Landlord not happy that I’m applying for Housing Benefit

[Worriedfortheroofovermyhead]

I told my Landlord that I had applied for Housing Benefit and they made it clear that they are not happy about, so I’m worried about my tenancy. They told me that they had not let to someone on Housing Benefit before and did not intend to going forward. I think I need to talk to someone at Shelter, but any further advice would be helpful as I’m feeling very anxious about the situation.

Stitched up implies that I’m trying to make her life difficult, I’m not.

A lot of landlords don’t want housing benefit claimants but with rising unemployment it’s is likely to become the new normal. He can’t evict you during the pandemic and you should be entitled to a 3 month break. Also he could be find himself in a revenge eviction situation. Definitely contact shelter.

I'm not quite sure where you're getting money from that's been delayed because of the pandemic? Did you rent this property knowing you didn't have an income? In which case that's a bit daft!
Is the money you're expecting a big amount?

I’ve managed to increase my credit card limit. If I can use that to pay my rent I can bring myself up to date. I could then use my ESA and PPI to pay the rent due at the end of the month. That would give me time to get something else sorted out. If something else is HB she is still going to have a problem with me.

Does anyone know how to make a rent payment using a credit card?

If I hadn’t rent this property I would’ve been homeless, so my options were limited.

I’m due a few thousand PPI. Not enough to make me ineligible for HB, but enough to pay a few months rent. It’s been delayed as the bank are behind on processing my claim because they are short staffed.

So you do not actually know how much PPI, if any, you may get. You're relying on something that may not happen, which is very dangerous. Are you just living off your credit card?

Instead of credit card, which I assume isn't zero % interest, some banks are giving overdrafts at favourable rates during Covid (Nationwide is one). Overdraft rates had just gone up to around 40% - so this would only work as a very short term measure. There's no way you would want to be overdrawn when the rate shoots up again.
I believe there is a cash withdrawal fee of moving credit card money to your current account. You could call your back to find out.

Councils have been given hardship funds from central government. Might you qualify for a one-off grant?

I’m definitely getting PPI. I’ve been offered a few thousand compensation. It’s processing my acceptance of the compensation that has been delayed.

My student income has stopped, but I have ESA and PIP.

OP,

Do not go with the CC option.

I think, contact your LL to ask her if it is alright with her that you pay in ten days.

I also think you are going to have problems moving forward. Your LL may be willing to work with you.

Have you asked her for a rent reduction for a couple of months to give you time to assess your income, given your change in circumstances?

I really think you need some advice and support in managing this.

I probably qualify for some grants, but normally people who have trouble with their rent qualify for HB, so I didn’t think there would be grants that would replace this?

I didn’t ask for a rent reduction and given our last conversation I doubt she would agree to give me one.

I have had advice from a welfare rights person, which was to inform my LL that I was applying for HB, which led to her taking a hard tone with me.

I should get support because of my health problems, which would help massively, but this is on hold because of the lockdown.

If I wait and pay in ten days, I will either need to use my credit card, HB, or to borrow from elsewhere to pay the next again rent payment, or else I’ll soon be behind in my rent again.

The ETA on my PPI is eight weeks.

We rent our family home out while posted overseas. Our landlord insurance for our house excludes those on benefits apart from permanent disability benefits.
So we wouldn't be able to rent to most people in receipt of HB.

I’m not sure what you mean by permanent disability benefits? I’m on PIP currently, I was previously on DLA. I’ve been on disability related benefits for over ten years. I didn’t mention this to the LL, I didn’t think it was relevant and I doubt she’d care.

This is insane

Each insurance provider will no doubt be different but ours initially told us that we couldn't rent to people in receipt of any benefits, we were then told that if they were receiving them for a permanent disability this would be accepted.
The whys and wherefores I didn't look into further as we were just considering one specific case.
Generally though if you have a mortgage or insurance it can be hard to rent to people who receive benefits and would use that money to pay the rent.

Interestingly Natwest bank have just reviewed their policy re housing benefit and have dropped it from excluding claimants as tenants. I think I would be annoyed if I were the landlord but in fairness they haven't carried out due diligence which was rather foolish.

Hi OP. Make sure you email the LL the list of repairs and keep a copy of all emails. Email weekly or daily if things remain outstanding, then should he try to evict you, and you can prove he failed to take account of the repairs they will get in a lot of trouble. I know you’ve said the issues or rent and repairs are separate but just in case they try any thing in the future. Would also recommend pictures or videos for your own records in case you need to prove there is a fault. Failure to see to the repairs means you’re unlikely to be evicted.

This is not true or good advice. The repairs are irrelevant if the LL chooses to evict the OP for being on HB. This would only be relevant if OP was withholding rent because the repairs weren't done - which isn't the case at all.

I hope the LL is just anxious, as we all are, and is showing it in the wrong way rather than being all round horrid

I don't think that the LL is being horrid for not being thrilled about the HB, as has been explained, this could be because her insurance could be void and/or mortgage does not accept it (OP thinks the property is mortgage free but this is just speculation, not certain).
Or even so it could just be that the delays so far with HB means that the OP is overdue rent by 2 weeks and they may be expecting this to be a regular thing, they may not know that in most cases once it's set up it's usually pretty reliable. I wouldn't necessarily say they're wrong or horrid for being worried about that.
OP also said that she applied for HB one month ago but said that when she told them rent was going to be late they were fine and it wasn't until recently when she mentioned HB they got annoyed, so to me that says that the OP has known for at least a month that she's expecting HB but only just told them now. Why not be honest with the LL from the start?

Once you’ve paid your arrears, could your circumstances mysteriously change so the LL thinks you’re no longer on HB? Be creative rather downright lie - could be that they have a a mortgage any many BTL mortgages specifically exclude HB claim as nts

Except that it could be written in to the OPs tenancy agreement that they don't accept HB (for whatever reason-this is their choice), and so by lying to the LL about it OP would be in breach of the contract and evicting her would be a lot easier for the LL. Lying isn't going to solve the problems or prove to be a reliable tenant. OP has only been there 2 months so it is understandable that the LL may be worried about reliability when the rent is already late after that short time, why possibly make that worse, try to show the LL that you are in fact reliable by being honest.

Also, if your LL knows anything about HB or looks in to it at all or gets advice chances are she'll work out that the reason OP is able to put in a new claim for HB rather that UC is because of disability which is unlikely to just suddenly change. Plus I think it would make the LL question it anyway the fact that the situation managed to improve as soon as she said she wasn't happy about it

My bet is she's subletting a council property. Hence why she doesn't want you claiming HB @ the address & 'went in her gut feeling' without credit checks etc

@RockThrills

This is where I was going and if so, the OP is in a very precarious position. It is quite concerning that the LL did not carry out affordability checks or follow any process. The saving grace, is that the deposit, according to the OP, is in a TDS.

It is telling that OP states that the LL was fine about the rent being late, but not happy when the OP mentioned the HB.

If it is a sub-letting arrangement, then the OP has been hugely exploited.

Wow! So much bad info on this thread!

Eviction PROCEEDINGS are banned for now but that doesn’t mean they can’t move to evict you once those are lifted and non payment or late payment of rent would be considered by the court good reason to evict.

I don’t think there’s anywhere left in the country that allows for new claimants onto legacy housing benefit, I think it’s all UC Housing element now and that’s notoriously hard to get and with so many new claimants I dread to think what the backlog is.

What puzzles me is how as a student the op doesn’t have the money to pay the rent, I wasn’t aware student loans had been suspended - happy to be corrected though.

Benefits claims are only ever backdated to date of initial claim - ie the date you submit the claim with their acknowledgement they received it (GET A RECEIPT before you let it out of your sight including the person you’re submitting it to’s full name with proof of their ID - trust me I have literally had dwp staff lie about their names! Certainly on several occasions lie about taking the form, claim it was lost etc)

You say you didn’t pay the rent as you didn’t have the money, but did you contact your uni for help? Check if there were any hardship funds or grants you were eligible for? There are several that come to my mind when I used to know about this stuff.

Ditto your local council, where roughly in Uk are you?

Are you paying other bills? Any unnecessary expenditure? Because really rent/mortgage takes priority over anything else, closely followed by council tax.

Are you able to borrow? I know not ideal but needs must. Be that overdraft, credit card, whatever. Student bank accounts used to always come with a free overdraft.

I realise you feel reluctant to ask your friend but she may have options you don’t and may be able to help at least temporarily you can’t afford pride at the moment I’m afraid.

If your friend paid the rent previously and you thought hb was going to pay after that how were you planning to pay when you took on the tenancy? What did you tell the landlord ?

Why did you not go for something cheaper like a house share or bedsit type set up? Usual student accommodation I mean. Could you have accessed uni accommodation?

If you were already on esa I don’t understand why you weren’t also on housing benefit, pretty sure you’d have been eligible.

The LL did not ask for any evidence of income. that was incredibly naive of them!

But you should have taken responsibility for not taking on a lease you can’t pay for too.

Am I right in thinking you were relying on a PPI compensation claim? That’s foolish too! There’s been loads of delays and problems with these, you never include in your budget planning money you either don’t already have or KNOW is a regular and guaranteed income.

You need to stop procrastinating, stop counting your chickens before their eggs are even laid! Get sensible and realistic advice from shelter, uni and welfare rights.

I get the distinct feeling you’ve not told welfare rights people the whole accurate story

There’s so so much that doesn’t make sense here

Sorry but I can't believe that aLL bothered by their tenant claiming hb wouldn't ask the question in the first place and not do a credit check as a minimum.

So either it's not you claiming hb that is the issue but you showing to be unreliable or you lied to them about your circumstances in the first instance.

Personally, I make a point of not renting to people claiming hb. The reason is not because I have an issue with people claiming bit because it is significantly more likely that I would have to take them to court to evict as failing to leave after the notice period. I don't want that stress, nor that of always wondering what might happen that means they can't pay on time.

I have a very nice property in high demand and always manage to get professional people who have proven to be much more reliable.

Saying that, if they had to rely on hb for some time, I would fe ok on the basis that they've been there for a few years and have always paid. I would feel very different after only 3-4 months.