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?

How much are you paying for groceries? Where do you shop?

I think you might find it really useful to go on the money board here or on mse with an soa and see where you can make savings. From your last post I now get the feeling you may still be spending as if you're working and earning. Did you adjust your spending when your income dropped in October ?

Even if it wasn't Christmas, would it be unusual for people to not be able to pay their full rent while they were waiting for HB to paid?

Perhaps, if they hadn't met the month's deadline. However I think (hope) most people would not pay their rent as a last resort.

It takes up to 12 months to evict somebody if they haven't paid rent for months and months and breached every term on the lease.

I realise every situation and contract is probably different. But it only took 2 months to evict our tenants who did not pay Dec's rent for 2 years. It was simply a form filling exercise.

Housing benefit should have contacted tax credits directly for confirmation of your claim. You shouldn't have had to provide a letter yourself.

when LL's take on HB tenants they know to expect this sort of thing which is why most aren't keen.

Not all landlords are aware/ some tenants circumstances change, which might not be the case here but if the OP's landlord is not aware they rely on HB this could open up a huge can of worms.

If ll mortgage is higher than rent it's actually costing her to have you there! (Stupid frankly) so being rude about her is out of order really.

She is doing me no favours. She has been trying to sell for over two years (she did not disclose this when we took the property as a long term let). Previous tenants told us this on move in day as they left early as they were fed up of having to allow viewings. We have had two periods now where she has engaged an estate agent to sell so we are on alert all the time for people invading our peace. If she could get a buyer she would have us out of here in a heartbeat. From what we can deduce, she extended her mortgage when she left the UK so she could buy a property outright there, The rent is lower than the mortgage because she can't charge any more for it. Not our fault that she overstretched herself and is having to top up the rent. She has not informed mortgage co that she is renting. I doubt she is paying tax on the rental income. She does not do any maintenance and refused to fix an appliance when it broke down.

The only reason we are still here is due to there not being many other properties in the immediate area and not wanting to pay another £500+ to move!

If they hadn't have gone voluntarily Leopard, you'd have found out just what a joke the legal system is with regards to tenants.
Bailiffs can take 8 weeks to arrange.

hi

i rent too blimey that's a high rent for just a 3 bed i guess it depends what part of the country you are in.

I'm sorry to hear about your difficulties. I don't do xmas but I do Eid so i know how important annual celebrations are.

Have the xmas meal at home as a family if you can afford it, forget the presents. If you have family who can make room for you at their xmas lunch table that would help save money too, and loving family are more than willing to help. Someone said why should your kids miss out on xmas then proceeded to list gifts, its so sad that's what xmas is about in some folks minds, unwrapping presents?. its nice to get presents if it can be afforded, but its not a must.Sorry but even i know this is not what Christmas is about maybe this year the kids will learn family love and the spiritual message of xmas is the most important element, not material gifts.

I don't think you should take a loan out and get into debt it sounds like you are struggling already, don't do it just for the sake of some presents. If you cant put food on the table then yes, but you say your food costs will be covered so don't go down that route.

i know much has to do with sth stigma of others knowing you gave your kids no presents, but who cares, are those people going to step up and pay your rent, and put food on your table? The basics are more important, i wouldn't risk a bad reference.

Your landlord doesn't sound very nice from what you mentioned look to move out in the new year when things are looking better for you, why pay someone so much money when they can't even be polite?

P.s I don't get to watch much tv but i was so hungry before bed (pregnant) so i popped on the tv and some programme called Christmas on benefits i think Channel 5 was on. Some of the families were living in appalling conditions . i felt really sorry for the couple in cornwall i think it was the man looked flat out worked to the bone sole earner. they were taking doorstep loans so his other half could spend a grand on presents when they cant pay bills? He chimed along with her as long as kids are happy but i could tell his words didn't match his real emotions. His money down the drain, paying double the loan back in interest, threats of eviction is it worth it for presents? I don't think so.

a £200 loan from wonga to be paid back on jan 11th will cost £38

that way you can pay LL and buy xmas stuff

cheaper loans may be available too. or ask bank for overdraft etc

OP your children don't want a roast turkey one day, they want a safe, secure, happy home every day. Rent is non negotiable (I'm a tenant myself, by the way).

She is doing me no favours. She has been trying to sell for over two years (she did not disclose this when we took the property as a long term let). Previous tenants told us this on move in day as they left early as they were fed up of having to allow viewings. We have had two periods now where she has engaged an estate agent to sell so we are on alert all the time for people invading our peace. If she could get a buyer she would have us out of here in a heartbeat. From what we can deduce, she extended her mortgage when she left the UK so she could buy a property outright there, The rent is lower than the mortgage because she can't charge any more for it. Not our fault that she overstretched herself and is having to top up the rent. She has not informed mortgage co that she is renting. I doubt she is paying tax on the rental income. She does not do any maintenance and refused to fix an appliance when it broke down.

Imagine me speaking in the voice of Judge Judy: It doesn't matter! It's a business arrangement! You pay rent to live there! You live there, don't you? So you PAY YOUR RENT!

Ask the LL, but if they are struggling to pay the mortgage, they may not agree.
I'd agree for a good tenant, but I haven't had a morgage for many years, so no problem.
I'd definitely evict if it was ever done without my agreement and most LLs would have legal insurance for this.

So, don't withhold any rent without agreement unless you are prepared to receive an eviction order in May and a bad reference - especially if you say there is a shortage of rental properties

Put your DCs welfare first:
Better a few £1 stocking fillers / charity shop presents than being homeless for months.

Wow! You really hate ll! So rude and so unwilling to consider what posters are saying or answer questions that would enable posters to help! I'm out!

a £200 loan from wonga to be paid back on jan 11th will cost £38

that way you can pay LL and buy xmas stuff

And what will it cost if the HB folk cock up and there's a further delay?

Once you've paid the rent how much money will you have left over? Literally not a penny or will you have a small amount that we can work with?

How old are your children?

Have you looked into getting an extension on your overdraft? If you won't have money left for food after paying rent you may be able to apply for a crisis loan.

As others have said, paying for a roof over their head is NOT prioritising the LL over your children. Any child would rather have a home than some toys and a turkey.

With a proper rental contract and legal insurance, the LL shouldn't have much problem. On the one occasion I had to evict someone it all went surprisingly quickly and smoothly.
And I doubt any other private LL accepted them later.

If you are the type to take risks, I expect we'll see a thread from you this summer about terrible it is to be homeless

Why are you assuming the HB folk will cock up when the error was the OP's in the first place?

Have you actually asked the LL though? They might be prepared to wait (despite her being so awful apparently!)

We had fraud on our bank account and our landlord had to wait a week for our rent, they were fine with it.

As others has said, Christmas needn't cost £600... We're buying a house and are completely tapped out so are having a 'thrift' Christmas! Our girls are getting hardly anything, but we figure, we're buying them a place to live.. And you're kind of doing the same??

Just wanted to point out, if you missed the deadline to provide information the hb may not back date it. They may well reinstate the claim but are not obliged to back date to when the claim stopped as you failed to respond in time.

She is doing me no favours. She has been trying to sell for over two years (she did not disclose this when we took the property as a long term let). Previous tenants told us this on move in day as they left early as they were fed up of having to allow viewings. We have had two periods now where she has engaged an estate agent to sell so we are on alert all the time for people invading our peace. If she could get a buyer she would have us out of here in a heartbeat. From what we can deduce, she extended her mortgage when she left the UK so she could buy a property outright there, The rent is lower than the mortgage because she can't charge any more for it. Not our fault that she overstretched herself and is having to top up the rent. She has not informed mortgage co that she is renting. I doubt she is paying tax on the rental income. She does not do any maintenance and refused to fix an appliance when it broke down.

WOW. Just WOW. What a vile, unpleasant, selfish person you are. I am aghast at your lack of responsibility and your vindictiveness. I too am out of here. Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting.

Vader - HB shouldn't be delayed, but systems can crash, files can go missing, shit happens, and Wonga will not give a flying ducky - they'll charge exorbitant interest on interest and the OP may find herself in a bad way. Overdrafts, bank loans etc - fine in an emergency (which this isn't). But I have literally never seen a situation on MN that would be solved with a payday loan.

a £200 loan from wonga to be paid back on jan 11th will cost £38

that way you can pay LL and buy xmas stuff

And what will it cost if the HB folk cock up and there's a further delay?

about £40 a month i guess

also it was OP that cocked up, not HB

if that was me, I would pay the landlord £1100 and keep back £100 to do a cheap budget xmas with. Apologise profusely that its short and that youll pay it in the new year. Then get your xmas meal from Iceland, and some cheap presents from home bargains. You and your dh can forgo presents, as can any adults in the family

Unfortunately HB tenants don't appeal too much to landlords for reasons such as this. I'm sure you're kicking yourself for missing the deadline date and you don't need anyone on here to flog you for that. It is what it is. Personally, I would look at taking out a small loan in the short term and I would pay the rent. The New Year won't start off well in your house knowing you've pissed off the LL and you owe her a sizable sum, with no real idea as to when this payment can be made if the HB folks screw you.

The loan wouldn't need to be for much - £50 per child and £50 for meals to see you through Christmas/Boxing/New Years day. You don't need to go wild - a large chicken, frozen roast potatoes, veggies, Yorkshire puds, gravy and some mice pies with cream really shouldn't cost any more than £15. As for the children, £10 each on stocking fillers and £40 on a few 'bigger' bits. Charity shops and the likes of Poundland are the way to go. I've picked my 8yo DD up some great wee bits out of PL - tube of pink Smarties, a Spice Girls CD, chocolate coins, a toothbrush, fluffy slipper socks, a sticker book, a Christmas themed colouring book, a pair of gloves, stick on earrings, nail varnish, etc. Please, please check out your local charity shops. You wouldn't believe what people get rid of in the run up to Christmas. A lot of folk have a pre-Christmas clear out to make way for all the new junk and you can pick up some amazing bargains. There was a beautiful purple Silver Cross dolls pram in the window of my local Oxfam today. They were only asking £5 for it and it looked like it had never been used

It can be done!