Hi Caggers Not sure if anyone here can help me but Ill ask anyway. My eldest son recently turned 18 and left 6th form, he now has an apprenticeship. and is earning his own money. I have another son of 16 who is still in full time education. I work part time and earn peanuts, and was entitled to housing and council tax benefit, however now my eldest is working all my benefits have stopped. I appreciate that he should and will pay his share of the rent and council tax, but having already lost his share of tax credits and child benefit ect how am I suppose to pay the rest in full. I have phoned the council to get help and they cannot explain to me why this is or how it has been worked out, they just said if im not happy to appeal against the decision. On top of this, I am now in arrears with my rent because this has taken over 2 months fo them to sort out and send the award notice to me, I have sorted a payment plan for this of rent plus £5 per week but this is going to be very difficult for me to do. Even the councils own benefits calculator says I should still be elegible for help.!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Nutz x

Hi All, Back in October this year I had a letter from councile saying I had been overpaid on both Council tax and housing Benefit Well I immediately got on the phone to sort the problem out, which then I was advised it was a problem within there system, and I had nothing to worry about! Great! Well then a few days later a letter confirming it was there error and no money owed! and all monies put back to where they should be. Also had a form to fill in with all who was living here and income for them, which I duly filled in, gave all proof as required, This is the same proof I provided a year earlier! 4 phone calls in the mean time to confirm my entitlement was all in order and I owed nothing! again Great! Well letter today saying I owe £500+ in HB and £160 in Council tax, and to recover HB, they intend on taking over £10.65 pw from the benefit, which would mean, I have to make that £10.65 up to keep my account in order! But I would presume I would also be liable for the amount of £12.40 pw, as the daughter still lives with us! Right on to my question, If they made the error over the whole year, and giving the facts that i gave all the correct information, Why should I be liable to pay for there mistake! Now they know they have made an error and I know I have to pay, I don't mind paying from now! I had asked the 4 times I called if it made a difference with my daughter living here, and claiming for her children, the reason was she was placed here via Children Services, as she needed help to care for the Grandchildren! They knew of our circumstances for the outset, they knew the income from the outset, So surely as it's there mistake should I be expected to pay the arrears, because if it was done correct from the outset we would of paid anyway! Do we have any template letters for this kind of thing, as I cannot find anything, or is it just a case of drafting one up explaining thier system and staff made the faults and I should not be liable for arrears but liable from now! Any help or advice is appreciated and will be taken on board to make my own decision! Thanks

hey guys and gals. im on minimum wage and work 42 hours per week. i take home around £230 per week, i also have two kids. i recieve 33 child benefit and 142 tax credits. im going to apply for housing benefit and my rent is £74 per week. do you guys think im wasting my time by filling in all the housing benefit forms?

I'm not entirely sure of my rights so thought I would ask on here. We have been in our flat since July 2011. Last winter we reported issues with the windows as they are very draughty and cold air just pours in through them. As we live in one of the highest places in our town the wind can become rather blowy. On windy days the curtains billow with every gust. My living room and my son's bedroom are the worst. In fact, it can reach 10 degrees or less in his room overnight and that is with the heating ON. The housing association did nothing. They sent someone round who said there was nothing they could do as the windows are old. The main problem with them is that the windows open inwards so when the wind hits them it can push them open just enough to let all that freezing air in to the flat. We had 70mph gusts last night, the wind was blowing through my living room, my boys room hit 8 degrees and it was extremely cold. Remember, I have the heating on. Which, I know, is pointless and a complete waste of money. Now, should the housing association do something about it? They work alongside the council to provide council accommodation so, in effect, we are council tenants. Not sure if that makes a difference.

hi all in november i queried why i had a disabilty premium on my housing benefit calculation form, i was aksed if i was in reciept of any form of disabilty benefit , to which i said no but i had been previosly, the person i spoke to looked back through the records i stopped claiming incapicty benefit in 2004, and claimed IS then started work in 2006 she said she was looking at the declaration i filled in which was achange of circumstance from which said i was no longer entitled to incapcity benefit.. then i recived a letter stating that i have an overpayment of £6051 in housing benefit and £2000 ish in council tax benefit. they have told me i now owe this amount as the disablity premium had been in correctly included in my housing benefit award from 2005 my question is does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this as i dont know where to start. i dont think i should have to pay this as they were in formed about my change in circumstance i wasnt aware i was receiving this disabilty premuim until a letter came through the door asking for proof of it and that is why i questioned what i was for . thanks

Hi, I am new to this so please bear with me! I am claiming HB and rent from a family member on a commercial basis. This is all ok with the local council. My landlord/family member is self employed and employees my husband for a few hours a week and will be able to give me a few hours a week from mid December. All goes through payroll and all above board. I did see that you can't claim if your landlord is a company and you work for them but if you can prove all above board then it's ok. Is being self employed different from being a company?? I don't want to do anything wrong. My husband pays tax and NI on his earnings. When I completed form HB1 it didn't mention this. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Just wondering if anyone could help me regarding Housing benefit for next year! I am currently in a 1 bedroom flat and its from a housing association called (Calico Housing), I moved in on 30th of January of this year and I have been claiming housing benefit since then however I have heard that Housing benefit will be changing from next year and Just wondering will I be affected by the change? btw I am 26 years old! Any advice would be great, Cheers! Regards Shaun

In October this year we received a letter from our Housing Benefit Office stating we had been over paid. Now up to Feb this year my husband was in reciept of DLA our daughter was living with us at the time. She moved out on 6Th March 2011 And had a baby last September. I phoned the council as soon as I recieved this letter in October and they said they would look into it. Out of the Blue this morning I recieved a letter from the council stating I owe £450 rent. When I phoned the Benefit Office today they said it was because my daughter lived with us after my husbands DLA stopped, she didnt she had moved out the week after. they appear to have charged for her from Feb this year to October when I first had a letter They state I never informed them of the change and the fact that she no longer lived here, so they were entitled to charge for her. But I did I phoned them staight away when she moved. I am getting basic state pension and my husband is receiving ESA support Group. Any ideas what to do Please?

Hi, I am in a very awkward situation, I informed the housing benefit that I no longer required benefit as I was leaving my current address. I assumed this would be all they needed. However they are now investigating. Basically this is what happened: I was made redundant in Jan earning approx £20k. My rent was £470 pcm inc bills in a "shared" house where the only sharing was a kitchen, we effectively had our own bed sits. I claimed Job seekers and housing benefit. I received the full housing beneift of £470 for 13 weeks then they lowered it to £50 p/w as they claimed i was in shared accomodation. I commenced full time employment on £20k March 5th, whilst claiming housing benefit. I was also still claiming Job seekers for 2 months whilst working. I stopped claiming job seekers around May and continued to claim housing benefit til August. How do I now proceed as I fear it will all come out and I will be sent to jail. The irony is my life is now in a very good position relative to years ago and I am prepared to pay the money back over time if I can avoid jail. The reason I claimed and continued to do so was that whilst redundant i built up various debts with loan sharks and have been struggling to pay them back. Will they take this into account? Any help gratefully appreciated. As an aside I have a past criminal conviction for fraud (obtaining loans by deception 2 x 1 years imprisonment and armed robber 4 years all convicted at the same time) does this make matters worse?

Hi everyone, In a nutshell, my local council paid £850 housing benefit into my bank account which was £800 overdrawn through a few Direct Debits. RBS used the payment to clear the unauthorised overdraft, then closed the account advised me to seek alternative banking. The closing of the account isn't the issue here, I could have ran it far better than I did so cannot really complain. Problem is, I'm now £750 in debt to my landlord after withdrawing the remaining £50 for him. Prior to this, I was receiving housing benefit payments by cheque because of the overdrawn account (I requested this). I then requested payments to be made direct to my landlord. The HB claim was then suspended whilst the council decided they would not pay it direct to my landlord. The council then paid the rent for the suspended period (£850) direct to my overdrawn account. When starting the claim I provided my bank details, then changed the payment method to cheque because of the overdrawn account. At no time have I ever changed the payment method back onto bank payments, so shouldn't they have continued with cheque payments once it was determined they could not pay my landlord direct? It seemed to default back to bank payments. This was a year ago and my landlord has been understanding, giving me ample time to try and sort it out. What are the chances of getting this payment back from the bank this late after the event? My landlord's an OK guy and he deserves the money, even if it is a year later. I hope someone can help Thanks everyone

Hi all, Please may I stress before i write and ask what i need to ask that there is NOTHING 'dodgy' about this thread im after soem genuine advice. Ok, so my partner is still living with her husband/ex husband and the divorce will be complete in january. She has 3 children by him and I have one from another relationship. I have a 2 bedroom house that of which the second room is my daughters, and I have my daughter quite regularly. Her ex husband has said that once the divorce is complete he wants her and the three children out. She doesnt want the house as she cant afford it and he has agreed to buy her half (even though she technically doesnt own it as she has just found out her name isnt on the deeds or mortgage, she is only entitled to it through the 'marital home' rights), but due to secured debts etc she will walk away with nothing as her small equity she has will go on them. So she considered applying to the council and stay in a hostel until they offer her a home on the basis that she should be a priority in band 'a' and get somewhere rather quick. However, from my previous experience she is more thank likely going to be given a flat. So, if i was to put her up and the children bearing in mind I dont really have the space nor are we ready to move in together, but also dont want to see her in a hostel, would they still see her as a priority but slightly lower ie band 'b' but thus meaning she could bid a bit more freely for a home and pick and chose what she applies for like houses as opposed to being just given whatever comes available? I just dont want to see her with three children 10 floors up in a flat. Not that theres anything wrong with that but just with young children it wont be easy. Also if she was given a hostel, do they ask tenannts to check in and out of a night time to ensure they are using the accomodation?

Please can you help. I noticed 4 weeks ago that my housing benefit, which I have been receiving for 6 months, had not been paid. I called the council who told me on the telephone that the day before my call they had suspended my housing benefit. I asked them why and they would not tell me but told me a letter had gone out to me, this failed to arrive and had to ask for a copy of this letter at the council offices, some 12 days later, and noted that it had not been dated. After numerous telephone calls asking for why it's been suspended, and being told that they can not tell me, they now today have said that I am to be invited to a IUC with their fraud team, again when I asked why and why is housing benefit suspended, and asked on what grounds, they have refused. They simply say I have to wait for a letter, which based on their last sending won't arrive to me. I have asked if I can go to the council office for a copy of this letter, they have said no, to wait on post. As you can appreciate I am most concerned at now I am 6 weeks in arrears with my private landlord rent, am not getting any answers and after being told to ask for their reasons to suspend and their reasons for interview, I am being blocked and told they can't tell me that but will at interview. I am in receipt of JSA for same period and DWP tell me they have no issue to my benefit, no flags have been raised to their fraud team, via atlas and they also have asked the council for answers, but have been told that it's a council matter not DWP. What can i do as I need some help as I am completely in the dark?? And I'm doing the panic thing, which effects my health, that does not need much help there as for some time JCP have said I should go onto ESA but i want to go to work, so have remained on JSA. I am beyond myself over this and very worried !! Michael -- Merseyside

Hi all, Now I am confused as I have just spoken to my landlord (Calico Housing) to see if they recived the housing benefit (rent) today as I thought they recive it weekly but I have just got told that my rent for housing benefit is at the end of every month, I thought my rent is weekly? I have been reciving housing benefit since January of this year and I didn't even knew it was every month, seems a bit strange don't you think?

Hi everyone, Just looking for some advice really, is there anyway I could sign up for my housing benefit online so I can check when payments been made ete? Just wondering if this is possible? any help would be great cheers!

Hello, I'm wondering if someone can give me some advise, about 3 years ago I was informed that I was overpayed Housing Benefit due to changes in circumstances, The total overpayment was over £2,000 for different time periods and they asked for the money back. We agreed to this as it was correct and we initially made a one lump payment of £500 and then we were paying £40 per month but we had to decrease this to £20 a few months ago because we could no afford to pay it due to bills etc. Today i received a letter from the Council stating that matter has been passed from collections team to legal services debt enforcement in order to recover the amount. it states: "if payment or reasonable proposals for payment is not received by 19 Nov then I will have no alternative but to register this debt with Leics County court" it goes to say about CCJ and enforcement proceedings. I looking for advise on how to approach this, I am not refusing the pay the money but just can't pay a higher rate at the moment. any advise would be great.

I posted a long time back about getting my partners mother moved from their council house to nearer to us as she has very poor health and her friend who is her carer is 72 and they both need more support they're currently 75 miles away. Long story short after some help from an MP they have been offered a local home. They have told the council they are leaving and they now want them to sign terms and conditions saying things like they need to remove all furniture (fair enough) but they also say all carpets must be removed now the carpets that are there were down when they moved in about 24 years ago. Can the council REALLY make them remove the carpets it seems totally ridiculous to me to expect people on benefits who are having to borrow every penny from relatives to be able to afford to move house to remove carpets (stair carpet is under a stairlift anyway). The housing officer is coming tomorrow to put the thumb screws on her to sign immediately, have told her to sign nothing so need help ASAP!!!! Thanks

Sorry for the long explanation. On the 06/09/12 I lost my job. On 07/09/12 I made an online claim for JSA(C+IB) and for Housing/Council Tax Benefit. On 07/09/2012 my wife went to the Peak Valley Housing Association office to tell them I was out of work, of the above and that we will be paying rent of £250.97 on 29/09/12 to bring our rent account to a nil balance. My wife was told that any overpaid rent would be refunded once the housing benefit was awarded. Full housing and council tax benefit was awarded from W/C 10/09/12 and this created a rent credit of £239.85. We had a letter saying that we had overpaid our council tax by £143.00 and this was to be refunded to us. So my wife went to the housing office to ask how we got our overpaid rent refunded. This is where the problems start. She was told it's not that simple. First our account would have to be looked into, then referred to their finance section who would then make a decision on if we could get the money refunded. We would then have to wait for someone to send us a form to complete. My wife spoke to the same person yesterday 01/11/12 at the housing office and was told a different story. Although our account is now in credit, they will be keeping a week of the rent we had overpaid. This wasn't mentioned on 07/09/12. They accept that housing benefit is paid in arrears, but because our account was in credit they are keeping a weeks rent. Also to get any of the money back we had to request a form in writing, which we did yesterday. Can they do this? How can they keep rent for a week that Housing Benefit has been paid?:mad2: We had no problem getting the council tax refunded, all that took was one phone call to give them bank details to pay the money to.

Hi Can anyone help, basically me and my mother have lived in the same Council accommodation for many years, my father's name was on the tenancy agreement but he left over 25 years ago. My mother told the Council he had left at the time, but somehow his name was never taken off the agreement and it has been left that way since. We have now been told that the Council could technically throw us out as my father's name is still on the agreement and we need to get it changed, which means getting a solicitor and it going through the courts. As this is a Council flat is this correct?

hi, I need some help here, I rented a room in a shared accomodation with the landlord and upon moving out the landlord failed to return my deposit for no reason at all. I told him verbally i would take him to court if he doesnt pay the debt within 8 weeks. Also i sent him 2 letters of notice urging him to pay up the debt, all these mails were recorded mails for court proceedings. After he didnt pay , i filed a claim which he defended saying he was not owing me money by responding to the court summons. To cut a long story short, a hearing was scheduled of which he didnt turn up. I won the case. Now he has filed for the case to be set aside on the basis that he was not informed of any court case. This is ridiculous since he actually defended the case and had 2 letters from me telling him he would be sent to court and also recieved all the court papers. A hearing for the case to be set aside has been scheduled. I want to know the likely outcome of this situation by the court. Thanks a lot for your responses.

This is a bit complicated but I will try and keep it simple. For a period of time my parents were getting housing benefit, the application was done by & in dads name. Some time after they stopped getting the HB due to mum taking up F/T job, my dad became increasingly unwell and mum took over doing the financial side of the household. She started going through old paperworks and discovered that there was a potential problem on the housing benefit due to dad not declaring some income from mums p/t job at that time. This was an oversight not a deliberate thing, I believe down to his bad health and poor organisation; he is close to retirement age and until health problems in the last few years he has worked all his life, never having to claim a thing. Anyway, in trying to do the right thing at this point they went to the council, told them they believe an error had been made and the council said they would investigate, it was all very amicable. To cut a long story short it appears they were overpaid for quite a long time and an overpayment made of about £3000. Parents obviously did not have this money and made an arrangement to pay at about £100 per month, which has been stuck to for around 1 year with no issues. The problem is this week a very rude/threatening letter arrives from the council, saying they are reveiwing the agreement to pay, demanding all sorts of paperwork income & expenditure details and so on. Saying the debt will be passed to a debt collector if these details aren't provided in the next couple of weeks. They are now scared that they are going to have debt collectors kicking the door in. A lot of the paperwork requested by the council is not available to hand; things like bank statements and wage slip copies will need to be ordered from the bank/work. , With only mum working they are also very hard up at the moment and terrified the council are going to demand more than £100 a month (which even now they can barely manage and are overdrawn every month). There is no dispute that this debt is owed, the original HB application wasn't accurate and they got more than they were entitled......... but at the same time THEY alerted the council and agreed to pay. This letter is very aggressive in tone and very intimidating to a person in poor health like my dad. Do the council have a right to see detailed income and expenditure, what will happen if debt collectors get involved or court processes and so on?

I entered into a tenancy for a room in a shared house. I was working at the time. After 2 months I found myself out of work - and discussed my situation with the landlord. He did not want me to claim Housing Benefit as in his words "it would cause him a problem". There was a look of genuine concern. This was 3 weeks ago. Because I was worried how I was going to be able to pay rent without Housing Benefit I approached the Council about what assistance they could provide with regards to the situation. I have since found out the following new information. This house is in the name of the executors of a deceased persons will. It has been in this state for 3 years (no council tax has been paid in this time). The "landlord" actually rents the house from the executors of the deceased persons will. Because there is no legal ownership - I am being told by the landlord I will not gain Housing Benefit ?? Is this true ?? If that is the case, what is the exact status of my tenancy ?? Am I squatter - even though I entered into a tenancy in good faith ?? The landlord is now allowing me to stay in the room without paying rent ?? What impact does this have on my tenancy ?? At present I am stating that I want to pay rent so I do not inadvertently surrender any tenancy rights I may have My landlord has confessed that without a court ruling the ownership of the property will stay in dispute. It would appear that I have done nothing wrong. But there is an issue surrounding the house ownership - which unfortunately is affecting my tenancy and ability to claim Housing Benefit to pay my rent while I find myself new employment. The council are interested in getting paid council tax for the last 3 years. That has nothing to do with me - but I should not be put in situation where my tenancy (and my subsequent rights) are affected by decisions not of my making. I do have an appointment to meet a solicitor regarding this whole affair next week. Anything to help appease my anxiety in the interim would be grateful. My view is that in the absence of a legal owner of the property, I would be considered a squatter, although not through my choice, so I should avoid the problems involving the new laws involving fines and imprisonment for squatting.

I live on an over 55's Shared Ownership (70%) complex which has a private car park.It is situated across from a football ground and on match days we have problems with cars blocking the car park and entrance. There used to be signs to say it was private but these were wood and have rotted away. We asked if they could be replaced and this was agreed but we have now been informed that an ANPR scheme is to be implemented which will require all authorised cars to have a permit.This is going to be a real pain for the residents, many in their eighties who rely on carers, district nurses, pharmacies etc to be able to access the car park and where the drivers are not always the same cars. The road outside the complex is double yellow lined on both sides as it is a major transport route so parking outside the complex is not an option. Elderly people need as much outside contact as possible but this is going to put friends off dropping in for a cup of tea. We have had no chance to discuss this or to agree or disagree to this happening. Is there anything we can do to stop this?

Morning all This may be a long post so please bare with me. 3 years ago I went to my local council to ask for help with housing. They put me on the rent deposit scheme. I tried every estate agent within 5 miles of me but no one would accept it. Tried gumtree etc. Now I have been on ESA due to severe depression and at that time I got so low I took a overdose and ended up in hospital (recently also diognosed with OCD, paranoia, anxiety and BDD hence I can not go into shared accom). Upon leaving the hospital after my suicide attempt I called the council yet again and spoke to a manager. I explained what had happened and her EXACT words were 'we have no obligation to help you' I tried to help myself so in the period that followed I started saving (I get £99 per week and saved as much of that I possibly could) I literally sold everything I owned on Ebay and was starting to get somewhere. During this time I went to my doctors complaining of back problems which I've had as long as I can remember and was told I have a slight curve of the spine and am on strong pain killers (co-codomol sp? 30/500) I have had no fixed abode since June and have been sofa surfing which has made my back worse. Now the new benefit cuts have come in and I'm not allowed to rent privately as I am 28. Again I went back to the council and again I am not entitled to help as I don't need a carer and i'm not sick enough but I can go on the register which could take up to 6 years!!!! I'm in tears daily due to the stress and in so much pain with my back which has now spread to my hips and legs. What can I do????? How can they refuse to help just because I'm 28, single, ENGLISH and have no kids. I've given them my life story (quite hard for a private person like me) including that I don't even have a duvet. To keep me warm at night I have to layer up and use a dressing gown to cover me. I'm so low right now and I'm scared that the self harm and suicidal thoughts are returning as I stopped taking my anti depressants. I can feel myself slipping down into another downward spiral and I feel powerless to stop it. Sorry for the rant and I hope someone can offer some constructive advice as to what to do next. I've spoken to shelter and they advised going back to the council which I did as above. TIA

Hi all, first let me apologise if this post is in the wrong place, I wasn’t sure where to put it and this seemed like the most appropriate place at the time. Anyway, a couple of friends of mine are having some trouble with the housing association, Affinity Sutton. Background is, my friend she was married to this guy back in 2000s, in 2005 she moved out of the property she shared with him and says she informed Affinity Sutton of the move and requested she be removed from the tenancy. Shortly after leaving the property, she then moved into another property, not with the housing association, with my other friend, her new partner, and they signed a new tenancy agreement with their landlords at the time for this new place. She also began divorce proceeding in 2006 but failed to get the husband to sign anything so technically they are still married (more on this later). In 2009 Affinity Sutton contacted her, at her new address (the one she provided in 2005) telling her she was liable for the sum of £6000+ (not sure the exact figure), as the husband had not been paying as per his agreement and he had been issued with court proceeding on 2-3 occasions and now they had evicted him. Thus the outstanding owed to them was the £6K. She contacted Affinity in 2009 when she got the letter and called them and also emailed them regarding the demand. She explained she has moved in 2005 and that he was the sole tenant in the property from that date. At this time they said they would look into it and she heard nothing else. Today she has received a letter from Empress Credit Solutions telling her she owes £8,500+ in outstanding debt/rent for the property. Now she has been trying to get divorce proceedings and CSA from this guy since 2006, he runs up debt, moves and if he is found, he leaves his job and disappears again, so Affinity Sutton have obviously had trouble finding him because her own solicitor has had trouble and the CSA have found him on a couple of occasions but then he goes off radar again. Now the question is this, is she liable for this debt? If so, how so? What do we need to do to get liability removed for her, this debt is clearly not hers and she can prove she has been living elsewhere since 2005 and she also has various emails to Affinity Sutton regarding the situation. She has up to this point been very open and helpful in my opinion and it would seem they are just using her because she is an easy target. Any advice and guidance is always appreciated… mrbrooks

We have finally heard back from dla tribunal and hubby has been awarded low rate care. This is to be be backdated to Oct 10. The question I have is with the lrc are we intitled to full housing benefit or if that is for the hrc only? I have looked and looked and cannot find the information anywhere. Thanks in advance for any answers.