Hi, My hubbie and I have to move from our place due to my health, My OT has started this ball rolling and we are on the homechoice website looking for a place but I would like to know if we cannot get a council place we will have to rent in the private sector. We have to move because we have 42 stairs from the front step to the top floor, our home is over three floors with four flights of stairs and I just cannot manage them now. Once my hubbie has got me to the middle floor in the morning, kitchen, loo and my little crafftroom that's where I stay till I go to bed at lunchtime and then back down in the afternoon and if I am feeling able to get down to the gd floor after our dinner where our frontroom is I might get to watch tv in comfort before I go to bed at night which takes ages to get back to the kitchen where I then have to rest before I try to cope with the treck back up to bed! We will need a grant and loan to help with relocation but at what point can we apply for these as we will need the grant and loan to pay the deposit and removal fees and if they also pay the agency fees. So the money would be needed by the morning of signing contracts with a move hopefully the next day. Our present landlady hasn't helped the situation by issuing us with a section 21 because we were not able to tell her exactly when we would be moving as we haven't yet been offered a council place so now we have a deadline and it runs out on 22nd September... We haven't done anything to warrent her actions, always paid rent on time, no arrears and we have improved our home by decorating it throughout. I have enough to worry about being disabled and having to move without the extra worry of her actions and not knowing when grants and loans might be paid. I look forward to some much needed advice on this matter. Many Thanks for reading..

Hi there, In my 2nd year of uni I left in Dec 2001 but received my 2nd grant payment in Jan 2002. I never heard anything about this until I received a phone call about it a few months ago and now a letter dated 30th June 2012 requesting payment in full, £1450. My question is, before I contact them to make offer of payment within my means, is this not covered by the Limitations Act in that after 6 years they cannot pursue me for this date? I am aware that Student Loans post 1998 are exempt, I have a student loan also which is paid through my salary when I am working. However this is a grant. Your advice appreciated. Cheers, Maxine

I know it might be too early to worry, but here goes. I am a final year student (4th yr), an EU citizen, and I first applied for student finance in my second year (2007-2008). I got the full Maintenance Loan and Grant for 2008-2009. Applied again next year. Got the same support for 2009-2010. This year, when I applied, I received the first instalment of Maintenance Loan and Grant, and then, all of a sudden, my application was transferred from Birmingham LEA to the central SLC office, something called Migrant Worker Team. After a long documents' battle, the "team" decided I was not eligible for support NEITHER this year, NOR the last year . They cancelled both of my applications (but not the 2007-8). Now I received a letter saying I owe the SLC nearly 4000 pounds in overpaid grant (about 900 for that first installment I received this year, and 3100 for the full payment of grant I received last academic year). The letter says that this money will be deduced from any further support I am eligible for (which is nil), or recovered at the end of my course. I assume this "overpayment" will not be "recovered" as a loan, but in one instalment, as it is a grant. Do they have a right to cancel my application from a year ago and demand me paying the "overpayments" if it was THEIR mistake, not noticing I was " ineligible" last year? I got the confirmation and scheduling of payments, and all sorts of other correspondence... Last year, they even sent me a letter similar to one which this year led to my application being cancelled (something along the lines "please send us some documents because we need additional evidence") ; but they NEVER did anything about it, simply sent me another one confirming the payment dates! In a few words, got the money, and after a year they decided "actually, we shouldn't have sent you this money, so give it back." I don't really know the rules surrounding that, can anyone give some advice on what my options are? I would like to get some basic information on how to deal with this, before going to a solicitor or seeking official legal advice. I don't really know if it is necessary in this case, seeking advice from a solicitor, so I figured this forum would be a good starting point... I guess I could snoop around and find that 900 quid they overpaid me this year, but I simply can't afford paying three thousand in one go... Thanks in advance for any advice!