Housing benefit help.. Claim been going on 22weeks now in £1600 rent arrears...ADVICE PLEASE!!!?

Question

Hi was just asking for some advice.
Me and my partner started a new claim for housing benefit on 21st March 2012 because our family income is too low. I was told that it would take 2 weeks until we was awarded. When I heard nothing after two and a half weeks I phoned to get an update when I was told they needed more information, So I took back everything they needed from me. I then waited another week and still nothing so I phoned again for a update this time I was told there is a 2 week backlog and to ring back then. Then basically I was fobbed off with different story's like its in a que and im next then they need more information after they get the Information im at the back of the que this took until the 24th July when we finally received our award letter and too our surprise we was awarded nil "as our income is too high". When assessing our income they used 5 weeks of wage slips where my partner earned an abnormally high amount of money from his self employment. I then had 30 days to appeal so I rang my partners accountant got 2 sets of accounts for the years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 and wrote a letter to the council to request a revision of their decision to award me and my partner a nil award of housing benefit and asked them to base their calculations on the information I provided showing our income as a family is considerably lower.
I was told when I handed in the appeal letter it would take 7 days for the decision. 8 days later I phoned for an update and surprise surprise there is now a 3 week backlog and she said it shouldn't take to long now.

Its been 22weeks and were now in £1600 rent arrears and have just recieved a letter from our landlord saying he is taking court action to have us evicted. We are owed £1551 for housing benefit If they didn't take so long this wouldn't have happened.. Has anyone got any advice on what we should do or how to complain about the service we have recieved from our council it shouldn't take 22weeks to make a housing benefit claim the stress they have put us through with our landlord keep coming round for his money and never having money to even get food or buy things for our daughter how can our income be too high its ridiculas.

My partner is self employed and his annual figures for the last 2 years were £11,970 and £14,159. We have a 4 year old daughter, we live in a 2bed house which is £650pm and the housing benefit weekly allowance for our area is £138.46. On the online benefits calculator we are entitled to £70.56 a week.

Answer 1

Been there, suffered, so I know how you feel. DWP actually lied to me about mortgage relief and housing benefit so I know exactly what they are like. And with this government cutting back, it's not going to get better.

You have obviously exhausted the normal channels. Next step is to make an appointment with your MP. Our MP sorted everything for us. Sometimes you need to take things to a high level. But don't delay. You need to get it sorted immediately.

You could also have a chat with your local council in the "homelessness department". They could look at your case in detail and make phone calls immediately.

Best to do both of the above. Don't wait any longer and don't say "I'll go to one and wait on the other". See both your MP and housing office.

Answer 2

Unfortunately you have really confused things by submitting "wage slips"! Your partner is self-employed (i assume not a company director?) so he gets no wages slips. He should have submitted his accounts for 12 months up to the date you claimed (not his tax year accounts as they want the previous 12 months not just to April).



Because you sent in wages slips they have had to base the claim on those and they have nothing to tell them those weren't normal! Get your partner to create his S/E accounts up to the end of August and hand them in to the Council if he hasn't done so already. Whenever they want proof of S/E income that is what they want.



BEcause of that unfortunately you have partly caused the delay but the council are notoriously bad at processing and getting right S/E claims to HB they don't understand it and it often takes up to 6 months to process correctly (mine has done twice!). You know what your entitlement SHOULD be and you're correct based on last tax years income so you'll know when they're just about right. You can put in a formal complaint about any errors, I sent in an email after getting very frustrated and a kind lady broke the whole thing down for me what they disallowed, allowed and how the payments were caluclated and apologised for the delay and errors.



Other than that there is little you can do but wait until the claim is processed. Submit those accounts if he hasn't done so already, 12 months to date. (Note: if your WTC are higher than on EntitledTo make sure you change them on there because HB change the HB payments everytime the weekly WTC changes!)



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Regarding the eviction... it is NOT a Section 21 notice they are applying for. It is Section 8 non-payment of rent notice and they can proceed with this once you are 2 months in arrears. Once you have been given the Section 8 notice you have 14 days to respond. The landlord then applies for a County Court hearing (can take a little time) but if you still owe at least 2 months rent by that point the Judge MUST issue a reposession order. Court Bailiffs will then evict you relatively quickly if you don't leave of your own accord.



HOWEVER... because this is due to housing benefit claim delay this is an exception. The Judge will probably refuse it. The Landlord ACTUALLY needs to ask you to sign a form giving them permission to discuss your claim with the Council and contact them to notify them they are considering taking action due to the lack of housing benefit payments to yourselves.



You should tell him he needs to contact the Council before continuing with eviction action, just in case he doesn't know already and that should delay things.



Finally... you must know you won't recieve full housing benefit so have you been paying what money you can until now? If you haven't been paying him anything you really would have brought this on yourselves...

Answer 3

Been there - councils are notorious for taking their time with this and no matter how much you call, beg or plead, there is literally nothing you do but sit back and wait. I had this issue and kept ringing to say if they were going to take ages then fine, but could they just tell me that it will take ages, and instead it was always "it'll be processed within two weeks" time and time again, so it looked like I was lying to my landlord when I was just being told the wrong information! I was told that another department was assessing it, and so when I asked if I could have the contact details for that depatrment they actually laughed at me and said "oh no, you can't talk to them", so your life is in their hands and you can't even have basic communication. I wrote a complaint to the council in the end - I doubt it will make any difference but if everyone did this then they might start taking notice, so please complain.



As for the eviction, it's a long process that has to be followed to the letter, so don't panic about anything happening just yet. Your landlord would first have to apply for a Section 21 Notice of Possession, which lasts for at least a month and is basically asking you politely to leave but you don't have to comply (I got one of these and went to the council to apply for a flat and was told that if I left under this notice I would be making myself voluntarily homeless, wouldn't be eligible for help, so was told to stay put). Only once that has expired can he apply to the courts for a Notice of Eviction, which still gives you a certain length of time to get things sorted, at least a month I think. And only once the eviction notice has expired is he allowed to force you to leave, get bailiffs in etc - so I'm sure that your HB will be sorted by then. Your landlord is not allowed to do anything other than this, e.g. coming round to your house to threaten you, change the locks, throw you out, anything like that is unlawful and you can report him to the police for harrassment. So best to just try to keep him on your side, explain everything to him and keep him informed, go to the council and fill out a form that gives permission for them to share all info about your case to him, and tell him you've done this so that instead of bugging you he can talk to the council himself to prove you';re not lying. As long as you are still paying the remainder of the rent yourself then it shows you're willing and not dodging the rent.

Answer 4

Sorry but that is enough to evict you, unless you can bring those arrears down right now I think you should look for somewhere else to live.



From the landlords point of view, he has a business to run, possibly mortgages to pay and cannot wait for long for your housing benefit to sort out.

Answer 5

These guys are in business to help landlords with Housing Benefit problems, but if you send them an email, they may be able to put you in touch with someone who can help.



I have dealt with them before and they are very helpful - indeed it may be worth giving your landlord their details too. I am sure your landlord would rather work with you to get this sorted than go through the hassle and expense of evicting you.



http://www.hbadvice.co.uk/contact