Me and My benefits saga..

[lottiesnan]

No meals included and no formal agreements, unless i need to have one in place.

[kirkbyinfurnesslad]

It is a spare room as you or your immediate family don't need it

[RaeUK]

It's not a spare room as it's been let. I would imagine - just guessing - it says you'll lose whatever a week bedroom tax because you either have stated the room is still spare, which it wouldn't be, or that the benefit checker can't cope adequately with a lodger.

[kirkbyinfurnesslad]

Yes but he isn't classed as being in your household and is not a dependant or partner etc.

[RaeUK]

The money from the lodger is regarded as income ...

Out of interest, as I've never understood this, I had a lodger for several years and never lost a penny of benefits. He was always declared fully, as was the income, on every application. I was on ESA throughout and he was on Pension Credit. Would the latter be what made a difference? It really has me stumped.

 

EDIT: kirkby, it doesn't matter, the room is no longer empty or spare. Some of the advice given by various agencies is to take in a lodger rather than be charged bedroom tax.

[antone]

No meals included and no formal agreements, unless i need to have one in place.

 

You should probably have a formal agreement in place to protect both you and your lodger, and also to demonstrate the situation to the JSA department. For JSA(IB) purposes, he or she should properly be regarded as a subtenant, not a lodger, since you don't provide meals. As I read the rules, there is a £20 disregard per week for income from a sublet, and the rest is taken pound for pound from your JSA.

 

You should not be liable for Bedroom Tax or, if folks are going to get snarky about it, the Over Occupancy Charge if you have a subtenant and are claiming JSA and HB on a social sector property. If at any time you had to move to the new Universal Credit, the rules would be different.

[antone]

It is a spare room as you or your immediate family don't need it

 

Not correct.

[antone]

No it's still treated as income

 

This is not exactly correct. A disregard may well apply.

[id6052]

lottiesnan

 

not sure which benefit checker you used, but I have just tried to use the entitledto benefit checker, and it appears to be giving out duff advice in relation to lodgers and size criteria for social tenants

 

You should probably have a formal agreement in place to protect both you and your lodger, and also to demonstrate the situation to the JSA department. For JSA(IB) purposes, he or she should properly be regarded as a subtenant, not a lodger, since you don't provide meals. As I read the rules, there is a £20 disregard per week for income from a sublet, and the rest is taken pound for pound from your JSA.

 

You should not be liable for Bedroom Tax or, if folks are going to get snarky about it, the UNDER Occupancy Charge if you have a subtenant and are claiming JSA and HB on a social sector property. If at any time you had to move to the new Universal Credit, the rules would be different.

 

I agree with Antone, if you take in a lodger/sub-tenant, the first £20 rental income you receive is ignored, anything above that is deducted from your JSA(ib)

 

so if you charge £20, JSA is not affected

if you charge £80, JSA is reduced by £60

 

a lot of people in your situation are only charging £20, as anything more than that, they do not gain anything for

 

a lodger counts as an occupier for HB purposes, so if you are currently underoccupying by 1 bedroom, you will cease to underoccupy - alternatively if you are underoccupying by 2 bedrooms, this will reduce to one bedroom

[lottiesnan]

Thankyou for the above post,cleared up alot for me

[lottiesnan]

I have been on esa for about a year.I have Anxiety disorder ,depression,ptsd and some obsessive behaviour.

I was on jsa but couldn't cope with it and had a relapse and ended up where I am today..

 

 

The last sick note I had was from 26th may to the 31st august.I was getting paid and the last payment was on the 24th july.I then got a letter saying my sick note would run out on the 26th july and I was to renew it.

 

 

I rang them and said check my sick note it ran till the 31st August,,,He said he couldn't check it because it would be impossible to trace it?? I said I had a copy should I send to them..

He said a copy was not allowed and to go back to my gp and ask for a replacement copy of my last sicknote which I was to send into esa straight away.

It took a few days for my gp to sort this out its a busy practise and eventually sent the new sick not off on the 31st of july.. and got proof of posting.

 

 

Rang esa today because my payment that should be there today wasn't and they say they havnt received it and to ring Monday it can take 11 working days ?

 

 

He also said I should have taken it to the jobcentre and they would have scanned it over to them.That is not the information I was given.

 

I am so anxious that they have lost it.

[pcombo]

DWP/ESA can actually call your doctors surgery and confirm you have a sick note. But most will tell you to get a duplicate sick note and take it to JCP and they just take it off you.

[Bazooka Boo]

Lodge formal complaints with the JCP manager, about their continued misinformation and incompetence, copy in your Local MP and demand that they raise the continued discrimination of benefit claimants in the house of commons and have those responsible, brought to account.

Edited August 6, 2014 by honeybee13

[rebel11]

Hi lottiesnan

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. In the Subject field write the name of the Delivery Centre - XXXXXXXX benefit centre dealing with your claim. Explain what's happened, how they have let you down and what you want them to do about it.Don't forget to add a Ref. No.

 

Send it to :- [email protected]. uk

[Lebleuet]

Hi lottiesnan,

my partner had the same problem before.

We called the ESA and a lady said they never received the sicknote, but we should get a new sicknote and she'll make an appointment at our local Jobcenter the next day. We got paid only 3hours after we hand in the sicknote at the jobcenter

Maybe this would be an option for you?