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?

[leopardgecko]

Also...

But OP, sorry, my anger isn't against you, who I realise are doing your very best in a difficult situation. It's really against the sort of tenants who believe their rent can be delayed at will, without realising or understanding this could be putting their financial problems of their family, onto the landlord's family. You aren't one of those tenants at all, and so I apologise for not writing it as a general statement.

Hope you are able to get everything sorted, and you have a Happy Christmas. Once again, my apologies.

[neonshine]

Leopardgecko, I understand what you are saying; we currently have an unoccupied property which we let on behalf of a family member hence no going home for Christmas and scaled back Christmas gifts for our own children!!

This has coincided with quite a few unforeseen expenses and another investment we've made, but this was our choice and has no bearing on the fact that a property may be empty or a tenant might not pay.

Also, I'm assuming the OPs rent is due at the end of December. Landlord's Christmas will have already been paid for and not affected.
Quite possibly the mortgage is due a couple of days after the rent is due & either the landlord can pay the difference for a couple of days until the tenant pays the outstanding balance or call the bank to change the payment date. Keep communication open and hope that the landlord will have a heart at Christmas. Really, this is just a couple of days that the rent will be late and 3 children won't have their Christmas ruined. Let's hope the landlord can see it this way.

[ThatsNotMyHouseItIsTooClean]

Why can't you be evicted before May? If you breach a term of the lease, can't you be evicted on one month's notice.

[Unreasonablebetty]

Hi OP,
We are in a similar situation to you in some respects, my husband and I have both lost our jobs in the past 2 weeks,
He lost his, and I worked for him to in one foul swoop we kissed goodbye to any income that we have, and he was made bankrupt last week. So stuffs quite dire for us at the moment, we've put a claim in for housing benefit and we've got very little to pay our landlord,
This far he's had a payment of £89.00 from my husband and £56.84 from me, and hopefully I will be paying him £100 that I'm due from some work that I did, and hopefully another £100 next week. That's still only half the rent, but I'm not in the habit of paying my rent late. And when any of its not on time I usually have 80% of it paid by the due date (I've maybe been late 5 times in the past almost six years) and this is the first time I've not had my rent paid over Christmas.

In situations like this the landlord needs to understand that sometimes it's not because people have spunked the rent up the wall, and genuine people will clear their arrears at the earliest point that they can.

[Bearbehind]

Really, this is just a couple of days that the rent will be late and 3 children won't have their Christmas ruined. Let's hope the landlord can see it this way.

That's just it though, it's not a couple of days, the OP might not get any money until 11th Jan and even then that's assuming the HB gets sorted.

Banks don't just let you 'change the date' of your mortgage payment at will- it's very likely to show as a late payment on the landlords credit file if they can't cover the shortfall.

I'm just that someone who is so reliant on HB in order to pay their rent thinks it is acceptable to spend £600 on Christmas.

It's totally unnecessary and could be done for a fraction of that price.

[Artandco]

Pay the rent. Then you at least have a home after Xmas!

However if £1200 is too high for you really and you have a 3 bed surely you just need to get somewhere smaller and more affordable for now? A 2 bed at £1000 would lighten the load a fair bit every month for you

[Oakmaiden]

I know it is really shit, but I can't see that you NEED more than £200 for Christmas for 3 children. Granted it is not going to be a fantastic Christmas, but you can get them each a main type present for £30, and a few £shop things for their stocking. The only extra food expense is the meat, so you can probably allocate £20 for extra Christmas food (assuming you would have enough to eat normally, it is only the extra food you need to cover) and £60 per child.

I would also put the landlord at the top of the list for being paid - are their other bills you can pay late? Gas/electric/water/phones/Cable TV whatever? They won't cut you off for one late payment, as long as you make sure you do pay as soon as you can.

[Want2bSupermum]

Speak to the LL and communicate the issue to them. Ask if you can hold back GBP200 of the rent, which should be enough to cover you until early January, and exactly when you will be paying that money. Aim to have the remaining GBP200 paid before January 15th and I don't see why she would have a problem.

I would also be stopping in to the HB people and having a quiet word to apologize for how things have gone but now you have everything, is there anything you can do because you fear eviction. Most people are human and how long can it take them to process your paperwork for everything to be reinstated. Also, Mon-Wed for the next two weeks are business days. If they choose to close the office down that is their shout but they should either have some sort of coverage or zero outstanding work. We have firm shut down for 2 weeks but if my client calls me I get the work done.

[scarlets]

Food bank, perhaps? The HB delay would probably qualify you. You'd free up a small sum that way. The staff at the food bank might know of local toy drives.

If any of your children are past Santa age, tell them that they can spend £X on 11th January.

Is there a friend who'd loan you £100, repayable 11th January?

There's no harm in copying and pasting your post into an email to your landlord. She has no obligation obviously, but she might agree to £150 (say) in early January. As a landlord I value good tenants (and if she's planning to market it again in 2016, your goodwill will be valuable when it comes to viewings).

[Boutonneux]

I really feel for you OP, the thought of effectively cancelling Christmas must be heartbreaking. But I'm sorry, I agree with all the PP, that you really should pay your rent in full, unless your LL agrees in advance. I'm thinking of you too in this... what about when/if you need a reference in future?

I rent too and I know what it's like to have a LL that is less than helpful but why don't you ask her? There's nothing to lose is there?

Trying to think of other ways you could raise a few hundred quickly... parents? Anything you could sell? Could you H ask his employer for an advance? What about (and I would NEVER normally even suggest this as an option) a pay day lender? Yes, the interest is bonkers but if you pay it back within a couple/3 weeks it's not that bad. I only mentioned it as you said in your OP "you have no access to credit" so wondered if that was because you couldn't get credit via the usual means? Apologies if that's not the case though...

[leopardgecko]

Leopardgecko, I understand what you are saying; we currently have an unoccupied property which we let on behalf of a family member hence no going home for Christmas and scaled back Christmas gifts for our own children!!

So sorry neonshine. I sadly think there are many of us having a very frugal Christmas this year. But hope you have a good on anyway. Thank you so much for understanding my posts as I was not sure how well I had explained, and was beginning to question myself.

[EssentialHummus]

Why can't you be evicted before May? If you breach a term of the lease, can't you be evicted on one month's notice.

I have this at the moment with one of my bastard tenants. If they're in a fixed term of the contract a s21 notice can't be executed until the end of the fixed term, and the other kind of eviction (s8) requires 2 months' / 8 weeks' of rent arrears before you can evict on the grounds of unpaid rent were someone pays rent monthly.

[liinyo]

In ten years time your kids won't remember if you spent £600 or £60 on Christmas. They will remember being evicted or having to live in a hostel. Explain to them that money is tight and that most presents will have to wait then concentrate on having the happiest possible budget day with games, telly and cuddles.

[EssentialHummus]

*where

[Shutthatdoor]

Anyway shouldn't landlords generally have a buffer in place to cover late payments?

Well that works both ways....

Maybe you should sell your mum's property to pay for her fees so your tenants aren't paying it for you.

Maybe you shouldn't acuse others of being rude and then behave in a rude way yourself.

[NoMoneyMona]

I most certainly will be communicating with the landlord not just not paying it. Which is why I asked AIBU!

to others in the same situ.

DC are old enough to be affected if they don't have anything which is why I feel so shit that it is my fault for missing the HB deadline. I know how much we will get when it is reinstated and we will be OK when they get round to doing it.

DC have nobody to treat them at Christmas but us and I will feel unbelievably shit if we can't.

Who do I put first the landlord or my DC?

[Alfieisnoisy]

I have been in this situation OP and it's awful....and like you it was at Xmas time.

I paid the rent and we had a lean Christmas but it was fine, Christmas is what you make of it and you can do lots of free stuff without putting your rental at risk.

Check out the £1 shops for sweets and snacks, even mince pies.

When I was in the same position I went to Lidl and bought one of their three bird roasts, a bag of spuds and some frozen veg plus mince pies. Okay so it wasn't the Xmas dinner of the decade but it was fine.

Try and get as much money to your LL as possible so you don't have to find the extra in the New Year. Your LL will think much better and more kindly towards you if he/she is getting at least some of the rent as they will see you are doing your best.

[Artandco]

Your dc, but putting dc first is paying rent first so you don't get issues loosing their home

[Bubblesinthesummer]

Who do I put first the landlord or my DC?

In this situation your LL to keep a roof over your head!

[leopardgecko]

Your reply to leopard was rather nasty imo and as you've already made up your mind I don't really understand the point of this thread

Thank you Needascarfformygiraffe (great name by the way). Stupidly the OP'S reply had me in tears as I did not wish to offend. Renting out my mum's house was the only way we could pay her care home fees for as long as she lives (she went blind and deaf suddenly, had a stroke and has dementure, but physically healthy). Had we sold the house we could only afford the care home fees for 5 years, and did not want to have to rely on benefits as my mum, after a lifetime paying her own way, would have so hated that. And of course care home fees, like mortgages, cannot be negotiated or paid late, so when the tenants openly refused to pay Dec rent because "it's Christmas, my children come first" we were in financial pickle ourselves.

And yes, we did evict them and took them to the small claims court for the December's rent x 2.

[Bearbehind]

Who do I put first the landlord or my DC?

The person putting a roof over your DC's head.

You do not have to spend £600 and 'spoil' your children for Christmas. You do need to get your priorities right.

Keep a maximum of £200 back and use the additional £400 as your buffer when the money comes through so you don't end up in this situation again.

[carabos]

Paying your rent doesn't mean you are putting the ll before your DC - you are putting a roof over their heads and not putting that home in jeopardy .

As it's Xmas, you could try pulling together a cheap celebration with a few low cost gifts for the DC and pay as much of the rent as possible - but you're only delaying the inevitable as the shortfall will have to be paid sooner or later.

[Alfieisnoisy]

I can't see why your children should miss out on Xmas gifts, give your LL what you can and keep a little back so they can have pressies. You can get fairly decent stuff for under £30 per child.

In the end most children just like something to unwrap. My son's favourite pressie during our lean time was an Art set from The Works. It cost me £5 and he carried it around for six months and put everything back after he had used it. I bought him some colouring books and a selection box plus a couple of games he wanted and a DVD. It came in under £40 that year.