Unable to pay full rent

[bratzdoll]

I'm a single parent currently on maternity leave so I receive UC monthly to help pay my rent and further bills. I'm private renting but I got the flat through the homelessness scheme (when you're homeless and in temporary accommodation but willing to take a private flat instead of waiting years in temporary accommodation until a council flat is available)

The benefit of private renting through the homelessness scheme is that the council are in contact with Landlords that are happy to rent to someone on UC and are usually happy to negotiate the monthly rent price.

I moved into the flat a few months ago and always pay my rent to the Landlord's agent one day before it's due just so the receive it without any problems or anything.

This month my UC was around £1100 less than it should have been because my employer incorrectly reported that I had earned around £2500 last month
I'm still only receiving SMP so I have no clue how they made such a drastic mistake but this means DD and I are living on near to nothing this month.

I sent an email to the Landlord's agent a few days before the rent was due to let them know the situation. I included screenshots of my UC Payment page so they could see the breakdown of what I normally get and see what was deducted. I did say I was able to contribute a small amount to the rent (less than £200 as I was given less than £400 from UC to live on for the month)
I also let them know that I spoke to my work coach about what happened as she's raised this with the investigation team so hopefully she'll hear back from them soon.

I spoke to the agent on the phone the day before the rent was due (I always speak to the manager btw) and she was very understanding and just said to update her with what happens. The next morning I get an email from her saying the Landlord was not happy at all (understandingly) and that I need to do whatever it takes to be able to pay the rent in full including taking out an overdraft!

I've never not paid my rent since I've lived here and it's not as if I got the dates mixed up or I spent the money on something else. The rent amount wasn't given to me for no fault of my own. I was a bit shocked at the Landlord's response as I'd literally given him more than half of what I received just to be able to contribute something. When in reality I could have kept it and spent that on myself and my daughter as we desperately need it!

There's often a discussion on Twitter about some Landlords and how they refuse to be understanding even in unavoidable situations. I understand I'm renting and effectively helping to pay off his mortgage, but this wasn't my fault at all.

(just in case anyone wants to bash me for being on benefits, I've been working full time since I was 17. It's more or less impossible to be a single parent living on SMP)

Just realised I didn't even put an AIBU!
I don't know what my AIBU is, I'm just annoyed the Landlord couldn't even try to be sympathetic/slightly understanding.
So sorry for the long post

It’s really not the landlord being unreasonable. They’ll have to pay their mortgage regardless.

Hopefully UC won’t take too long to get sorted

The problem is that the LL's mortgage company won't be sympathetic/understanding, will they?

I'm sorry you're in this situation, UC is a nightmare.

Can you speak to your council about a discretionary housing payment. That's for situations like this. You didn't received your full amount.
Speak to HMRC to prove that work have declared the wrong amount. then ask for a review of your payment from UC.
They should not be expecting you to take out an overdraft to cover your rent due to circumstances out of your control. They will have insurance for this kind of thing.

I agree the landlord is being a little unkind rather than unfair. Though you're assuming agent actually told them everything qnd included all information, which they probably didn't.

For thoae saying the mortgage has to be paid etc. Any landlord with sense should have contingency for non payment/months property is empty. If it was a regular occurance then yes they should be less understanding, but a one off, they should show some kindess.

However you also don't know their history with previous tennants that may be clouding their judgement somewhat.

I'm a landlord and in this circumstance I'd be understanding. They know you are on UC as they signed up to it. UC messes up sometimes. That's their risk however saying that they might decide UC tenants are more hassle than their worth which is why so many don't rent to UC

I completely understand the Landlord having to pay his mortgage but I'll be honest. When seeing how little I'd been given I wasn't thinking 'oh no what's going to happen with the Landlord's mortgage.' I was thinking about my daughter and all the bills I have to pay! I did stress about my rent as I've never missed a rent payment before/been unable to pay the full amount but I just think the response about doing anything to pay the full rent including taking out an overdraft was a bit much. If I could have done any of those things, I would have.

@Danikm151 thanks for the advice! I've already had a DHP given because the council were the ones who paid the deposit to the Landlord so it came from the DHP.
I was thinking about contacting HMRC so I'm doing something on my side as I don't know how long the investigation will take to be resolved

You aren't "helping to pay his mortgage"

He is running a business of providing accomodation. He has to pay mortgage etc on that property and the the bank don't care if your UC has been messed up.

Blame UC, don't blame the landlord. There's far less money to be made in property these days, they probably make a lot less than you realise and will be paying tax on it too.

They will have insurance for this kind of thing

🙄🙄 I wouldn’t have been able to claim in these circumstances under the Rent Guarantee Insurance I had, and I’ve never seen a policy where you would be able Tom

Hope you get sorted, OP… (although if he has a BTL mortgage, as he should, you won’t be paying it off as it’ll be interest only)

able to

I think it is better to try to think of your landlord as a business rather than a person.

So to translate it into a business decision, it’s like going to Asda, trying to buy forty quid worth of groceries with ten pounds rhen telling management you’re good for it and you’ve always fully paid so they should just let you have your shopping

Of course it would be lovely if they said that’s fine, but in reality it’s a business and you used the service Ie you stayed in the property and you owe the money by a certain date.

Some tenants do take the piss, sometimes landlords do, but try to think of this as a business and not personal.

For thoae saying the mortgage has to be paid etc. Any landlord with sense should have contingency for non payment/months property is empty.

Would you believe the property was empty for a year plus before I moved in! Of course I don't know his financial situation but you'd think he'd have some sort of back up in place especially due to how long the property was empty for beforehand.

However you also don't know their history with previous tennants that may be clouding their judgement somewhat.

This is very true. He didn't get on with the previous tenants and they happened to be on UC too

For thoae saying the mortgage has to be paid etc. Any landlord with sense should have contingency for non payment/months property is empty

And I’m sure he does. But he’s still within his rights to expect rent to be paid when the property is tenanted.

It’s not down to UC though- it is the employer’s fault for reporting the wrong earnings to the HMRC. The employer can submit a correction to the RTE feed and this will correct automatically on your UC, then the underpayment can be made the same day. Sounds like your employer royally messed up

Could you agree a payment plan with him for the underpaid rent, pending the mistake being corrected? So you could maybe agree to pay £xx per week/per month off the amount owed unless/until the missing UC is paid at which point you will pay the remaining balance.

Whether he did or didn’t “get on” with the previous tenant, you still have to pay your rent. It’s not his fault that your employer has ballsed up.

What are you doing to chase that with your employer?

So you've only been there a few months and already need to pay late / can't afford the full payment? I can see why the Landlord is less than impressed.

What about the child’s father? Are you getting what you’re entitled to off him? Would he care to help out keeping his child in shelter in this circumstance?

You mention having spoken to your work coach who’s spoken to the investigations team but you don’t mention having contacted your employer? I’m Really confused by that as it was your employer who made the mistake?

You really do need to pay the rent. Its very annoying your employer messed up your claim by submitting the wrong amount to UC. Get in touch with your employer tell them to correct their error as a matter of urgency. Tell your landlord the rent money will be paid as soon as the error is corrected.

I feel for you OP it's a rotten situation to be in.
Chase your employer ASAP until they rectify the situation.
Regarding your landlord, yes it's unfortunate but it's also outwith your control just now .
He signed up to have his property leased via this council scheme and this is what happens sometimes. He was aware this would be the case and is being very unreasonable here

@PaniniHead

It’s not down to UC though- it is the employer’s fault for reporting the wrong earnings to the HMRC. The employer can submit a correction to the RTE feed and this will correct automatically on your UC, then the underpayment can be made the same day. Sounds like your employer royally messed up

The first thing I did was contact my Line Manager who sent an email to Payroll but I'll be honest. My employer are so so poor when it comes to things like this. They're the ones who've made a mistake but they'll take no responsibility and spend much time faffing around. I actually chased them up yesterday but surprise surprise, no response!

@Skyll my employer has made the mistake but UC are able to double check payslips and so on from their side. It'll be most likely that UC will rectify it then my employer making any active steps to rectify this issue at all.

@Viviennemary I agree. Nowhere have I said I expect the employer to get the full amount next month or something, I've been chasing things up and hope to give him the full amount by the end of the month at the very latest

What will happen is the investigation team will look on internal systems to double check the earnings. They may also need to contact your employer to correct it. This can take quite a while depending on if the employer reacts quickly. In some circumstances it can be corrected by UC quicker. But there are too many ins and out to be certain which way it will go

This sounds like it has been going on for a few days. Why haven't you spoken to your employer and got them to file a correction?

What day was your rent actually due?