Applied for housing benefit to the local council,and now receive the same. Brief circumstances.Live in private rented property, 2 bed house,the council will only pay benefit based on a 1 bedroom flat as there are just 2 adults and that would be the only property we would be entitled to live in for benefit purposes,based on their calculations.The rent they say for a 1 bed flat is £200 less approx than we pay in rent so the benefit although helpful,is much lower than their benefit online calculator indicates. We also get 9pence per week benefit towards council tax Is this the normal method of calculating housing benefit?? thankyou FS

Im hoping someone can give me some advice on this please. Its really getting to me and Im at my wits end at the moment. Here goes. Up until 2011 I had a really good job, never claimed any benefits. Come November 2011 I was made redundant, but luckily got a new job two days later (on about half the pay). We lived on the wage from the new job and the redundancy for about a year (used it to repay debts etc). My new job was with an agency. During February 2013 the company who used the agency said they were not going to renew my contract, but offered me a permanent job starting 1st March 2013 (on slightly more money). The HB and CTB payments continued. Fast forward to April 2013. The company I worked for lost their bid to extend their contract with a national company they worked for. The work was awarded to another company. I was transfered to the new company via TUPE (Wages unchanged), Now this company is undergoing a restructuring plan, and I am uncertain whether there will be a position for me. Whilst looking at my finances this week I realised I had never told the council about the increase in wage back in April. It just didnt register with me at the time due to all the stuff that was happenig at work and the threat of being made redundant twice in the space of 4 months. Llke I said I just dont know what to do. I know I should contact the council and tell them but im so scared of what the result will be I just cant pluck up the courage to do it. Its really starting to affect me now, Im not eating, not sleeping and Im being physically sick at the thought of what might happen. Can anyone help please?

Hi Folks, I moved to Edinburgh whilst looking for work. I'm on IB-JSA and applied for Housing and Council Tax Benefit. I have been awarded both but not the Second Adult Rebate that I specifically applied for. I share the flat with another person who is in Full-Time edcuation and there is no-one else. As far as I'm concerned, to quote the Council's website: "The highest amount is 100 per cent of the council tax due on the property. To qualify for this you must be a full-time student and the person who has to pay the council tax and all your second adults must be receiving ... Income-based Job Seekers Allowance." Now, I have been awarded a Council Tax reduction, although it doesn't say on the document what is the percentage and why this much (and why Second Adult Rebated wasn't awarded). I have calculated that the reduction is circa 41%. Even though, first - according to what the Council writes itself, I can legally claim 100% reduction, second I simply can't afford to pay £200 in November, and then £205 in December, as they ask for. With the rent, gas/electricity, and (reduced) Council Tax), I'd literally have nothing left. In fact, I'll have to sell things to buy food! Any suggestions how should I persue the Council to award me the Second Adult Rebate which I'm legally entitled to?

Hi, I have a friend who is living in a two bedroomed council flat. It is quite a small flat and the second room is only just big enough for bunk beds to fit in it. She has 2 teenage daughters. The council has just told her that they have brought in new rules which means that she is losing her addition transfer points because they no longer class a single room as overcrowding when 2 kids share it. Does anyone know if the council can do this and/or if there are national regulations for the acceptable size of a room etc? Thanks in advance

Hello, I'm trying to find any information on Housing Benefit underpayments as I've not seen or heard of this before. There are 6 different entries on my benefit calculation stating xxxx has been recovered against underpayments (x 6) these amounts add upto around £1500. What does this actually mean to me they owe me or I owe them as the letters are very confusing? Thankyou for any advice.

A friend passed away in February 2012 and feeling safe to do so on the instructions on the will the estate was divided between the beneficiaries, I was one of the executors. On Friday 18/10/2013 I received a bill for recovery of overpaid housing benefit of over £400, my question is 'Is there a time limit as to when they can recover such a payment from a deceased estate and if so how long'?

hubby is on esa ib and we receive ctc for our 4 children now we have one daughter who is coming home after her contract has finished will our housing benefit change we receive full housing benefit now and she will be on jsa will we have to pay any housing benefit x

Hi, I'm a 60 year old man and have suffered severe depression for the past 14 years. During that time I have been investigated for benefit fraud about 6 times. On each occasion I was found to have done no wrong. During the past two years I have been accused of LTAHAW. Subjected to Crown Court prosecution etc. In January a Tribunal agreed that my landlady and I are not a couple. Reversed an IS decision and stated I was entitled to HB as a 'passported benefit'. The HB appeal was heard at the same time, but at the last minute the council asked that REG 9 be considered. This caused an adjournment and a further hearing. I lost at that hearing. I appealed for leave to appeal to the Upper Tier. This was refused Frankly I don't know the law or how to do this. I'm alone and don't know how to argue the matter or what to say. Losing makes me liable for about £12,000. Can someone help? Or point me at someone who can? My local CAB are overwhelmed by work and daunted by the complexity of the case. Time is running out for me.

Hi All, Im hoping someone on here can help me. Housing benefit have cut my benefit by £50 per week because they say they have over paid me by nearly £700. Now I am angry about this for a number of reasons: 1) they miscalculated my claim, I always notify them of changes to my circumstances immediately and they had all the correct information to work out my claim, they say they over paid me due to cuts in childcare costs, I notified them of these changes last September. 2) this is about the 4th time that they have done his to me in as many years 3) while it probably wont place me in financial hardship it is definitely going to impact on my quality of life and I've signed up to things that I wouldn't have if I had known this was going to happen,. i.e. a new sofa and sky. I am going to write them saying it is not fair that they reclaim this money as they had all the necessary information to calculate my claim correctly, i am also going to write a stage one complaint about the frequency of which they have miscalculated my claim. I just wanted to know if there was any case law or something that could quote, I'm so tired of them doing this to me. Any help would be appreciated. Sabby

Throughout the governments Welfare Reform in respect of Housing Benefit, there has been repeated reference by the government to Discretionary Housing Payments as a safeguard for those affected by: - Housing Benefit reductions in private sector the extension of shared room rate in private sector the introduction of the under occupation reduction for social tenants I thought it might be helpful to provide some basic information about Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). Since 2001, each Council has had a discretion to offer extra assistance to those in receipt of: - HB who require additional financial assistance to meet their rent costs. CTB who require additional financial assistance to meet their council tax costs. The amount that a Council can spend is set by the DWP and varies by Council and by year. details of Council's funding limits for 2013/14 can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/s1-2013.pdf Please note that with effect from 1 April 2013, DHPs will no longer be payable to assist with Council Tax costs. It will solely be for help with rent costs, and will be available to those in receipt of HB or Universal Credit. If you are not receiving HB/UC, you will not be eligible for a DHP. If your HB/UC meets your full rental costs, you will not be eligible for a DHP. DHPs are not part of the normal Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit schemes. As the name suggests, any payments are made at the Council's discretion. The DWP guidance advises that DHPs should not be used as a way to get round the application of any standard HB restrictions or the government's Welfare Reform. There are no rules that give anyone a right to a payment, but the Council may be able to pay you Discretionary Housing Payments if they believe that you need extra financial support. Normally to be awarded a DHP, you would need to have unusual or extreme circumstances which are causing hardship or mean that you're at risk of becoming homeless. Situations where DHPs may be payable include: - Foster carers who require additional rooms not allowed for in HB Disabled people living in significantly adapted properties People who are unable to pay the shortfall between rent and HB due to other unusual circumstances DHPs cannot be paid to meet service charges that don't count for Housing Benefit - things like charges for water, heating or meals. As there is only a limited amount of money available to pay DHPs, most awards would only be paid for short periods of time to allow the person to make alternative arrangements to meet their rent costs. I am aware that there is currently information being circulated through social network sites advising that anybody affected by the 'bedroom tax' can have the shortfall met by DHPs. This information is simply not true. The amount of money that the DWP have allowed for DHPs is a fraction of the reduction in HB caused by the 'bedroom tax'. So most applicants would be unsuccessful.

I recently failed with my ESA appeal. Still undecided whether I'm going to pursue this. Anyway, today I got a letter from my council saying because I'm off ESA, my housing and council tax has been suspended so they can investigate. I have no idea what's going on. I just keeping going round in circles trying to find information online. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare-reform/universal-credit/direct-payments-to-tenants At present the claimant came opt for the HB to be paid direct to the Landlord. With the changes in October 2013 this will no longer be an option as HB will be paid direct to the claimant. It is then the claimants responsibility to pay the landlord the rent due. Rent is a priority payment

Hi, I claimed ESA© but was told did not qualify (not enough contributions) I am still employed not in receipt of any pay, my OH claiming Jobseekers allowance, been getting Housing Benefit and Council tax benefit, then out the blue ESA© suddenly decided I was entitled to be paid?, I had discontinued claim (another story), I telephoned ESA , was advised to sit tight by the adviser and wait for over payment notifications where applicable, said shouldn't have to pay back jobseekers (income based) as it was there fault that as caused the over payment, but I am concerned about the Housing Benefit side, should I wait until they contact us? or should I wait until the DWP make contact first regarding over payment? either way it will be a struggle to pay it back at present, as the ESA was paid into bank account with overdraft which has eaten the money up. 2nd question, I will be getting a private pension later this year, and it doesn't look like I will be returning to work, I know the pension will be taken as earnings, but would we still be eligible for Housing etc if I am not actually working (I am not at the official pension age) OH still unemployed thanks

Hi all I work 24 hrs a week my partner is currently unemployed ,I claim working tax and child tax credits and get housing benefitI have a 14 yr old daughter,my son who turned 20 in june was in college until he got a job on may 13th,I informed the HB and all other relevant depts,as soon as he recieved his wage slips I sent them to the housing benefit dept,got receipts for them,some of them I even took into one of thier life centres,this is where the problem started. The person who took the information didnt take the correct wage down on the paperwork ,she wrote down the NET not the GROSS but they didnt inform me of this if I hadnt phoned to check the status of the claim I wouldnt have known anything,anyway i took the wage slips again and this time i made them take photocopies of the wages and send them to the correct dept. Because they didnt have the correct information they said they would automatically put him down at earning £999 A MONTH so I wasnt entitled to any help with the rent,when they recieved the wageslips again they worked it out and am now happy with the result BUT Due to my fluctuating wage I ended up with an overpayment of HB , we have come to an arrangement to pay this back, today I have recieved my first payment since 4th june,but it is only for this months rent I was told that the claim would be backdated and i would recieve the money ,which I have already paid to my landlord. I have phoned them today asking when will I get the backpay of housing benefit,only to be told that I wont that it has been taken off my overpayment debt. My question is since it was thier mistake and it has taken from may13th to now to sort out ,and I have had to use all my wage to pay rent,can they do this? surely if I need to claim housing benefit I am unable to pay full rent but that is what I have had to do. I am penniless ,my bills have been paid and my rent paid but I was depending on this back payment to get my daughters uniform,which I have explained to them on more than one occasion as was assured everytime that I would get the payment as soon as they sorted it out hope this makes sense and thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I don't know how to start this thread. I am currently halfway through a 3 way exchange with 2 other people, my problem is the housing officer who is handling the exchange (I believe is intentionally causing this exchange to drag out) I know that a exchange takes up to 42 days to complete from the receipt of housing papers I personally handed in everyone's mutual exchange papers at the housing office. Everyone got there inspection date a week after the papers was handed in apart from me, it took 6 weeks for me to get my inspection date. I believe this was because I have made a complaint against the officer in question so what I want to know is can this housing officer who is dealing with the paperwork also attend the inspection of my property? as I am of the opinion that she is attending just to find fault with my property in order for me to fail inspection. Any input would be appreciated Thank you. also I am intending on tape recording the inspection do I need to inform her of this if I need it has evidence at a later date

I've been speaking with a housing officer and fell behind in arrears on my rent due to a mix up with my money. Now I have has letters about this and paying money off the arrears. I get a claim in 6 weeks time and was going to pay the whole debt. That is not the only problem. The housing association have recieved information that I am not living or using it as my main home due to the fact I sleep at my partners and she sleeps at my house?? What is a notice to quit??? How long would I have if a notice to quit is served? I'm getting worried about this

Hi, firstly apologies if im posting in the wrong place. Ive received a letter as above from a debt recovery agency chasing a HB overpayment from 2002. im lucky to have a reasonably good income and ive never fallen behind on any debt whether it be my mortgage or credit cards etc. now im not disputing that this debt may have existed as the 2 month time period that it is referring to is around the time i had my son and times were much more difficult for me then. what concerns me is that 1, ive never had anything to tell me that this debt exists until now (11 yrs later) and 2, if i pay the money to Jacobs am i just lining the pockets of the recovery agency not actually paying the debt to the council? the letter itself is quite frightening. it advises me that they will take court action against me and that i will be liable for further court costs etc. finally ive got a good credit history and i really dont want it to be affected by something like this any advice will be welcome thanks

Hi all, advice needed urgently, I am posting for a friend, her situation is this, May 2012 she fled Domestic Violence, the council tennancy was in her sole name but her ex would not vacate the house, Housing Benefits was temporarily paid in her absence for 52weeks. She was then giving a new council tenancy at a different address. Because of all the domestic violence she started to abuse alchol quite heavily and now has the chance to go into Rehab for 6 months. My question is, will her Housing Benefits be paid whilst in Rehab as she wants to return to her new house. I know they normally pay Housing Benefits in this type of situation for up to 52 weeks, but as she has already received this for her previous address would they still pay it for her new address. Any replies would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Hiya, I hope someone can help. I have been claiming housing benefit for a couple of years with no problem. I started a Social Work degree last September 2012 for which I was entitled to a NHS bursary. I had absolutely no idea I had to tell housing benefit about this. I got a letter in June saying they had been informed I was doing a degree and gave me a form to fill in. I did this promptly and sent in all bursary information. I was told i'd been overpayed by £1900 and I had to pay it back which was I agreed with. I was still entitled to some HB so it was going to be deducted form that. They then made a mistake and said I was no longer entitled to any HB and I had to start a payment plan for the overpayment. I spoke to them and I had to send in more info about my income and they put the over payment on hold untill a new decision was made. I am still awaiting the decision on whether I get HB, but I got a letter today saying I have to go to interview under caution for fraud as I did not inform them of the NHS bursary. I didn't inform them but I genuinely didn't realise I had too. I didn't realise it was classed as a 'wage' as its to help me study for my degree. I agree this in hindsight was very naïve of me. I'm terrified I will get a conviction as I will not be able to continue my degree and become a social worker. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I am 19 years old and a student. Today I received a letter in the mail concerning an IUC dated for August 6th. To explain this benefit fraud; I lived alone from March 1st 2012 - September 10th 2012 and failed to contact the Council. The reason for this was because my father (who set up my flat and also Housing Benefits) told me not to worry about anything and he will sort everything out, it appears he failed to do so. I was receiving £127 a fortnight (to pay my landlady) and was receiving this up until last month AFTER moving out, to my absolute horror. This totals a £2540 overpayment. I KNOW that this is my responsibility 100% and I have explained this whole situation to my mother who will accompany me in this IUC. To conclude this, I would like some advice on what to expect, I am worried sick and cannot eat or think about anything BUT this. I've done a lot of research but I understand that I cannot compare cases. What should I expect and what advice can some of you give me? I really don't want this to hinder my future as I am only 19 and soon to move to attend a new University and hopefully begin my life. Thank you all very much!

I have a problem with my housing association and I don't know quite where to turn. So I am posting here.I live in a small block of flats run by my housing association,also known as housing trust. I live on the ground floor and there are two flats on the ground floor,my flat and my next door neighbors. My situation is this,for the past 2 weeks now,we have had no light on the ground floor in the communal hall in our block because my housing association won't fix it. I telephoned my housing association customer services or repairs department as it is called on 17th June. I reported the repair to them. My HA told me that they would send an electrician round to fix the light. But they did not send anyone round and the repair and I have been phoning them every day for the past 2 weeks telling them that I and the other tenants have NO LIGHT in our communal hall downstairs. But still they have not fixed it. So last Tuesday I went in person myself to the office of my housing association in London and saw in person who I think was the duty housing officer. I told her we have no light in our communal hall and no one has been round to fix it. She said the HA would phone me and let me know when they were coming round. But when I got home I found that nobody from my HA had phoned. So the next day,I phoned my HA again and made a complaint. The woman I spoke to said that an electrician would be round on Friday(last Friday) but again nobody turned up. So yesterday,Monday I made another complaint to my housing association and this time they told me they would be round yesterday. But you guessed it,nobody from my HA has showed up,the repair has not been done. So I and my next door neighbor have now been without lighting in our communal have in our block for over 2 weeks and the housing trust won't fix. I have tried everything I can to resolve this I have phoned my HA,I have been to the office,I have complained to the HA manager but they still won't fix that light. they keep on saying they are sending someone round but they don't turn up to fix and we still have NO Light in our communal hall. Another problem is that my next door neighbors opposite me don't speak much English,so I cannot communicate with them.Also they have not complained,I am the only one who reported the repair.Though that's not the point as it has been 2 weeks and we haveno light in the hall for 2 weeks.So where do I go from here? should I now go to Environmental Health also known as public protection at my local council? as I heard that they can force my HA to do the repair.Can anybody help.

I would like to ask some questions about selling the house we currently have on the market. This relates to the buyers and sellers form we need to fill in. It asks if you have made any complaints. I made a complaint to the local Council about a mobile mechanic doing up cars on the side of the road. The house is in my partner's name and he didnt make the complaint - but do we need to declare anyway? Secondly it asks about have you had any disputes? Yes with the same mobile mechanic. He has caused problems to the off road parking (matter resolved with police help), and we've had anti social behaviour off him. Can we just state that we do not get on with him due to a clash of personalities without giving too much away??

Is there a run-on payment of housing benefit after signing off due to obtaining work? How does that work if you start your job a week or so after the last regular payment?

Hi, first time I have used this site. Looking for advice for a friend who has been told by council that she will only receive HB/CTB for 26 weeks from the date she separated from her husband i.e. May 2013. She is aged 60 and receives ESA- no other income or capital. She jointly owns her former marital home which is occupied by her husband. Their relationship has broken down due to domestic violence and no reconciliation likely. She has obtained housing association flat and wishes to accept tenancy but is unable to pay rent if HB ceased in Nov 2013 (26 weeks after separation). House is worth £80,000 and no outstanding mortgage. husband still in property- he is in poor health and aged 67. Does not wish to try to sell property and unlikely due to husbands age and health. I looked at HB regs and it looks to me that what the council are telling her is correct? Any advice on whether there is anything else she could do? Thanks in anticipation.

Hi, A decade ago my friend was trying to buy a flat but couldn't get a mortgage on her own. I offered to be the other name on a joint mortgage so that she could buy it. We got a joint mortgage. She put up the entire deposit for the flat, paid for everything when it was being done up etc. We lived there together at first but soon she moved elsewhere and rented it to me and other tenants. I claimed several years of housing and council tax benefit as a tenant and not as an owner when earning almost nothing at all. Our agreement had been that, as I was putting in no money, etc, I would not be a part owner. I have received an Interview Under Caution letter as the council "have information that suggests I may have been part owner of the property which was not declared when claiming the Housing/council tax benefit." What should I do? Will my name on the mortgage mean that I'm f**ked even though neither of us view it as my property? Help. I'm very frightened.