hi. I`m getting housing benefit since 2010, back than my income was about 20k/year and my rent was 750/month. now my income is about 34k/year and rent 1150/month. everything was fine to I moved to bigger flat last April, I`m self-employed (have been since 2007) when I applied for HB in the first place they wanted pay slips, bank statements, etc. and than every year when I done my tax assessment (my accountant does all this) I used to send it to council so they can work out my HB again based on the last year income. since April 2014 they keep asking me for my income and expenses every 3 months instead of doing this as they did before (in fact before they never asked me, I used to do it myself to avoid been overpaid). the problem is that my income is more/less the same but my expenses are not, let say in first 3 months of the financial year I earn 9k before tax and there will be no expenses but in next 3 months I may earn the same amount and spend a lot on tolls, travel, etc. are they doing the right think or is there a way to get it done the same way as it used to be before for years? another think is they not allowing a lot of my expenses, this is copy of the letter they have send me couple of weeks ago: Accounts From : 07 Jul 2014 To: 09 Nov 2014 Number of Weeks: 17 Gross Income: £12154.00 Accountant Costs: £50.00 already allowed £150.00 in previous assesssment Telephone: £212.50 50% of cost allowed for private use Total Business Expenses: £262.50 Transport not allowed you work for one set employer no different from worker on PAYE transport cost from home to work not allowed. Tools not allowed for Housing Benefit Purposes treated as capital expenditure. Pre-Tax Profit: £11891.50 Yearly Income: £34723.18 Deduction Income Calculation Tax Allowance: £10000.00 Yearly Income: £34723.18 50% Pension Cont: £0.00 Total Deductions: £7496.69 Class 2 Nat.Ins: £143.00 Class 4 Nat.Ins: £2409.05 Tax: £4944.64 Weekly Calculation Gross: £665.92 Tax: £94.83 Nat.Ins: £48.94 ------------ Net Income: £522.15 now the questions are: I used to use public transport and they say I`m not allowed to put this as my expenses, now I bought a scooter and I will be allowed to put petrol in, how does that work? why am`I not allowed to put my tools in for HB purposes, those always have been and will be allowed when I do my tax assessment. seems like council is just trying to cut my HB and thats what they have done, now they paying me 0.88/week in HB while my net income will be about 28k when I take this what I have to spend into account. can anyone help with this please? thanks

Does Housing Benefit become statue barred and the usual 6 years I called to checked the amount.. and was told it's less than what Dukes Baliffs are requesting.. I have got them to put on hold for 28 days, while i check things.. But remember buying house in 2007... and all debts to council where paid off.. (Or so i thought) I apparently spoke with council in Jan 2013 about the debt.. Will do my checks with council But in mean time... do these sort of debts become statue barred if no payment been made in the last 6 years Thanks in advance for any help

Its a long story but I will keep it brief. I have a friend who has had problems with Alcohol to such an extent that his marriage crumbled and he now lives in a rented flat on his own. To his credit he has stopped drinking and is putting his life back together. However he has a problem with Benefits. He is on long term sick with depression and gets ESA. When he left his wife he arranged for his company pension to be paid direct to her to cover part of the mortgage on their house. He did not want to see her in dire straits through his own fault. However when he applied for Incapacity Benefit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit he did not tell them about the pension. Now he has had a letter saying the Inland Revenue have told the Council that he was getting company pension since at least June 2013 if not before. So they have reworked his benefit and his HB is now halved and he has to pay back the overpayment at £10.00 per week. However he will no longer get CTB so now as a bill for 18 months Council Tax to pay although the letter does not say how long he has to pay this. He now realises he has to tell them about the pension from when he 1st claimed ( 2008 I think ) and they will obviously rework the benefit and he will have arrears to pay back whilst still receiving a smaller amount of HB. But I think the Council Tax arrears will be chased more vigourously by them. Also not sure what other action they might take against him He was a long term alcoholic and besides depression has high blood pressure and has attempted suicide on more than one occasion and the pressure of this may push him that way again. When he told me about this I did a Benefit Check and it seems that he may have been entitled to the pension and ESA at same time due to rules about minimum monies to live on but when I did the check it seems that he would probable be better off claiming pension credit as that would mean less income but he would get full HB and CTB and it would mean ATOS ( or whoever they are now) would not need to see him and he could just get PC until retirement in 2016. So the question is firstly what does he tell the council about the pension ( I realises he has to tell them ) as he does not want to be prosecuted for fraud whilst realising he will have to pay overpayment back. Secondly is it easy to go from ESA to PC and how would he do this Many thanks.

My brother has gone to stop with mum for 3 months, without going into full detail, officials have closed his flat, with no access. He is signed off work at the moment by the doctor, which he has to produce certificates for. Guess who now is expected to collect the certificate(s) as mums isn't local to his address. (in the UK though) Will housing benefit still be paid on his flat?

Unhappy Housing benefit under caution interview Hi I would like some advise Last week I got a letter from housing benefit about an interview under caution I started my claim in 2010 and was renting a house that my brother owned I was honest with the council and told them about this. At the end of 2010 I had a big falling out with my sis in law and she threatened to kick me out and make life difficult for me. To avoid this my brother put my name on the house title deeds so that if anything happened to him I would still have a place to live. Through out the whole time I was still paying u brother rent. Twice after this someone from the council came out to make sure my claim was right and no one mentioned anything. A name on a title deed is not something that can be hidden it is on government record and information that can be obtained at anytime. I am now worried that they think j have bought the house from my brother but no more net was exchanged I did not take out a mortgage or had any other interest in the house my name was purely on the title deed for the security of my children. I am really worried and am sick with worry doea anyone have any advice

Hi all i need a bit of advice and help please, Basically i am self employed and due to low income in receipt of Housing Benefit which is paid to me by my District Council and then paid by me to my Housing Association. Every few months the DC ask me for certain income information to prove i am still eligible for HB, i always provide and eventually it is fine, although they usually manage to balls something up, and that is where we are at again, In October they asked me to fill out some paperwork and provide proofs, which i did, i then drove the 10+ miles to their offices and handed in over counter, getting a receipt, 3 weeks later (benefit still been paid during this time) i get a letter saying they have suspended my benefit due to not receiving most of the requested paperwork, which they did, i have a receipt for it :/ So of i go again the 10+ miles to council offices and get to speak to a generic benefits adviser, i am not allowed to speak to the actual adviser dealing with my claim (the person sending me the letters) as they 'do not deal with the public' the generic adviser basically makes excuses as to why the DC are incompetent with no apology, basically passing the buck blaming everyone and anyone, so we re-check everything and then she flops out a form she says i have to fill in, it was about 30 pages long, it is clear she wanted me to go away and bring it back another day, but i wanted it sorted and done, So i had to do sitting in a public area on my knee on a chair, you would think they would have said 'its ok use this table to lean on' but nope, anyway, form done, all checked, and confirmed and re-issued another receipt stating they have again received all documents. Well..... that was weeks ago and ive not heard a peep since and not received any housing benefit, now my Landlord (housing association) are asking why the rent has not been paid for x weeks as the balance is now rather high. I have tried calling DC to ask for a update to which all i get is, its being processed, wait to hear. I have waited, weeks and weeks, I feel like they are on the 'go slow' on purpose just because i moaned they are incompetent, which they are, my next step is another visit to the offices (tomorrow) to try and force a answer and if nothing prevails their a official complaint against the DC, which is a multi tier process which could take months. Where do i stand with regards to rent owing to HA, can they issue repossession proceedings. Am i doing everything right in how i am dealing with DC. Not the kind of stress i need on the run up to xmas thanks all

Good Afternoon All. I was really looking for some advice on way's I can move forward with the following situation: My partner, son and I live in a housing association property and pay £870 per month for a 2 bedroom house. As of February 2013 I had to change jobs due to my previous company making redundancies and jumped into the next suitable job for financial security purposes etc. I went from a 30k a year salary to 23k per year and my partner takes home roughly £650 per month as she works part-time due to being the primary carer for our son. Unfortunately as we both have bad poor credit scores we need to use payday loans to help us get throught the month but now are in a situation where we are taking them out to help with living and the cost of rent! Each month we are needing to pay back the previous loan and take out another one and the amount with interest has gradually increased as we have needed slightly more each month as we are loosing a lot of money in interest. The problem we have now is that the maximum loan I can take out just about covers the rent but we'll have nothing else to live off of for the month. I'm not too sure what to do with this one, I don't want to get into rent arrears or have a payday loan we can't pay back, especially as I can't imagine them being that flexible. Is there any support or advice out there to help manage housing association rental arrears as I don't see any other solution to get us through the month then to pay less on the rent? Unfortunatly there isn't anyone we could ask to burrow the money from. Thank you for your time.

Hey lovely Caggers Just after some advice on how to help my daughter, if you don't mind. She was in a private rented flat but cut the tenancy short, we agreed with her landlord (I was the lead tenant although I didn't live there because she's under 18) Housing benefit was paid up until the date her tenancy officially ended, a month after she'd physically moved out. She stayed with her ex's family until ending up in a hostel with her young baby when her ex headbutted her. Nice eh? there was some overlap between the housing benefit on her flat and the housing benefit she got while in the hostel. She accepts she should have told the original council that she'd moved but at the time assumed her landlord would do it. there's been an overpayment & we're happy to pay it for her. My issue is the council have already passed it to debt collectors (the overpayment was only in July) She's now in a house of her own with her little one and is doing a fab job a as a mummy, but... Question is, seeing that she's only 17, living on her own with a baby and being treated for anxiety and depression, do you think the council would take the debt back from Jacobs and allow us to pay it in full for her direct to the council? I don't trust jacobs not to have whacked charges on top but the last thing she needs is the threat of 'bailiffs' knocking on her door, as they've called themselves. There's no court order that we know of. She lives 4 hours away so it's not like I can just go with her to the council to sort it. I wish she lived nearer but it's her choice and she wants to stay where she is TIA!

Hi Guys, Wondering if someone can clear this up for me please. A friend of mine has been off work for 10 weeks (been in work over a year) Her contractual sick pay will reduce to half of full pay mid Dec, but there is not much poss of her returning to work before mid Jan. She will not be claiming any benefits (UC, ESA etc) because of her CSP, but will she still be entitled to HB under the 13 week rule? I have seen that this rule is being abolished under certain benefits - especially Universal Credit, but wasn't sure under CSP? Many thanks

Hi there, I have a question about what to do about Housing Benefit being overdue. I've rented a room in a flat but found a flat with a cheaper room in the same city and decided to move in there. Because of this, the council said I need to fill in a new form and submit a new lease as well - all because 'change in circumstances'. I did that mid-October. In between moving to a new flat there was a week before I could move in to the new flat so, due to courtesy of my friend, slept at his couch (apparently this caused a partial overpayment). I don't think that this should bear any burden on the validity on my present claim, except of my having to pay back the partial overpayment. By now, I've been waiting over 6 weeks for the new claim to be re-assessed and all of my meager savings have been spent. I've called a council around 2 weeks ago and was told that the claim was 'being processed' and should be done in next 40 hours and that the council did not need any more documents from me. A full week passed and haven't heard from the council so called again, this time talked to another person and I was told exactly the same thing. Again, almost a week is over and heard nothing for the council. Each time I was asked If I've been receiving JSA (I have). This time I don't have enough mone to pay for my rent... Also, got a CT bill request I need to pay the full amount urgently, otherwise I'll face consequences, such as being in arreras, sheriff, etc. K.

Hi I just started as self employed and I am in private sector leasing. I am claiming work tax credits now while I get my business off the ground, and I have to fill out a form for the council so I can claim housing benefit. They want to know details about my expected accounts for the business for the first three months. Basically I borrowed money from my parents and will need to declare that on the form so I can explain my business expense. I expect to pay out into the business about the same as what i borrowed, so the question is should I just keep it simple and say I borrow X amount of money and expect to invest X amount of that in the business in the first three months? Do I have to include working tax credits? Is it best if I state I wont be paying myself a wage out of any profits in the first three months? It's so complicated all this, I can hardly find the time to work on actual business stuff for forms.

hello all, I hope somebody may be able to offer me some advice. In march 2014 I purchased the goodwill of existing hairdressing salon. I was declined for business start up loan despite putting in what I thought was a very good business plan. My sister took out a loan on my behalf to purchase the good will of the business but this meant I had no money left to buy any stock, tools, equipment and furniture for the salon. Since then I have been buying these things as Ive gone along. I also put in a claim for housing benefit and the said they weren't able to accept the loan repayment as an allowable expense. I have made lots of purchases on my credit card for these things too. They did award me some housing benefit until August 2014 when I submitted my new form. Today I received a letter to find out they have revisited my claim despite making an award and have now told me they have not allowed expenses for electrical tools, equipment and furniture as regulations state start up costs for a business are not allowable when calculating income for housing benefit. I am distraught as I have put thousands on my credit card too for business expenses. To top things off the lady I bought the business from has been canvassing and doing their hair from home and making up lies about me to sabotage the business. I just don't know which way to turn as there is no way I can afford to pay rent as I have credit card debts to pay off for tools and equipment that they wont take into account. I would appreciate any advice someone could offer please.

I hope someone can help with this query? Thanks. Lost home 3 years ago and have been renting since. I'm a limited Company Director. Company has never made a profit in over 10 years. Closed retail unit in 2011. We tried every which way to avoid getting any benefits, but had no choice in the end. applied & granted Housing Benefit in April this year (provided wife's PAYE details/payslips & 3 years worth of the Company Accounts for myself, which they took copies of at the time of the application). Company is still 'alive' and 'active' as far as the HMRC and Companies House are concerned. The reason the company has been kept 'alive' is that my accountant suggested it would be the best approach for getting some of my initial investment in the company back through the Director's Loan being in Credit, i.e. the company owes me money, which can be obtained from the Company using HMRC guidelines on Director's Loans. any 'income' is payable to me without being an 'income', as it's the Company entity owing me money. This is the exact opposite of most enquiries and descriptions about Director's Loans, which tend to be in Debit, i.e. the Director owes the Company money and has Tax & Benefit in Kind implications with the HMRC. I have today received a letter from the council wanting me to confirm my 'income' and if I have been 'earning' anything from my role as a Director of the Company. My wife & I are concerned and would like to know if anyone can shed light on any of this? My accountant states that: 1. Any funds coming in is effectively the Company earning the money, as it is a separate entity to me. 2. I'm working as the Director of the Company, but not earning anything as the Company is earning the money. 3. Any money used for personal costs from the Company account is being set against the huge Director’s Loan that the Company owes me. will the council view my directorship of a limited company as a 'job' and the money I get back as 'income'? What should I send them as evidence, since they already have the Company Accounts for the past 3 years? Rgds. radmm0

The council are charging us £4000 overpayment for housing benefit. We contacted them the other month after checking our on line Housing benefit on line for first time and we saw that they had our son was still on there as living with us when he moved out in August 2013 as we live in a very small two bedroom house and have a 2 and 4 year old so need the room and mine and my partners bedroom is very small so we asked our son if he move out.which he did. We contacted housing to ask why they still had him on there and not our two year old daughter when they had seen her birth certificate and letter from child benefit and child tax credit. They then sent us a bill for this amount saying this is the highest amount rent for our son because he stopped signing in in September and started work. We explain that he moved out and we sent a letter informing them off this plus my partner had been into see someone about our housing benefit and went over who was living in our home which was me my partner and our young children. Our son was never mentioned so we assumed they had received our letter. We had also filled in forms and never put him down as living with us. Now they are charging this high amount as we explained we are no longer on speaking terms with my son because family issues so no nothing where he working living or how much he is earring. We are very worried about this and sent letter off on 15th September to appeal against it, we still not heard nothing from them apart from letter saying they taking £15 a week off the £25 housing benefit they are giving us

19 yr old daughter had a baby and was on income support we didnt have to pay anything now she found a job ft and did a load of training etc started beginning of October she then finishrd income support and claimed wtc this week we are going into council to say shes started work etc shes now only doing 20 hours a week will they charge us for the previous month at the same rate or more as she was doing training and was on a trial

Hi, I don't know really what I can expect to achieve however the basic gist is that my mother and myself are currently on the council waiting list for a more suitable property for her needs without going into detail this would be a single story 1st floor property preferably a Bungalow or House with a downstairs loo which could be converted into a bathroom. Having spent months eagerly awaiting new properties to be added to the list of available housing each week (and then registering an interest in the ones which appear to be suitable) we have observed a worrying number of the most suitable properties are not available to for us to register an interest as they are being let under a new government scheme which allows the housing association to charge up to 80% of the retail market value, because of this they also implement other caveats such as employment & minimum earnings etc. Now our feeling is that the housing association should not be letting Bungalow's or smaller property under this scheme, surely these types of property should be set aside for the elderly or tenants who have long term medical conditions making other property unsuitable? My understanding is that this scheme was devised to allow housing associations to garner more revenue to then pump back into building new homes, however surely they should then be focusing on large family homes to rent under this scheme? As then their is a higher likelihood that those types of tenants will be able to meet the higher rents and minimum earning stipulations written into the tenancy agreement... Can anyone suggest a course of action to take regarding complaints etc. and who we might make traction with on this matter? Many thanks,

Hello everyone, I hope you can help me. I have just finished with a 5 year case of clinical negligence, that I won. I am being paid compensation for injurys (which are pretty severe) to me thanks to this negligence. I claim Housing Benefit as the condition precludes me from work, I claim no other benefits - my wife works and she is lucky enough to run her own business. She does however claim some Tax credits as a lower income worker. We get by, just. This compensation will be great for us, but I have a real problem with actually telling the housing benefit about this. I'm not trying to be selfish here, or circumvent the system but this compensation is to help me with not being able to work. While I appreciate the help I'm getting from the DWP, the money we are getting will cover our debts, buy some things around the house for me, and ya know what to hell with it, we are going to spend some!! I just want to know where I stand with this. It's not a fortune, it wont last longer than 6 months (although my injuries are for life - gotta love this countries red tape) and I really feel that I should say nothing. I need some advice, I really dont know what to do. Thank you for your help, it is appreciated. Kutter

hey all, any advice greatly appreciated . Long story so i'll give the abridged version. 2009 - i lost my business, house, everything. my dad who was a director at the co. with me died of a massive heart attack due to the stress when we were losing the business. i had a nervous breakdown, was very ill,severe depression, mental health issues. got shingles, went off the deep end basically. after never claiming anything in my life i made a housing benefits claim .. meanwhile my life was still in tailspin. no clue how i came through it. 18 months later my wife had a heart attack , and developed massive ( still ongoing ) health issues. housing stopped my money. they said they needed to see all my bank statements etc... we moved house then, and i started to finally get back in track ( 2012 ) , apparently benefits had been writing to me at my old address. late 2012 - benefits wrote to me at my new address, inviting me for an interview under caution, i declined to attend. still have ongoing mental health issues, suffer anxiety , and cant cope with public places and people in general. i wrote back to them telling them this . they said they wanted a massive list of info from me. i didnt provide it. they wrote to me, said 'cos i didnt attend or provide, they had decided the whole claim was an overpayment .. its £26,000 !! i kept writing to them, asked them to re-consider .. they woiuldnt, so i asked to appeal few weeks later benefits sent me the file they had compiled on me. it had all sorts, bank statements for myself and my wife .. my step daughters bank statements. google info on me and my previous company / career. i had worked in the entertainment industry before my mental breakdown, and so as with most in that field, its easy to find some rubbish on google that paints you in a bad light. they said i had undertaken commercial activitiy which i had not declared, and had made money i had not declared basically. to be fair the bank statements do show money transactions. i was told there would be a tribunal hearing, but that was 9 months ago. this whole thing caused me many sleepless nights, but as with everything in life, you learn to adapt and carry on with your life. i was hoping they had changed their minds, or .. well i dont know , but today i got a latter with a tribunal date of 15 dec. i had previously indicated i would want a written hearing due to my mental health issues and anxiety .. but apparently benefits have asked for an oral hearing. so this letter is for an oral hearing. i know i dont have to go, and honestly i couldnt go. i would fall to pieces before i even got into the building. what im trying to determine, is if the tribunal appeal fails .. will i be prosecuted ? or will i just be offered the chance then to work out a plan to pay off the overpayment ? attending an oral hearing is just not an option for me - i have a feeling, or a thought, that if benefits had enough concrete evidence against me, they would have prosecuted me a long time ago, but this has been dragging on for over 2 years now surely if they had enough on me to prosecute, they could have done it one or two years ago .. i am not in the greatest financial position stil and our run of horrific happening sin our lives has continued, with various horrific deaths and such in the recent years on top of everything else. i feel lucky to be alive and able to type this message, and had finally put all this to one side to focus on rebuilding my mental health, but that letter today has freaked me out so yeah im rambling .. what does anyone think ?

I have just had a Council Tax Bill of over £1000. I am a single parent on minimum wage working between 16 and 20 hours per week. Some weeks I work 12 hours others I can work 20 or more depending on the needs of the business. Phoned the council only to be told that their systems are linked to HMRC and they calculate my council tax liability on my earnings. They say my Council Tax Support has been overpaid and now I have to pay it back. So from being ahead with no debt I am now in huge debt with the Council Tax and I cannot see a way of being able to afford to pay it back. As well as this I have been overpaid on Housing Benefit too. Council now want me to pay £83 per week in rent for my 2 bedroom council house. They told me this is backdated from 1st April 2013 until 19th October 2014. I have no idea how I am going to afford all this as I earn less than £500 per month in wages. I get £139 a week in Tax Credits, £20 a week Child Benefit and £30 a week from CSA. This only just covers the bills. I would be better off not working!! According to the council I have to phone them every week if my hours change. I did phone them earlier in the year telling them I am working more than 16 hours but they told me just to wait for them to get in touch.

Hi My housing association employee wants to take facial photographs of us for their tenancy audit after 38 years of residence. Is this allowed?

Hi Everyone, I am on Income Support and receiving Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for my 19 years old son, he will be 20 years old in January, I was told by both CB and CT that my son can receive those as he is under 20 years old and is a full time student, he has just enrol for his new course and I am wondering what hours does the Housing Benefit class as full time studying! I have the papers for proof for his studying from his College, they have put on the start date and end date for the course! which is Sept 2013 until 26/6/2014 start from 9-00am to 5-00pm! I have already rang my local authority and will take the hard copy to them as they suggested because the would not accept a photo copy that is no problem, but I am now very worried after seeing a thread on here very recently about someone studying for their course and could not take exam all day as they were classed as not available for work, I do not want my son being hassle by either the DWP or Ingeus he is studying hard at the moment and wants to go straight to work once he finishes his study, I am also helping him to look for Apprenticeship job whilst he is studying! Can someone please tell me how many hours does the Housing Benefit class as full time studying??? Thanks in advance! helen

hi, back in 2010 we qualified for and claimed housing benefit. In October of the same year we had to move from one borough to another because we needed to be close to a relative who required care. At the same time we received a renewal form for HB and due to us leaving I did not renew, thinking we wouldnt require it and it would be cancelled. Within a couple of months the council had sent a letter saying we now owed over £4500 in HB (because the renewal form had not been returned). i tried to explain the situation (ie thinking the claim would be cancelled - something i planned to do but they would not listen.) how do i go about rectifying this? thanks in advance for any help offered!

hi everyone after a bit of advice, i started work in october 2013 and applied for housing benefit got turned down as they had the wrong information about me i sent in my wage slips for the first couple of months and was then awarded 2.50 a week, in april i got my p60 saying i had earner around 5000 since october and again since april i have earned the same again i have really been struggling to keep up with payment of my council tax because i had spent 300 on rent from the 650 i have had in wages some months. every benefits checker i have done online is saying with my earnings being around 10000 a year i should of been getting 25 a week, is there anyway i can appeal this disission and have it looked into again. i know you can only appeal for upto one month but surely as i could not of know and still dont know exactly how much i should of been recieving, they should look into this again instead of basing it on my first three payslips which was during the peak period so i was doing more hours anyway.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum/area. Admin - please move if appropriate. OK, will try and be brief: I live at home with my parents, we have a2 bed property and a joint tenancy (my signature and my parents signature are on the agreement) I get HB and ESA (previously JSA) and my Mother and Father between them get HB, Disability (higher for Father middle for Mother and carers allowance), pension and pension credit. Our HB is paid monthly for the cost of the rent (50% Father and 50% myself) and I transfer my money to Father who pays rent from his account. As we are joint tenants (1 room each) we get the 50% of actual rent each. If we were to move house would we still be entitled to (in the same area) the 50% each as long as we do a joint tenancy? Also, at the moment our rent is £700pcm so we get £350pcm each - of we found somewhere nicer at say £800pcm would we get the £400pcm as long as it remained within the allowance for the council? I think the single rate in my council is around £444pcm so in effect would it be feasible to look for somewhere at £888pcm (we are not but want to maybe go a bit higher at say £800pcm) or would the council see it as 'no need to move if not given notice' or 'why should we pay more when you should be decreasing value not increasing' or would itbe exercising our right to fall in the allowance guidelines whatever we choose to do? A bit confusing but a few issues with landlord and agreement is up mid December so if possible want to look at options. Many thanks

Hi all. I'm hoping to get some advice housing benefit. My HB has been suspended for awhile (they asked for further info - which I've submitted), due to a change in circumstances (changes in income & work). The landlord (a housing assoc.) are now sending letters demanding payment, which I cannot afford. It won't be long until they start proceedings for eviction. Is there anything I can ask the local council in order to get the HB reinstated? Is there an emergency fund for this sort of scenario? I just need to keep the landlord off my back. The council are dragging their heels in sorting this out, whilst the LL is breathing down my neck! Thanks.