Shared Accommodation?

[jenny60]

I am 68 yrs old and my daughter ( 32yrs) came to live with me after being away for 4 years working abroad. I used to get a one bedroom HB in a 3 bedroom house where I lived alone. After the return of my daughter, the council decided that we get shared accommodation each (£82 X 2/ w), which is less than the one bedroom allowance I used to get when I was living alone (app. £175./w). Th reason was that the new tenancy agreement has both our names on it.

Is this a good reason? Do I stand a chance to contest this, although now the new rent has risen with the arrival of my daughter?

I am on pension credit guarantee and my daughter is on universal credit, standard allowance

[stu007]

Hi

 

Could you clarify that the New Tenancy Agreement by the LA has increased the property Rent and were you made aware of this beforehand?

 

Have you applied for a Disretionary Housing Fund of the LA?

[jenny60]

Yes. I submitted the new rent agreement with the new increased rent. I knew of the increase.

I did not apply for a Discretionary Housing Fund because I feel that treating both of us as in shared accommodation instead of a mother and a non dependent daughter is a mistake. The LHA gives us the allocation for a two bed-room flat not 2 shared accommodations. Or that's what I expect.

[jenny60]

The Tenancy agreement is NOT by the LA. This is privately rented

[Noah1]

It all depends what exactly you TA states but it looks like this is legitimate as shared accommodation. It looks like it because you have 1 TA, not 2 independent TA.You have 1 accommodation, not 2.There can be 2 adults in shared accommodation. I'm not sure whether you stand a chance to contest it, but again I haven't seen TA.

[jenny60]

What else would be there on the TA that can change anything?

There are our two names and the rent.

Why wouldn't the calculation take the rent into account? How can both of us pay £164/ w for a house where I alone were paid £173/w ?

I asked what to do when I told them my daughter came to stay with me, but I was not advised to get a tenancy for her. She never had a tenancy in her name before and was treated as a non dependant and we received HB for a two bed accommodation.

 

What's the use of LHA in our case?

How can this situation be corrected?

[Noah1]

Your income is now calculated together.LHA for your daughter may be different than for you because of the age. I think with separate TA they may use different calculations, but since I don not know the terms of th TA I can not coment further.

[jenny60]

Thank you.

Final question: If it comes to the worst, can I ask the landlord to issue a different TA? Since we would not be able to pay the rent?

[Noah1]

Thank you.

Final question: If it comes to the worst, can I ask the landlord to issue a different TA? Since we would not be able to pay the rent?

 

Again, since I don't exactly what TA say, I can't be accurate. You should be able to negotiate with your landlord since is in their interest for the rent being paid. How old is your daughter?

[stu007]

Speak to the Local Authority to see if you can apply for the Discretionary Housing Fund, in fact check there website to see if the info is there and you may be able to download an application form.

[jenny60]

She is 31 years 11 months

[Noah1]

She is 31 years 11 months

 

In your decision letter, it should be her local allowance because under/over 35 is different or check with your local council. In terms of the Discretionary Housing Fund is litterally what it says: discretionary, but try.

[jenny60]

it should be her local allowance because under/over 35 is different

 

The problem is not how they calculated her HB. Actually they haven't calculated it yet. The problem is how they calculated my allowance: shared accommodation at £82 / week. No consideration was given to age, nor to the actual rent.They just concentrated on the "joint tenancy".

[Noah1]

The problem is not how they calculated her HB. Actually they haven't calculated it yet. The problem is how they calculated my allowance: shared accommodation at £82 / week. No consideration was given to age, nor to the actual rent.They just concentrated on the "joint tenancy".

 

Then list all discrepancies you found in the letter and request revision. Council has to consider income ( didn't they ask you for the prove of the income), TA, actual rent and other factors.

[jenny60]

Thank you. I will request a revision. It's good to know I have grounds for this request.

They did not take consideration of the actual rent, my age or any other factor. They know ( I suppose) that I am on Credit Guarantee since I have been living in this house for many years and was awarded a one bedroom flat HB allowance according to the LHA.

[Noah1]

Thank you. I will request a revision. It's good to know I have grounds for this request.

They did not take consideration of the actual rent, my age or any other factor. They know ( I suppose) that I am on Credit Guarantee since I have been living in this house for many years and was awarded a one bedroom flat HB allowance according to the LHA.

 

Just to clarify again. You did tell us how much you are suppose to pay, how much was increase in a rent. Did you receive just 1 letter or 2 for daughter and you? Did you check local allowance for you and for your daughter? These are important details because there is a possibility that the council calculated benefits correctly.

[jenny60]

The council calculated for me an allowance of £82/w, which is the least in the LHA , i.e for a shared accommodation. I do not think they would allocate less than that for my daughter, because there's no less than that in the LHA for my area.

Moreover, when I asked about the allocation for my daughter, they said she has to take the TA to the universal credit and they are the ones to allocate it. She did, but was told it was not their domain and that they do not allocate HB.

[Noah1]

The council calculated for me an allowance of £82/w, which is the least in the LHA , i.e for a shared accommodation. I do not think they would allocate less than that for my daughter, because there's no less than that in the LHA for my area.

Moreover, when I asked about the allocation for my daughter, they said she has to take the TA to the universal credit and they are the ones to allocate it. She did, but was told it was not their domain and that they do not allocate HB.

Just to clarify again.

 

You did tell us how much you are suppose to pay, how much was increase in a rent.

 

Did you receive just 1 letter or 2 for daughter and you?

 

Did you check maximum local allowance with the council, not minimum for you and for your daughter?

 

These are important details because there is a possibility that the council calculated benefits correctly.

 

I think it would be good for you to think that nobody wants their time to have wasted, including me.

 

You can't expect precise reply then because HB is about calculating numbers.

[jenny60]

Dear Mr Noah1

I definitely don't want to waste anybody's time. My main post had all the information I have. I was answering all your questions although they were already in the main post or could be deducted from it.

I did not mention any letter received from the LA, because I din't receive any.

I also mentioned that I was allocated the minimum, which is for shared accommodation, and mentioned that it was less than that for a one-bedroom flat. What do you think I discussed with them? There is no more information or details than what I mentioned.

I do not understand what you mean by not to expect precise reply? Did I criticise anything? You really made me regret having posted here, and it's a lesson to me.

If you do not have an answer, or did not understand the nature of my query, say so, but please don't accuse me of wasting your time.

[honeybee13]

Jenny, don't worry about wasting people's time. If they don't want to answer, they won't.

 

You've posted on a public forum so you're going to see a variety of opinions, but hopefully you will reach a decision based on the answers you get.

 

HB

[jenny60]

Exactly honeybee13

And thank you for your supportive words.

[Noah1]

Dear Mr Noah1

I definitely don't want to waste anybody's time. My main post had all the information I have. I was answering all your questions although they were already in the main post or could be deducted from it.

I did not mention any letter received from the LA, because I din't receive any.

I also mentioned that I was allocated the minimum, which is for shared accommodation, and mentioned that it was less than that for a one-bedroom flat. What do you think I discussed with them? There is no more information or details than what I mentioned.

I do not understand what you mean by not to expect precise reply? Did I criticise anything? You really made me regret having posted here, and it's a lesson to me.

If you do not have an answer, or did not understand the nature of my query, say so, but please don't accuse me of wasting your time.

 

Council must send a decision letter, without their reasoning you nor me don't

Know exactly what you should challenge. You did not disclose whether your whole rent will be paid ny benefits. If not, the question is why you were awarded minimum local allowance, not maximum. That's why asked for numbers, otherwise nobody can be specific as to whether calculation is wrong or right. My point was that without input from the council, we just don't know.

[mariner51]

Bit rusty on LHA claims but you notified HB Dept of increase in rent due and the fact it was a 3-bed property now occupied by 2 adults?

So you will be awarded £x/wk for 2 bed property, ... less for 1 bed property, and your dau (under 35 years) is only entitled to single sharing rate (even less).

The onus is on the T to top up any shortfall in rent.

Until you can provide a link to the LA website, or you tell us, it is difficult to know the min/max LHA payable for each band or what you are each receiving.

Such arbitrary changes to HB is one reason LLs are less likely to accept Ts in receipt of HB.