. The house I'm in at the minute is very cold due to the pvc doors and windows not being sealed properly and it's taken the landlord two months to put a new bath in that was leaking and caused the ceiling to go through due to water build up. The landlord doesn't like to spend money on the property so it would take months to get the windows/doors sorted too. I'm 31 weeks pregnant and really need to get somewhere else in the next month. I can't go with a housing association as I doubt I'd get anywhere before my baby is born and I have fallen in to the "cowboy trap" twice with renting with people from a newspaper/internet adverts. Help please....

Well it wouldn't actually be me that was overpaid when I think about it as my rent was paid direct to my landlord as I was with a housing association then and not private. Surely it should be paid back from them??? Will ask for the detailed account of it tomorrow but don't have a clue what it is. I only ever paid a £30 per month shortfall at my last property.

I was awarded £90 per week HB for my house last month and my rent is due today from my bank. HB have paid me £321 as they say it's because they have deducted £39 for an overpayment made to me for a property in 2007. I know nothing of this and I was never even informed that they were going to take this money this month. My rent is £435 per month and I saved the £75 to add to the £360 I was supposed to be getting and now I have to underpay my landlord. Can HB do this as surely it is a separate issue and should have informed me via a bill or something and not taken it from what I owe my current landlord?

Does this mean that if I appeal against a decision and put my tenancy agreement with it along with reasons why I think it's wrong, could I be granted it? I've just been turned down for one yet I am 18 weeks pregnant and have no double bed, cooker or three peice suite in my new house?

I have received notification of me and my partners weekly housing benefit entitlement for a two bedroomed private house and we have been granted £90 per week. We claim as a couple and I receive £202 Incapacity Benefit per fortnight and my partner £60 Income Support sick per fortnight. We feel this decision is wrong as a calculation we did for our monthly liable rent of £435 granted us £101 per week. Can we ask for this to be looked at again as we will struggle finding the £75 per month shortfall. I am 18 weeks pregnant, by the way which is why we got a two bedroomed property. I know housing associations wouldn't of given us somewhere before the baby is born in December. Another problem we have is that they won't backdate our claim to when we signed for the keys on 11th June because we weren't sleeping at the property. We couldn't move in properly until 6th July as we didn't have a bed so they are doing the claim from then. Would it be worth appealing against this as we are now behind with our rent not being able to meet the £435 standing order we had set up for the landlord on 11th July? All we are getting is £180 on Wednesday and the landlord has to pay their mortgage on the house. Any help will be much appreciated.

I don't think it is as I have been reading up on this and I didn't receive any notification of it going into any scheme.

The situation is me and my partner rented a house in March and paid a deposit of £340. My brother moved in with us and in April we decided to look for somewhere else as I became pregnant and we wanted a house with central heating. My brother wanted to stay on in the house with my cousin and when we spoke to our landlord she said that the tenancy could be passed on but me and my partner wouldn't get our deposit back. We hadn't seen through the 6 months of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy so the landlord said we could leave without notice because the house wouldn't be vacant. The deposit is now my brother's if he leaves the house and he promised he would pay us the money back a little each week but we have seen nothing. Is it worth me taking him to a small claims court to get it back as he really doesn't seem to want to pay it us? Would we be entitled to Legal Aid as I receive Incapacity Benefit and my partner claims Income Support and would we have to pay any money if we won our case and got the £340 back?

The situation is me and my partner rented a house in March and paid a deposit of £340. My brother moved in with us and in April we decided to look for somewhere else as I became pregnant and we wanted a house with central heating. My brother wanted to stay on in the house with my cousin and when we spoke to our landlord she said that the tenancy could be passed on but me and my partner wouldn't get our deposit back. We hadn't seen through the 6 months of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy so the landlord said we could leave without notice because the house wouldn't be vacant. The deposit is now my brother's if he leaves the house and he promised he would pay us the money back a little each week but we have seen nothing. Is it worth me taking him to a small claims court to get it back as he really doesn't seem to want to pay it us? Would we be entitled to Legal Aid as I receive Incapacity Benefit and my partner claims Income Support and would we have to pay any money if we won our case and got the £340 back?

I moved into a private rented house in March and was given an Assured Shorthold Tenancy for 6 months. I fell pregnant in April and as the house had no central heating, me and my partner decided to look for somewhere else. I found another property and assumed that I would have to see out 4 weeks notice before I left but because my brother and cousin were staying on and my brother started a new tenancy there, the landlord said I didn't have to give any notice to leave but I wouldn't get my deposit back. Is this correct as I am struggling to pay for the first months rent at my new property. Is it legally still mine even though I didn't see the full 6 months of my tenancy through?

Would I be entitled to Housing Benefit if the owner of a shop subletted his upstairs living quarters to me? The address is all one, the shop and flat and would this affect the business side of the property?

I'm currently living in a private owned house and Housing Benefit pay most of the monthly rent. I want to start looking for somewhere else as the house isn't all it was cracked up to be and worried about having to find the first month's rent for another property. I paid the first month's rent and a deposit for my current house and the rent is always paid in front in a sense. If I viewed a new property and then handed in 4 weeks notice to my landlord after they had just got a Housing Benefit payment, could I use the next months Housing Benefit payment when I move out to pay for the first month's new property along with the deposit I get back?