So confused re rent

[Dragonfliesdress]

Letting agents are saying I am in arrears due to the council not paying my Housing Benefit to them on the due date. I have spoken to the council and they have assured me that all rent has been paid it's just that isn't not paid exactly when the landlord has on their rental agreement, they have to adjust it to make the maths work and that this is a common issue they have with landlords. Letting agent keeps requesting "rental agreement should all be our guide please request arrears paid and all future payments paid in full on the due date" and it's like I can't do that!? I've spoken to the council and they have said they can't change the days its paid etc.
This was last year. I thought it was sorted. Didn't hear a peep from her for ages. Now suddenly she's coming back to me messaging me saying "they still haven't paid on the due date and therefore you're still in arrears". She sent me this email this morning saying I have until TOMORROW to pay the balance and get council to do as they say basically. Threatening court action.

fact that hb pays 4 weekly in arrears

Letting Agent had stated that 4 weekly arrears is not the issue

LA has now said could I take my rent statements to council tomorrow and get them to verify the 'missing payment', by 3pm or they will pass it on to solicitors to deal with... But I did this last year!!

Tbh, I don't even know if I'm right about the "two weeks" thing it's just that she keeps saying one thing and asking me to get the council to explain why there is money missing and then they tell me there is no money missing

Its hard for me because I'm so bad at maths too

Ignoring the fact that housing benefit is paid 4 weeks in arrears unless you're a Council tenant, are you in arrears at all?

Any periods where your housing benefit hasn't been for the full amount of rent, any periods were it stopped for whatever reason? Or does your balance go back to zero when the housing benefit shows up?

When is the rent due and is it for a calendar month as opposed to a 4 week period?

Also how much is the balance that she wants by tomorrow?

So do I get evicted for it? What notice to they provide

How much is your rent?
What date is it meant to be paid?
When does your HB come in? How much is it?

Plot this out on a calendar

If there isn’t enough money in your account on the day your rent goes out, you need to work out how to cover this.

When you moved into the new property did the HB team get your tenancy start date correct?

They usually backdate the payment to the Monday after you submitted your claim. So if your new tenancy started on Monday 1st January (for arguments sake) and you submitted your HB claim on Friday 5th January then once the claim is assessed your HB will be backdated to the Monday 8th January so there will be a one week gap in payment (plus the 4 week "technical" arrears).

Alternatively if your new tenancy started on Monday 8th January but you submitted your HB claim on Monday 1st January (because you had all the documentation, knew the move etc) then the claim would be backdated to Monday 8th (i.e. the start of your new tenancy).

You may be able to claim extra backdating if you can show a valid reason for not submitting your claim earlier.

She is saying £1055.45

But I don't get where that figure is coming from.

Basically the council owed nearly £4k in unpaid rent when I moved in due to it not being paid for months (not due to me actually), but when the arrears were paid, apparently there was still a balance of £1055.45. council say this is due to the rental periods and day no money is missing

And rent is £798.72 a month.

So do I get evicted for it?

Based on the information you've provided, it's impossible to say. You said earlier the rent was £700 plus I think, how much money are they chasing you for? Is it less than £700 and the account will be cleared when your HB turns up? Is for more than £700 and thus, there will be still be an outstanding balance when the HB turns up?

Also if the rent is due for a calendar month, let's say it's £710 for the whole month. How much HB roughly are you getting for the 4 week period in arrears?

I try to say to council that landlord says money is missing and they absolutely insist there is not ! And k feel like pulling my hair out

Ask the letting agent to provide you with a full breakdown of all rent you’ve paid on the property your in, then you can see where the arrears have occurred.

Is there a welfare rights or money advice team at your local council? They would be the people to get help from with this.

As HB is paid 4 weekly you get 13 payments per year as opposed to the 12 calender monthly, what has happened to the 13th payment?

When I was privately renting we had to pay an extra £50pcm to bring our rent into line then the 13th payment was divided into 12 for the following year. As it was we moved out - allocated a HA property and was owed rent back.

Can you get a print out/statement of your rent account and a print out/bank statement showing all of your HB payments and cross check them. Once you have done this it should give you the correct figure to go forward and make an over payment monthly which should bring you inline.

Can you ask - obviously they don’t have to agree - if your tenancy can be amended to 4weekly as opposed to calender monthly?

Ah sorry x posted with you OP. Have you been given a statement of your rent account at all?

Last time I went to to the council they said they were not allowed to show me their rent statements, but they did provide me with verbal information saying the date of their last payment and the rental period it was for etc, but they wouldn't show me anything paperwise so it's impossible for me to check.

My council statement online only tells me what the next payment is and when it will be paid, and what date my rent has been paid up to (currently says up to 22/04, next due 21/05)

She said "see attached" but I can't find an attachment

I would take all your paperwork to Citizen’s Advice and get them to go through it with you. It might be easier with the actual dates and amounts to see what is happening.

I just feel I'm going to go to council tomorrow and I have to get a ticket with a number on and wait until it's called (so no idea how long I'll be there for) just to be told the same thing as last time, that everything's fine and to not worry about the letting agent. They are so unhelpful and I think I'm going to be evicted and I will have to wait for the bailiffs to come and pack a bag, leave most of my daughter's toys and clothes, my stuff, and have to be shipped off to idk where in temp accommodation, take LO out of her nursery she just started in April, I won't be able to do my psychotherapy

Sorry I'm just very upset I know I'm rambling, I feel very panicky right now.

I just checked my tenancy and my rent is due every 4 weeks not pcm

Was there an overlap between tenancies? Or did your previous tenancy end the day before your second tenancy started?

Housing benefit is usually only paid on one property per person at a time so if you have two overlapping tenancies, you end up responsible for one of them.

Basically the council owed nearly £4k in unpaid rent when I moved in due to it not being paid for months (not due to me actually), but when the arrears were paid, apparently there was still a balance of £1055.45. council say this is due to the rental periods and day no money is missing

Was this on your first tenancy or this one? And am I reading this correctly, there was an outstanding balance of almost £4000, the Council paid just under £3000 of it off and you've been left with the balance but with no explanation of why? So it's got nothing to with your current tenancy but is outstanding from before?

I second seeing someone in person with your rent book etc. If your local council has a Homeless team they might be quite useful as preventing homelessness by sorting out stuff like this is also in their remit. Shelter is also could be helpful.

When you go to the council, take all the correspondence from the letting agent with you. Explain to them that as far as the LA is concerned there is an issue. Have you a friend or family member you could take with you? As you seem to be getting the run around from both sides, I think you need some one with you with a firm hand who can help fight your corner.

You need to ask the letting agent for a copy of all your payments, not the council.

So do you get £798.72 in housing benefit every 4 weeks?

Not from previous tenancy.

I moved in October 19th 2016. There were rent arrears due to HB taking months to make a first paymenta- they backdated it and made a payment of £3194.88 to la. La then said that I still owed £1055.45... but when queried with HB they say this is wrong.

And my council account shows I have "been laid up until" 22/04/2018