Well we have filled in the HB form and will wait and see what they say. If a large rent payment has to be made, we will fight to get it returned if and when the IS appeal goes our way. You are right that we won't get full Housing Benefit 45002 but if the IS appeal goes in our favour, the suspension will be lifted and the backdated full rent will by paid. The point I am making is that whatever amount we are asked to pay in rent in the meantime, the Council have said that they will not refund it if the appeal goes in our favour which means we could be paying £26 per week to sit as credits on the rent account till the day we die which is why we are going to fight to have it returned if the appeal goes our way.

Thank you for your replies. The reason why I would be paying more rent is because Income Support is at present suspended. When Income Support was being received, there was no rent to pay as HB were paying the whole amount. Now because IS has been suspended, if HB do a reassessment, they will reassess on current income which is incapacity benefit only. I have been told that there is a strong possibility that they will reassess as a couple for the time being and that the shortfall on rent is almost £26 per week. There is no overpayment to apply to the account, that is the bog standard rate I have been told assessed as a couple in receipt of incapacity benefit. The Council, both the HB department and the Rent Office have both told me that if payment of almost £26 per week is payable, even if and when IS is reinstated and all the rent owed is backdated and paid, I will reveive nothing as a refund. It is Council policy here that council tenants are not ever given a cheque if there is a credit on their rent account. I explained that in this case I would be paying almost £26 per week for how ever many months it takes to sort this IS mess out which will result in the end that the rent account sits forever in a large amount of credit. This just doesn't seem right to me at all.

Hello I am in a terrible mess and can take no more!! I will try and make this as short as possible. I claimed DLA 3 years ago for first time and was awarded high rate care and low rate mobility. I was told I should claim Income Support because of this. I live with my ex wife - I am disabled and cannot live alone. She is my carer. I was told that she should claim carers allowance for looking after me. I sent in my IS claim form but my ex wife got a letter back from carers allowance telling her she is entitled but they cant pay her due to underlying entitlement so she should claim Income Support instead which she did. Whilst our two claims were being processed, we were both asked to attend an interview at local Jobcentre+. Told when we both got there that the DWP needed to be satisfied we were not living as a couple before our claims were processed. Interview and Decision Maker were both satisfied so both invidual claims were processed and we both received small amounts of IS. She was then entitled to full Housing Benefit and CTB. I had to renew my DLA and sent in my form at beginning of September. Mid September I was asked to attend a review interview at local Jobcentre+ to make sure there were no change to any circumstances i.e., were we still living as disabled person and carer or were we now living as a couple. Interviewer said he was satisfied we were not a couple. I received letter from DLA informing me I was now awarded high care and high rate mobility as my disabilities had got worse. 2 days later my ex wife and myself received idential letters from income support stating our claims had been suspended as the decision maker had decided we live as a couple and have done for the last 3 years!!!!! I can't tell you of the shock from both of us. Income Support refused to send a copy of the decsiion maker's report so we could not write appeals as we didnt know what we were both appealing. It took the CAB to demand this to be sent to us which left us only 2 weeks to write both our appeals. We have done this and sent them both recorded delivery a couple of days ago. The decision maker's report is something to see! The CAB said if it wasn't so serious it was something you would see on a comedy tv programme. I suffer from uncontrolled grand-mal epilepsy, osteo arthritis, COPD, asthma and very high blood pressure though the decision maker decided to completely ignore all my disabilities and also said in the report that we do not live in a care situation because I could take care of myself 8 years ago! I didn't have osteo arthritis, COPD or very high blood pressure 8 years ago and my epilepsy has got worse. My ex wife was not interviewed at all yet the decision maker spoke on her behalf in the report and wrote that he was drawing conclusions! the whole report was based purely on a couple living together with no disabilities and care needs. i honestly see no reason why our appeals should not be upheld. Because IS was suspended, so has my ex wife's housing benefit and CTB - this is her home so these are in her name with me down as living here for care purposes. HB have sent her a form to fill in about change of circumstances. She has told them on the phone there is no change apart from IS is suspended pending appeal but they have said they will reassess housing benefit and CTB based only on incapacity benefit. My ex wife has told HB that she sees no point in this as the local authority dont refund money to tenants who have paid too much rent. She told HB that there is no reason why IS wont be reinstated and it is not stopped, it is suspended. They are insisting she fill in this form but will mean we have to pay almost £26 per week in rent alone. Firstly, we can't afford to pay that amount of rent and secondly whats the point in paying it when it's just going to sit in the Council's rent account as a credit forever as they dont refund in money? Please does anyone know how she can fill in this form or should she write a letter instead? We are at our wits end. Thanks for any help

Thanks for that bazooka boo but I have done the experian one. they said they send me out a pin number etc which I should get tomorrow by post hopefully so I will wait for that to turn up and see what I can see. I have never seen my credit file before so dont really know what I am supposed to be looking for but I suppose it must be easy to follow lolol

Well it was so long ago I had actually forgotten about it. I dont normally do that but when I became ill, a lot of things in my life got forgotten - just a really bad time and something turns off in your head. I'm ok now though thank goodness. Yes things must be getting desperate in DCA land. It's not much of a debt but I wont be bullied by anyone.

They really are a piece of work! I called Debtline and as soon as I said McKenzie Hall the first thing I was told was do not under any circumstances call them as you will be abused. The woman at Debtline was great. She said if there is no CCJ then it is statute barred. I have just gone onto one of the credit report companies to make sure there was never a CCJ about this.

Hello, I have been looking at various threads in this forum and have come across a lot concerning McKenzie Hall debt company. I received a letter from them a few weeks ago telling me that they needed to contact me on a personal matter and if I do live at this address to contact them. After reading posts on this forum I decided to contact them in writing as I did not want to be verbally abused on the phone. I actually sent them an email to the address on the letter and included the reference number they gave. I told them that I did live here and asked what they wanted to contact me about. I heard nothing more from then until today when I received another letter from them stating that I have made no contact with them (which is untrue) and that I owe money to a company. It turns out it is for a store card I had many many years ago. It was actually a Marks & Spencer card. Yes I had the card and yes I did stop paying it. I lost my job and came to an arrangement with M&S Cards to pay a monthly amount to clear the debt. I became very ill and everything went by the wayside. I'm not trying to make excuses for not paying what I owed, just trying to explain what happened. I moved house and heard nothing more from M&S. The last payment I made must have been around 9 years ago. Then came the first letter from McKenzie Hall a few weeks ago and now today I have found out that it is this M&S debt from all those years ago they are chasing me for. Would this be classed as statute barred if there was no CCJ done without me knowing?