Nystagmite, I do not know if maintenance is counted for or not. There was a section on the application form that I had to state if I received any maintenance. I would of thought it would of been as it is an income. With our Council god only know's what is counted for.

Thanks Rea and Jackieandwayne and worried33 for your comments Your advice has been invaluable. I am going to badger the council about affordability and my son and I willkeep you posted as to how I get on. On another note. I met up with a work colleague yesterday who I knowreceives HB from the same council I have applied to. She does the same job asme and receives the same salary. Her rent for a two bedroomed private house is£800 pm, so £30 pm less than mine. Like me she is a single parent with one child,but she gets £105pw HB where as they have told me I am only entitled to £23.39!A bit of a difference and she gets maintenance from her daughter’s father.Needless to say I will be contacting the council again to ask why there is sucha huge difference. Yes Worried33 I do consider myself lucky to be given a Housing Associationproperty. I feel for anybody who is stuck on the continual merry-go-round oftrying to obtain an affordable home. The situation with property needs here out strips availability is just asdire. I know people who have bid on a property and they are 300th inline for it so they have little or no chance of getting anything .Being in NWKent it is commutable to London so therefore property to rent is extortionate,but those of us working locally we do not attract the London salary thereforeonce again we are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea . One thing I will say worried33 is that rent in this area for some HousingAssociation properties is in fact the same as private rent. This is thesituation I find myself in.

Thanks for the advice jackieandwayne, I must say I am a little confused by yourposts contents. The temporary accommodation we lived inwas as you described it leased by our landlord and that is why we could notstay there permanently, but I was under the impression that this house wasowned by our landlord. When I first had a meeting about thishouse it was with Chislehurst and Sidcup Housing Association who incidentallyare owned by T and C and they explained that they house had been recently purchasedby them with the help of £70,000 from the local council and the rest of thepurchase price was mortgaged over ten years .I was told that the rent was highbut after the mortgage was paid my rent would go down by 50% for the remainder ofmy time here (sadly this was never shown to me in writing) That was in June2011,then in September 2011 Town and county took over the running of my houseand promptly put the rent up £20pw! I hear what you are saying aboutaffordability and going back to the council re being homeless again. This really is not an option as my son could notcope with all of this again. When we lost our home in 2010 he took it verybadly and tried to commit suicide ( He has tried 3 more times .He has had deepthoughts about doing this numerous times) . He was very unsettled and onlyachieved 48% attendance at school that year. He is still very venerable andwithdrawn but he is more settled now and loves living here,his mental state andhappiness has to be my priority. I really in a catch 22 situation

Morning, Sorry I have not replied sooner. Horrendous night with myson. Finally got him settled at 4.15 and he woke up again at 8! Thank you ReaUK and Jackieand wayne for your reply. Right answers to questions. I have an Assured shortholdtenancy. We moved in last June .The rent has always been high but it actuallyhas gone up £20 pw in one year. The rent they charge is obviously the max forHB purposes but is also the going rate for private rent of a two bedroomedhouse in this area. Private rental is not an option as I can’t keep moving and upheavelingmy son. Prior to moving here we were in temporary accommodation fornine months after loosing our home. So yes Jackieand wayne you were spot on. The local council were getting really fed upwith me as I would not bid on any old property ( I was actually told by them tojust bid and turn down properties I did not want) .I would only bid on propertythat met my family’s need’s ,i.e.: not tenth floor in a tower block and with privateoutside space, so as when my son goes into one he has somewhere to let offsteam. The irony of the situation being the temporary accommodation wasconsidered expensive and it had three bedrooms’ (my daughter was living at homethen) and it was £10pw cheaper than our current home! I will have a look on the forum and see if there are anyoptions available to me. Once again thanks for you help and advise

Yes I can promise you I rent through social housing. The house i am in was advertised through the home choice website. I rent my house through Town and Country Housing Association. I think the rent is so high as 80%+ of their tenents are on full housing benefit so the local coucil pays all the rent and the max rent they will pay around here is £190. There is precious little I can do about the rent. I just wish my local council would revise their decision to not include the disability element. Without that I fail to see how I can pay my rent. I have looked at DHP link on here. I do not know if I will get it but I will have a good try. Thanks for comments and advise

Yes it is just my son and I. We live in a two bedroomed social housing property. This is the house the council made us take otherwise I would of been taken off the housing list. I do not live in a posh area. NW Kent but £800-£850 is the going rate for a two bedroomed place. Moving is not an option as my son needs to be near to his school and I need to be close to my work. He is settled in school and would not cope with moving,anyway I would struggle to find another job. The max the council will pay round here for a two bed property is £190.pw as mine is £191. So you see there is precious little I can do. I have to have two bedroom's but I dont have the income to pay for it and I can't get much help. It's a depressing situation I find myself in but at least I have good health and good friends around me so I'm cash poor,life rich

Thanks for the advice. I will look into it tomorrow.

Thanks for your reply, I think you have missed to point of my question. My son has received higher rate care and lower rate mobility from the day hereceived his original diagnosis over six years ago. He has had additionalconditions added as time has gone by. He requires 24/7 supervision and cannever be left alone, so I think there is a pretty fair chance he will get DLAagain. I am sure I am not the only person on here who has taken DWP totribunal. Forums on here are full of people fighting for what they believe inand challenging inaccurate decisions made by pen pushers every day. If you believe that you fit the criteria and "might get every benefitknown to man" make the claim. It will make no difference to the question Iwas asking. I am only trying to claim housing benefit due to the fact I cannotpay my rent.

Please could somebody give me some advice? I have recently made an application for housing benefit. This is my first claim,due to a change in my circumstances. In this claim I advised them that my son had received DLA but due to the DWPnot sending the renewals pack out in time I am currently not receiving paymentwhile they process the claim. He had previously received DLA at higher ratecare and lower rate mobility for six years and his conditions had not decreasedin fact they had got worse, so I am confident (and so is his consultant) thathe will continue to get it again at the same level. My LC have now calculated my award for Housing benefit and refused toacknowledge that my son as a disability and will not make an award to includethe extra premium for having a child with a disability. Without this premium,the Housing Benefit claim is minimal and I can no way pay my rent. My wageseach month are about £900 and my rent £830. They are offering me £23.39 pwtowards my rent. If they were to include the premium for my son we wouldreceive around £100 pw. What can I do? I really can't afford to pay my rent. Last time I made an application for DLA for my son it took 9 months to sortas I took it to tribunal. Thanks N

Congratulations to you. That must be the key.Be polite.Be assertive and know your rights. Fingers crossed I follow in your foot steps. I will keep you posted NCO

Thanks everybody for your advice. However conflicting it may be. It just goes to show what a grey area this is. Do you or anybody else know of anybody who has successfully obtained a refund for mis-sold mortage PPI? I am no way going to let this one go but it seems that on mis-sold credit card and loan PPI is being refunded. I hope somebody can tell me different. Love this site and the people on here who do not judge you,just want to help you. Thanks NCO

Thank you. I will do. I will get on to it asap. Regards N

Ok.I will do thanks for your help. N

Yes I took lots of photo's of the floor and the rest of the damage to the house. I also have witness statements from my friends who helped me movd out as they saw all the damage.One described my house as being vandalised by what they had done and the way they had treated my personal items.Things were thrown all over the floors .A table had been knocked over and all the contents thrown all over the floor . It was really distressing to see.I did not think it would of been any different than when I left it so I took both my children to help with the move. They were both distraught. My son who is disabled became very distressed as his bedroom had been moved around.For some reason his chair had been moved downstairs and his display of crystals tampered with.All in my opinion totally unnecessary. Loosing our home was upsetting enough but everything else that has happened/is going on is making matters worse. N

Thanks for the advice. I have reported it to the poice but they can't do anything as too many people had access to my house and property init via the Estate agents/HBOS. I wrote to Hbos about my stolen items but they are saying that nobody has taken anything so really they are denying responsibility. Can I laso make a claim for the damgage they have done to the oak flooring and ceilings as ultimatly it has reduced the value of the house since they respossessed? Thanks for your help. Regards Natalie

Ell-enn Thank youthank you thank you for your help. I will get on to it on Monday. Do you or can anybody else advice me about the damage caused to my home by HBOS/Estate agents ,because I feel ultimatly the damage caused effected the selling price. Also can I do anything about them stealing my personel possessions.The total cost of items stolen is over £2000. The Police were powerless do do anything. Thanks N

Thanks Maroondevo, Im glad somebody can point me in the right direction. N

Can anybody help or advise me please. I am at my wits end and I don’t know where to turn. Last year after a bitter struggle. I had my home repossessed. I appealed the repossession but lost as I went in front of a Judge who had no idea about my case. Previously I had been in front of a fantastic judge who was really helping me stay in my home while I was getting a REMO order enforced in America also I have a disabled son and he was very conscious of that fact. My house was worth around £285,000 (I have a surveyors report to show this) but the bank/Estate agents marketed it for £249,995. When they took possession of the house they removed all exterior doors (3) and placed shutters with holes in them in place of the doors and over windows. They damaged every window in the house .Needless to say water and the elements got into my house causing damage. I wrote and complained to HBOS four times but to no avail. They claimed the shutters were watertight. After five months of me complaining and getting my local Councillor involved they admitted that the shutters were in fact NOT water proof and they made them so. They then claimed that no damage had been done to my property as a result of them taking the doors off! I know damage has been done to the oak flooring and ceilings as I have been into the house and seen it for myself. So are a number of my friends who are all willing to write statements . I found out via a neighbour today they have accepted an offer on my house for £230,000. £20,000 less than was advertised and £55,000 less than the market value. I know to some people this is not a lot of money but to me it’s a fortune and all I have to try and rebuild my and my children’s life What I need help with is what can I do? Can I do anything about them underselling my house? What about the damage caused by them? can I do anything about my personal items stolen? when they took possession. I went to the Police who could not do anything as too many people had access to my house via HBOS/Estate agent. They stole money belonging to my disabled son. What about fee's HBOS are going to charge me for. Apparently my neighbour was informed that a management company were looking after my house! If only. Somebody tried to brake in last week. They kicked in the side gate and smashed the windows in the shed. The evidence is still there for everybody to see. Can I argue about their fee's? Am I in a position to try and claim back any of their charges? Sorry this is a long winded post but I don’t know how else I can put my story across. I would appreciate any advice anybody could give me Thanks N Xx

Thanks for your help. I will start the process on Monday and keep you posted. Fingers crossed N

Thanks I did not know for sure. All the press coverage seemed to focus on loans and not motrgages. I have read the tread you directed me too and we were told that if we did not take out their PPi we could not have the mortgage so we were pressed in to it.To be honest it was not explained properly either. Thanks again for your help N

Can anybody tell me if you can claim back PPI charges on a Mortgage? My husband and i took out a Mortgage in 1996 and were bamboozeled into taking out a PPI without knowing what we were signing up to. We were told we had to have it with the mortgage. We have never claimed anything from it but paid a fortune into it. We no longer have this Mortgage. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks N Xx