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)

@PinkMochi

This month my UC was around £1100 less

Wow how much do you usually get in UC? How much do you earn from your job (I assume you’re working as you mentioned employer)? If you usually get £2000 a month then I’ll cry. I earn that… before tax, NI, student loans, rent, bills etc come out. I think I need to stop working

Same here @PinkMochi. Crying here too!

@Skyll

The 4 week thing is an absolute bollocks of a mess in the system.

If people know it's going to happen then they can plan for it. People paid four weekly get more UC for the other eleven months of the year compared to someone who is on the same salary and paid monthly. The problem is that people are not warned that there will be one month per year where two pay days will fall in their assessment period.

If you think life on benefits is akin to the land of milk and honey then quit your job and sign on.

Thank you for pointing out why I'm wrong. I shall take on board your comments and have a think about how I might be a better person.

@Hospedia

If you think life on benefits is akin to the land of milk and honey then quit your job and sign on.

UC for working people is pretty good. For those not working it is rubbish and extremely difficult to live off.

The problem is that people are not warned that there will be one month per year where two pay days will fall in their assessment period.

This is exactly it. As I'm relatively new to being on benefits, I didn't even know anything about assessment dates until my work coach mentioned it to me. If I knew at some point this was going to happen I would have tried to put some money aside however I had no clue.

With this situation it's not like I've been underpaid because I didn't know the assessment dates. My work just fucked up but they couldn't have done it at a worse time as I was already going to get deductions if you see what I mean. It's all so stupid

@Magicalwoodlands

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.

Haha yes!!

can you not get an advance from UC? pay your rent?

If the op gets an advance, she will have less from UC going forward?

It Seems v complicated to untangle with the 4 week pay assessment thing I hope you get it sorted

Christ alive. MN should really have a topic called 'Benefits No Bashing' so people can come for advice without the snarky judgement
I hope you're ok OP.
There's some great advice on here but the bashing is just horrible.

@Newnameneededxx OP has already said she is on SMP, so probably £151.97 per week. So no, not your imaginary £2000 a month.

An advance from your employer will be treated as income and you will have less UC, but will have to pay the advance back. You will lose out.

@CHEM20

For all those saying Landlords should have a buffer and shouldn’t rely on rent to pay mortgages, you’re right

But the Landlord is still entitled to ask for payment in full. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Correct, and OP hasn't said she isn't going to pay it in full, just that she physically can't this month and will need a bit of time to make up the payment

The issue is landlord demanding she pay it immediately with funds she doesn't have and even suggesting to get an overdraft and go into debt in order to do so.
Had OP said she wasn't going to pay the rent at all then it would be a completely different story

Any decent landlord would consider accepting a late payment due to delayed benefits as a one off. As long as it wasn’t a regular request I’m sure many would come to some arrangement with the OP.

I think the problem with threads like this is that the OP starts talking about paying the landlord’s mortgage for him as if his tenants are doing him a favour and are owed flexibility. In this case the government is paying the rent not the tenant so I don’t understand this logic at all.

No one is suggesting that the op doesn’t pay the rent. She has explained quite clearly the reason why she can’t this month

But these things happen along with costs for boilers breaking down, items need replacing, keeping the upkeep of a property landlords should have the money or means to cover these costs

@bratzdoll sorry this has happened. Just try not to worry. You're doing everything you can. This is one of the perils that come through owning btl property so if you haven't got your rent due through no fault of your own then the landlord will just have to wait until you're in a position to pay. He has options but time is on your side. I think as long as you keep talking to them and showing proactivity that's all you can do. Quite unethical for them to suggest a single mum housed through the homelessness scheme take on debt! Could you not suggest that they withdraw from the rent deposit and then they can top it back up when you manage to pay them back? That's what it's there for. Big hugs lovely, this will all sort itself out very soon x

The issue is landlord demanding she pay it immediately with funds she doesn't have and even suggesting to get an overdraft and go into debt in order to do so.
Had OP said she wasn't going to pay the rent at all then it would be a completely different story

The LL can demand all they want. OP can’t pay currently and LL’s redress is through the courts which will take longer to sort than OP will take to pay hopefully.

The Landlord is still completely entitled to set their stall out from the beginning my making it clear they don’t accept delayed payment.

by making it clear

@CHEM20

The issue is landlord demanding she pay it immediately with funds she doesn't have and even suggesting to get an overdraft and go into debt in order to do so. Had OP said she wasn't going to pay the rent at all then it would be a completely different story

The LL can demand all they want. OP can’t pay currently and LL’s redress is through the courts which will take longer to sort than OP will take to pay hopefully.

The Landlord is still completely entitled to set their stall out from the beginning my making it clear they don’t accept delayed payment.

The landlord is completely out of order suggesting that a vulnerable tenant - and they know this because of the scheme they got the tenant from - get themselves into debt to sort this out.

It’s also incredibly shortsighted for a LL to encourage debt for a one off late payment as once people get into debt it’s increasingly difficult to get out of it.

It would have been far more sensible for the LL to react in a supportive but firm way to keep the lines of communication with their tenant open and friendly rather than being a twat.

The only time you need get super blunt with tenants is if it becomes more than a one off.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the LL is a knob.

But the OP is, presumably a fully functioning adult, capable of making their own choices. The LL isn’t a financial adviser and any advice should be treated completely with a pinch of salt.

The OP has also only been there a few months. Perhaps if they’d been there for years and this was a proven one off issue, the LL’s attitude would have different. Who knows.

If you join a FB group called universal credit survival they can give better advice on what to do to resolve it.

The first thing you need to do is look on your HMRC account to see exactly what it says on there and then you put in a certain type of dispute to UC. The members of that group will know the exact wording to use.

@CHEM20

Don’t get me wrong, I think the LL is a knob.

But the OP is, presumably a fully functioning adult, capable of making their own choices. The LL isn’t a financial adviser and any advice should be treated completely with a pinch of salt.

The OP has also only been there a few months. Perhaps if they’d been there for years and this was a proven one off issue, the LL’s attitude would have different. Who knows.

The Landlord has specifically taken on a tenant from a homeless scheme. They know they have a vulnerable tenant.

They categorically should not be pushing them to get into debt.

It's more likely another sign why the property was empty for a year - the LL is shit.

I agree the LL is shit. Luckily OP you are ignoring the LL advice to get into debt. Another vulnerable tenant might not have,

@bratzdoll Has your Work Coach raised an RTI dispute, or was the response that you've been paid twice and that's the reason?

An RTI Dispute can be escalated, but ultimately the team pass to HMRC if it's not a straightforward (which sounds likely if you've had issues / corrections before) and then they need your Company to speak to them / make corrections etc.

@SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace Your DH's employer should still report the normal / contractual pay day on PAYE system even if they pay early due to Bank Holiday / Xmas / Weekend. HMRC send reminders out every year.

@8dayweek that's what he's hoping for. He's emailed payroll so fingers crossed that's the case and we won't have to rely on UC for anything.