Housing Benefit suspended:pay rent or do Christmas - can't do both!

[NoMoneyMona]

I had to put in a claim for top up housing benefit as my job contract ended in October. DH works full time but rent is very high (£1200 for a 3 bed) and we have 3 DC.

I have been unable to find another job despite applying for at least 2/3 most days, as many want weekend workers/evenings, and DH works weekends/eves anyway so we would have no childcare.

HB started paying about 3 weeks later and shortly after that they sent a letter asking for more evidence and gave me a month to supply it. Part of the evidence requested was a new child tax credit award showing the new award since I stopped working as amount would increase. I still did not have a new award by the time the month was up (and I forgot to chase them) so I contacted HB the day after the month was up to explain.

They stated, quite correctly I agree, that I should have contacted them within the month they gave so they could give me more time and as I did not contact them, they had suspended my HB and it would 3/4 weeks to reinstate it. The next day, I got the award notice and took it in to them but they insisted that I would be at the back of the 'queue' and they may not get to my claim before Christmas so I may have to wait until January as they close from the 24th Dec to 4th Jan.

That was 3 weeks ago. We have not had any payments since 23rd November. DH got paid today and if we use that for rent next week (and direct debits, normal food), we will not have a penny left. I will have £50 in tax credits to come as well which will not cover many extras. I have not bought anything for DC as I kept putting if off hoping for the claim to be reinstated. When I rang today, they said I would be unlikely to get any money before the 11th January! We have no access to credit.

WWYD? Would I be unreasonable to keep back about half of the rent and pay the rest when the HB restarts which will cover the shortfall?

It's easy for everyone here who has spent the past 2 months shopping for presents, trees, decorations, Santa, food, to say that the OP is being unreasonable.
Back in the real world!, her children will remember the year that Santa didn't come and they had beans on toast for Christmas dinner.

I understand the OP.

But...............

I have been homeless, albeit without a homeless child, and I would strongly recommend to the OP, that as SHITE AS IT IS, you need to pay the rent.

It's horrendous. It really is. But, January homeless vs no Christmas?

These are both life-changing experiences for children.

And I feel that no Christmas is the lesser of two evils.

OP's children may remember the one year santa didn't come for a while (depending on their age) but they will definitely remember being evicted from their home and having to live in council emergency accommodation if OP doesn't pay the rent.

Having experienced the latter I would say it is far more traumatizing than not getting a hoard of tat at Christmas one year. OP can make up for the lack of presents at a later date when money isn't as tight; perhaps in the January sales.

However the damage and insecurity caused by losing your home can last a lifetime.

OP's LL sounds horrible but the OP sounds horribly entitled too. Really this is a problem of her own making by not getting the paperwork submitted on time - it is totally unreasonable and short sighted to withhold any rent on this basis.

Also talking about keeping 'about half' of £1200 back for Christmas..... who spends £600 on presents for 3 DC?! Madness.

Don't charities have programs to give presents for children whose parents cannot do it? I worked one Christmas in a contact centre, and the number of gifts given to children meeting a parent at the centre was obscenely over the top. So it isn't a choice of either/or, is it?

MrsDeVere - is there a law against adding my voice? I'm not quite sure what it is I've said in my post to upset you so much?

I've read posts about how entitled the OP is. Blah blah - feel sorry for the landlord blah blah.

I'm merely acknowledging the most difficult decision the OP has to make and posting my opinion on what would be the best decision.

it's not a difficult decision. It's a bloody obvious and easy decision. Roof or tat?

not good that the benefit has problems, but shit happens to us all. The adult reaction is not to buy useless crap instead.

check those 'rights of the child' and do let me know if presents are in the list.

Well MrsDevere that was a pointless post. What's your problem with EvaBING?

I'm merely acknowledging the most difficult decision the OP has to make

Apart from the fact it isn't difficult

I'd imagine it's the assumptions and the condescension here

It's easy for everyone here who has spent the past 2 months shopping for presents, trees, decorations, Santa, food, to say that the OP is being unreasonable

When the poster has no idea of what other people's circumstances are .

We had a tenant that didn't pay at all over Christmas and New Year (over a six month tenancy, paid late or the wrong amount over half the time) and we issued notice to leave in the New Year. No way is their Christmas more important than mine. They were surprised, apparently.

And this

I'm merely acknowledging the most difficult decision the OP has to make

Well if choosing between spending £600 on Christmas or getting evicted is the hardest decisions anyone ever has to make , they are not doing too badly . For some people , hard decisions are things like letting your child die peacefully now or giving more treatment in the hope it will buy a few more days or weeks .

Haven't RTFT but I think that you should definitely pay the rent first, then use any money left over for Christmas. Paying rent should ensure a roof over your & your DC's heads, which is surely the most important thing? It is also considerate & your contractual duty to ensure that your LL has the money they are owed - who knows what they may need it for, but it is their income & as such they should receive it if at all possible.

In terms of still 'doing' Christmas, it is possible on what feels like nothing - I am pretty much having to do that this year with my DC ages 7, 4 & 1. Some things that I do to make money stretch:

• Sell on anything which you don't need/use any more. For us, this included being fairly ruthless with toys which the DC already had but didn't play with.

• Do surveys online for money/vouchers/points. You may well still be able to amass enough to have some money/points for Christmas. One which is really useful is Nectar Canvass - you do the surveys & they credit you points within 24 hours, these can be used at Argos, Sainsburys & other places. I collected £5 of points in a couple of days.

• Use any Nectar/Clubcard points to double up for presents.

• Buy presents from charity shops or local FB selling pages.

• Enter competitions - I have won a couple of things through competitions that I am using as presents (a knitting set & a board game) & I was also lucky enough to win a £250 shopping voucher!

• Visit supermarkets late at night (7-8 for my Tesco but if you ask your store they will tell you times) & buy reduced fresh produce.

• Apply for product testing here & on other sites - I have had things like chocolate, cheese & more through this.

• If you get bad service, complain! I had poor experiences recently at a pub chain & cinema (kids' club for DS1's birthday!) & so I filled in the feedback forms saying so. This resulted in a free meal at the pub & free tickets to the cinema

Anyway, good luck & I hope the situation resolves itself

The Op hasn't posted for a few days- i am now wandering if the other mners are right, OP has already spent the £600 and came on here looking for justification!

OP won't post again until someone says "You're absolutely right, your LL can go fuck herself, blow the money on xmas!"

I suspect she's still reading but, yes, has spent the money. She's not responded to any suggestions, not even to thank posters for their ideas.

So why then, MrsDeVere have you not made the same comment to all the other posters who have repeated what others have said along the lines of, 'I can't believe you want to spend £600 on presents'?

And enough of the petal.

So 'people' can say the 'exact same thing', but I can't?

MrsDevere - this thread isn't about you. It's about the OP who is struggling with a horrible decision to have to essentially cancel Christmas for her children.

On the one hand - we have a thread about a mother toying with the idea of cancelling Christmas for her son due to bad behaviour (where the consensus is that she's being evil as HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?), and here we have a mother in severe financial difficulty toying with the exact same decision (where the consensus is that she's being evil to the landlord!).

I just tried to acknowledge the fact that it was such a difficult to make (unlike others who callously suggest that it is an obvious choice), but tried to advise.

Meanwhile........... back at the ranch........... I believe Tesco is all out of Pink Barbie........................

I suspect she's still reading but, yes, has spent the money.

Probably. She perhaps assumed that she'd get replies along the lines of "of course you should just tell your landlord to fuck off - he probably grinds up live kittens and orphaned children over his cornflakes, the evil shit", but this thread hasn't been as mad as many landlord and tenant threads.

I just tried to acknowledge the fact that it was such a difficult to make (unlike others who callously suggest that it is an obvious choice), but tried to advise.

No it isn't 'callous' or a difficult decision to make

Love the suggestion of the LL accepting half rent "if they are reasonable".

Nope - if they are KIND.

I feel for the OP but it's not 'reasonable' for the LL to take the hit.