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)

I don't know why you think I haven't already tried to take out an overdraft already.

No need to be so rude. It was a valid suggestion by the landlord irrespective of your personal force regarding credit availability.

someone already said, what bank would approve £1k overdraft to someone who's on SMP and already on UC.

I don't know where the £1k came from?

(and no, I'm not and have never been a landlord. Just a bit agog at the ironies. Hope you manage to get it sorted soon anyway)

One of the reasons landlords are often reluctant to take people on benefits is that they can be unreliable when it comes to paying on time, either they mismanage their money or a mistake is made that isn't the tenant's fault but causes them not to be able to pay.

Exactly. Yet this Landlord has willingly taken someone on from the homelessness scheme knowing that UC isn't as reliable as if could be (even tho this was the fault of my employer and not UC)

When was your rent actually due and how much is it?

If there is an event involved they charge a fee. That fee should cover the rent if for whatever reason you are not able to pay the rent

Can you apply for an upfront payment from UC (they take it out of the following payments this can be over time) I supported someone to do this they received the money within a few days

I’m sorry you are in this situation it’s so stressful

@Skyll

When was your rent actually due and how much is it?

I've ignored your question already. I'm not gonna say the exact amount of my rent, how much I've already contributed and when it was due on a public forum. All the information given is more than necessary

@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

That's really good to know, @PaniniHead. I'm a welfare rights officer, and I didn't know that a correction could be made in the same month, or that UC could adjust an underpayment in the same month as a result.

And I agree that the employer massively messed up!

If there is an agency …. (Not event bloody auto correct)

Why should the landlord have a buffer to cover your shortfall when it’s not reasonable to expect you to have a buffer to cover UC’s shortfall?

Do you genuinely not know why it's reasonable to expect someone who is running a business, a business that has specifically decided to deal with people on benefits btw, to have a system in place to deal with cash flow issues and unreasonable to expect someone who is on SMP and UC not to have hundreds/thousands of pounds in savings? Seriously??

You don't have a landlord problem. You have an employer problem.

You are focusing on the wrong thing. You should be on the phone to payroll until they sort it out. Tell them you are desperate/can't feed your child/can't pay your rent. Phone them in the morning, get the name of a person, phone them 2 hours later, then 2 hours later etc etc. It's your money they have messed up and you are entitled to it!

Pretty much this exact situation happened to us a few months ago and was rectified really quickly by universal credit. My husbands employer had submitted his wages twice to HMRC in error so universal credit were given the wrong amount. It took some chasing up from all angles but it was sorted in less than a week.

I know how much of a stressful situation it can be but just do all you can do to sort it out and you'll get there in the end.

Well. There’s a big difference between giving the landlord £200 when the rent is £400 and £200 when it’s £1400

There’s also a big difference between you being able to tell him you’ve been phoning your employer every day for over 3 weeks and are doing your best to sort it with them and just phoning once

How does your payroll think you got paid £2500 but that didn’t go into your bank account? What’s their reason for that discrepancy?

How many times every day have you emailed or phoned? Can you go and see them?

Is there someone who can lend you money, could your dc's father help you out? It's is your employer at fault though so could they give you an advance?

@Newnameneededxx

“This month my UC was around £1100 ”

Just trying to get my head round this and thinking I must have done something wrong somewhere along the line when my monthly take home pay is £1400

If you were living in the area I do, where you're lucky to get a 2-bed property for under £1,000 pcm, and you had a child, you'd get a decent chunk of UC to help with your rent with net pay of £1,400.

You'd get an even bigger chunk if you were getting less because of being on mat leave.

This is the reality of living in a country where rents are high and wages are low. If they'd built more council homes, people wouldn't be paying such high rents and the benefit bill would be lower.

I would also ask your HR department if they will cover any overdraft charges you might incur as part of their cock up.

@Burnamer

Why should the landlord have a buffer to cover your shortfall when it’s not reasonable to expect you to have a buffer to cover UC’s shortfall? I understand it’s not practical for you to have that but why is there a mismatched expectation for the landlord to somehow have a magic pot of cash? Ideally both parties should have a buffer but in reality neither may be able to.

You should pay your rent by any means OP but the practicalities of it are that you won’t get kicked out for not.

Mismatched? It's not rocket science! Someone on UC will not have a buffer but someone who is able to afford to rent out a property should. Why is that expectation not reasonable?

@LittleGwyneth

I very much doubt that a bank is going to give a £1000 overdraft to someone who is on UC. And if they did, it would probably be a very expensive solution.

It's odd how defensively of landlords people are on Mumsnet. I assume because lots of people on here are multiple property owners. But realistically your LL's options are to wait, or evict you. Which is a time consuming and probably expensive process. So really s/he would be best off trying to find a bit of sympathy and waiting for a bit.

Agree with this.

@Burnamer

Why should the landlord have a buffer to cover your shortfall when it’s not reasonable to expect you to have a buffer to cover UC’s shortfall? I understand it’s not practical for you to have that but why is there a mismatched expectation for the landlord to somehow have a magic pot of cash? Ideally both parties should have a buffer but in reality neither may be able to.

You should pay your rent by any means OP but the practicalities of it are that you won’t get kicked out for not.

What a silly thing to say.

If you’re a landlord who is part of a scheme that takes people facing homelessness then you know you have tenants that don’t have chunky amounts in the bank and should budget accordingly.

Especially because UC can frequently be problematic.

@Pinkdelight3

you'd think he'd have some sort of back up in place

Funny, I thought the same about you having some sort of back up too. But you don't. And you think he should be glad that you've given him a fraction of what he's owed. Why? Are you glad that UC has given you a fraction of what you're owed? It's a crappy situation all round so try to be a bit less you vs him. There's so much ire on here about landlords not renting to people on benefits and yet when they do, this happens and they're still the bad guys.

When people are on such low incomes that they're entitled to UC, it's very difficult for them to build up a "buffer". Especially when they've just had a baby and had to buy all the stuff that babies need.

Where is the father and can they help.

I think a PP was indicating that just the UC element was £1400 less than it should be plus their salary and was questioning the amounts

"my UC was around £1100 less than it should have been".

I must admit I couldnt work it out either. The UC wasnt £1100 in TOTAL it was £1100 less plus their normal salary.

I don’t think either of you are being unreasonable here - you have both been impacted by a mistake that’s been made and are clearly both put out by it. From LL’s perspective he is expected to carry much of the can for this mistake and yet has no control or ability to address it other than to apply pressure to you to fix it. It will have a financial impact on him and as you say you don’t know his situation… if the flat had been empty then it might be that his reserves have been spent and he is now in a difficult position. From your perspective you haven’t done anything wrong but don’t have the money to pay the rent. You have tried by giving what you can but it will likely still impact you. You are pursuing it. There’s nothing else you can do but provide assurances. I wouldn’t waste your energy being angry with him, just focus on the things you can do to keep your family houses, fed and keep yourself in the best frame of mind possible.

Have you asked your employer for a loan? I’d be doing that if you haven’t tried already and I’d send that request, with the background to the highest people in HR/the company you can. You need to be harassing them daily…

@SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace

Pretty much this exact situation happened to us a few months ago and was rectified really quickly by universal credit. My husbands employer had submitted his wages twice to HMRC in error so universal credit were given the wrong amount. It took some chasing up from all angles but it was sorted in less than a week.

I know how much of a stressful situation it can be but just do all you can do to sort it out and you'll get there in the end.

That's good to hear, @SnowWhitesRestingBitchFace.

It's rare to hear a good story about UC, especially in my line of work.

@Newnameneededxx

“This month my UC was around £1100 ”

Just trying to get my head round this and thinking I must have done something wrong somewhere along the line when my monthly take home pay is £1400

Disgusting comment.

what about using some of your salary to pay the rent?