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)

@A8mint

*It is November and rather cold. The OP needs heat. She needs to eat. She needs nappies for her baby. She may need transport costs.

She can’t just hand over every penny to her landlord and nor should he expect her to.*

...maybe the landlord needs to pay for heat, and her baby needs nappies?

If the Landlord is so piss poor at financial planning that they opt into a homeless scheme without a financial buffer to accommodate the perpetual fuck up that is UC then that's on them, not the OP.

The OP has done nothing wrong, in fact, the OP has opted for a less secure route by using the homeless scheme for private lets rather than hanging on for social housing. They are doing everything they can to keep a roof over their baby's head as a single parent. She works, she contributes to the same system that is currently supporting her. At some point maternity leave will finish and they'll contribute more to the system than at present.

Wind your neck in!

But I am not asking anyone else to pay for my kids!

But the chances are that you take more out of the state than youp pay in in taxes. That is, from the last study done, an almost 50: 50 chance. So maybe stop and have a think. You have kids... schooling, NHS even the routine stuff, from giving birth to midwife, HV visits, vaccines etc.

10 years ago a household with about £40K income might just about break even You had to be in the higher tax bracket to put more into the system than you took out. That will have been exacerbated by now.

So you may not be as self sustaining as you thought!

@Magicalwoodlands can you imagine if someone posted about not being able to pay the mortgage because their employer hadn't paid them enough money? The response would have been very different. No - why did you have a child anyway? And give the mortgage company all your wage and go to the foodbank.

[quote julieca]@bratzdoll you mean you have no sympathy for a landlord who may not be able to go on a Caribbean holiday this winter? You monster.[/quote]
You've caught me🙈🙊

[quote julieca]@LakieLady I have come to the conclusion a significant proportion of the population are cunts.[/quote]
Yep, and there's nothing like a thread about how much of a struggle it is when you have to rely on benefits to bring them all crawling out of the woodwork.

@HoardingSamphireSaurus so how much does someone need to earn before they are allowed a child?

@DraigFach

bratzdoll it's a ridiculous system that penalises before sense checking. I'm sorry you're caught up in it all.

I agree that whilst the blame is firmly with your employer (keep being that squeaky wheel with them) your Landlord's response is unhelpful at best. You've kept them in the loop and the fact that you relied on UC to make up the wage shortfall wasn't a secret.

As things stand you are merely late paying the rent rather than building up arrears. Make sure you mention this each time you provide an update, and update every time you speak to your employer/DWP so they have no doubt that this is not a situation of your making or acceptance.

Just one added suggestion, the next time you speak to the company make it clear that as the error is theirs any penalty charges applied to you for their mistake you will be submitting an expense claim for, the longer it takes for them to rectify the issue the more like it is that penalty charges will be applied e.g. unauthorised use of overdraft.

Thanks for all this @DraigFach I'll definitely take this all on board

[quote julieca]@bratzdoll MN is full of well off people who have zero ideas what it is like to have little money. They would just sell some shares or borrow money from rich relatives if they were a bit financially short one month.
They also think there is loads of support out there for poor people when there is not.
Yes, there are schemes like discretionary housing payment and foodbank that may help or may not help. Hopefully, you will get help. My local council refused every application to the discretionary housing payment budget and by the end of the year had spent zero. Other councils run out of budget before the end of the year. It is a postcode lottery.
But in the minds of some well off people there is lots of help for those who need it. They only think that because they know fuck all about it.
I hope your employer and work coach sort it very soon. And that you soon get over this stressful blip.[/quote]
Definitely!

I'm not sure if it's ignorance or the fact that they're so comfortable they don't actually need to be aware of the reality but it's ridiculous. Getting told to give every single penny to the LL and just contact the council for help. They won't even help me especially as I'm a private tenant! I wasn't even eligible to council tax support and I have a young baby. My council tax is £109 a month, so crazy!

I really appreciate your support and realistic responses/advice throughout the thread. Us poor people have to stick together!

@A8mint

Message deleted by MNHQ

Because one day, her child might be the one doing your heart surgery, or caring for you in your dotage, or saving lives in the emergency services.

We all need children to do the jobs we won't be able to do when we're old. They're a future asset, not a burden.

And wtf gives you the right to assume the OP is "feckless" (lovely judgemental choice of vocab there, says a lot about you)? You don't know her, or her circumstances.

And how come you don't object to paying her LL's morgage every month? He's doing nicely out of this, in the normal run of things. I wish I could get another house, all paid for by the taxpayer.

It’s the lower middle class anxiety on here. Not paying your mortgage is fine because the bank are your equals and you can talk to them. Not paying your landlord is not fine because he’s your superior and you should doff your cap, while not venting of course.

@bratzdoll I wish I could do more. And yes someone even advised you to ask the council to pay your gas and electric bill!
Moneysavingexpert forums are much better for advice as they have people in them who actually understand what it is like to not have much money.
At least no one has suggested you take in some ironing!

You need to speak to your employer here to get things rectified. Your rent element has been paid by the government / UC but due to your employers error your Uc has been reduced more than it should have been. The fault is with your employer, no-one else.

[quote julieca]@Magicalwoodlands can you imagine if someone posted about not being able to pay the mortgage because their employer hadn't paid them enough money? The response would have been very different. No - why did you have a child anyway? And give the mortgage company all your wage and go to the foodbank.[/quote]
Oh wow, you are so out of touch it's incredible.
Whatever reason she chose to have a child is none of your business. She has a job.
How ridiculous to even post this.

I am a LL and have 6 properties let out. I don't take people on UC for exactly these reasons however if I have rented to a person who normally pays rent on time I would simply agree a catch up timetable with them. If one of my tenants showed me evidence they only had £400 for whole month due to an issue not of their making I would tell them don't pay any this month but pay an extra £200 next month and every month until you caught up. I hope you complained to your employer for sending in false information.

@willithappen you have misunderstood my comment. I am repeating what some people on this thread have said and I am saying how awful it is. Read my other comments.
I have full sympathy for the OP.

The op has £400 plus her SMP? Not just £400, unless I’ve read wrong?

[quote julieca]@bratzdoll I wish I could do more. And yes someone even advised you to ask the council to pay your gas and electric bill!
Moneysavingexpert forums are much better for advice as they have people in them who actually understand what it is like to not have much money.
At least no one has suggested you take in some ironing![/quote]
And yes someone even advised you to ask the council to pay your gas and electric bill!

Can you actually imagine?! In what world does that even happen haha.
I'm slightly new to the forum world but may have a look on that and see what people say. I definitely should have thought twice about saying I'm a single mum on benefits. I should have known what some of the responses would be like!

you are actually paying me for the investment of half a million I have chosen to make into property

You seem to think it's ok to impact your landlord when the problem is yours

If this is a serious post, I’ll address it.

If someone has half a million in property yet is ‘impacted’ by a single mother of a young baby in low paid work struggling with her rent, then that is simply pure greed and avarice, that is the only impact. And it is wrong, very wrong.

Well. I hope your landlord doesn’t read your comments on how you are funding private schools for their children or going on holiday with your rent money. I was a landlord for several years and my budget was tight every month. The money I got for the rent did not cover the cost of the mortgage. Let alone insurance and maintenance. But I could not sell. So please don’t make assumptions. You don’t know and it’s not your business. The innocent party here is the landlord but your vitriol seems reserved for him and anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Your company is at fault. Remember that and maybe use your aggression on payroll.