Under Occupancy Tax

[little teacup]

Morning all

My Housing Association wrongly told my council that my house has 4 bedrooms which meant my Housing Benefit was cut and I had to pay the bedroom tax. Yesterday the HA finally said it is a 3 bed house.

As money is very very scarce at the moment how do I claim this money back? The HA said they wont give me a refund as my rent is already set for a 3 bed house.

Many thanks for all help and advice.

LT

[Guest]

I don't know how all this works, but if this was me I would be advising the council in writing of the error (you need the HA to confirm in writing its a 3 bedroom and not 4) send copy to council etc, any adjustments should then be made, as the error was not your doing.

[estellyn]

Surely you should be reimbursed housing benefit from the council, when they adjust your claim after the error.

[Guest]

I would think so estellyn, any bill that has arisen from an error would be credited surely.

[little teacup]

I will contact them on Monday and see what happens!

Thank you

LT

[id6052]

it may depend upon whether are you up to date on your rent account or in arrears

 

when the council reassess your hb, they will credit the difference to your HA rent account

 

if you are up to date, this will result in a credit on your rent account which you can request be refunded to you

 

if you are in arrears, any payments you made would just be offset against the arrears

[tidon]

If they overpaid you they would soon be on your back, do the same to them. Kick off and tell um you want your money back ASAP!!

[stu007]

First things first

 

What does your Tenancy Agreement say the property is 3 or 4 bed?

 

Do you have anything in writing from the housing association stating your property is a 3 bedroom from (Date your HB was reduced by 14% extra bedroom)?

Edited May 11, 2013 by stu007

[little teacup]

There is nothing in the tenancy agreement on how many bedrooms.

I am not in any arrears.

And yes tidon I agree, they would soon want their money back. Now I want mine!

Many thanks for all advice so far

LT

[stu007]

Hi little teacup

 

sorry for not getting back sooner, right what I think you will need to do here is

 

1. Make a Formal Complaint about this to the Housing Association concerned getting written confirmation.

 

2. Once you have written confirmation from Housing Association write to the Housing Benefits Team of council enclosing a copy of that letter requesting that your benefit decision is re-looked at due to this error by the Housing Association.

 

Suggestion on letter to Housing Association - (Always keep a copy for your records and keep Proof of Posting)

 

You’re Address

Their Address

Date:

 

 

FORMALCOMPLAINT

 

 

DearSir/Madam

 

Housing/Tenancy Reference No:

 

I must now formally complain about the actions taken by the (Insert Housing Association name) in wrongly informing (insert councils name) that my property was classed as a 4 bedroom property as due to these actions the council imposed the extra room charge on my Housing Benefit of a 14% reduction.

 

This only came to light after receiving correspondence from the council of the imposed housing benefit reduction and why to my benefit. The reason for this imposed charge was the information received by the council from the housing association which was incorrect.

 

On 10th May 2013 I was informed by the Housing Association that the property is actually a 3 bedroom property and that they will not compensate for this error as the rent for the property is already set at the 3 bedroom property rate.

 

Due to this I require the following:

 

1. Clarification as to why the rent for the property is set at the 3 bedroom property rate but the Housing Association informed the council it was a 4 bedroom.

2. Clarification that the Housing Association has informed the council (housing benefit department), that the property is a 3 bedroom and not a 4 bedroom property as initially informed by housing association from the actual date this error occurred.

3. Full copy of the properties details as held by Housing Association to include bedrooms.

4. Copy of Rent Statement from Dec 2012 to date.

5. Copy of your Complaints Procedure.

6. Copy of your Customer Care Standard/Charter.

7. Full explanation as to how this was allowed to happen and what actions the Housing Association is taking to rectify this matter that has caused distress and financial hardship due to this error.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

 

Print Name

[id6052]

in addition to the information that stu007 has requested, I would be tempted to request "a full written explanation of the calculation that has been used to determine the rent charged"

 

...because if there records showed the property to have been 4 bedrooms, then they may have been overcharging you rent since start of tenancy

[little teacup]

Many thanks for the fabulous letter. I will get on with that. The HA havent been overcharging me as I am paying rent for a 3 bed house.

LT