possible lodger problems

[edg516]

Hi, not sure if this should be here or in the finance section

I have a lodger who has always paid on time but lost his job just before Christmas, he told me straight away and asked if I would accept housing benifits. I have agreed to take housing benifit as long as it does not take too long for the cash to come through.

So far he has been unable to give me any timeframe for the benifits to become active and he has just told me that the benifits office need to see my last 6 weeks of payslips.

Not having accepted housing benifits before can anyone tell me how long it takes for a new benifit application to come through and do they really need to see my payslips as I can not think why they would be interested in my finances ?

Cheers

Ed

[LC926]

surely they must mean HIS last payslips, my opinion is that YOUR finances are absolutely none of their/his business

Just my opinion i don't know any more than you sorry

Edited by LC926 on Tuesday 29th December 18:43

[edg516]

thats what I would have thought as well... I have told him to get it double checked and give me a phone number that I can call to confirm

[Paul 2000]

Having been through this same scenario about a year ago hopefully I can help. Your tenant has to submit his claim together with ALL the documentary information they ask for which includes giving evidence (by way of his bank statement) that he'd been paying his landlord the rent on a regular basis. Whatever information they ask for must be provided or the claim will be delayed or even rejected - which is what happened with us. Our tenant had failed to tell them about an, albeit dormant, bank account, he only mentioned the one he was currently using but somehow they found out he had another one. We got him to appeal, and apologise for his error and fortunately they reconsidered. Also all information has to be supplied within definite dates they give you. Understandably they ask a lot of questions in order to make sure the claim is legitimate. We eventually got paid but it took about 9 months!

Edited by Paul 2000 on Tuesday 29th December 19:15

[ineedagallardo]

Just to cover yourself here I would start the legal procedings to get him removed which normaly takes around three months in case it all goes wrong.

[edg516]

thanks for the info... the time scale is quite a bit different from the info he gave me (he did say it would take a mx of 5 weeks) think I will need to ask a few him a few more questions and to see more documentation.

cheers

Ed

[Wings]

Housing Benefit works by your tenant supplying proof of savings, earnings and outgoings, including the rent he is paying to you. The Housing Benefit may well contact you, the process taking usually about 4 weeks, but being over the Christmas & New Year period expect longer.

Today Housing Benefit is paid directly to the claimant/tenant, for the same to make payment to the Landlord.

[edg516]

Thanks for that.. it ties up with the time frame he said, (it was not sure if he was pulling a fast one when he asked for my pay slips)

Edited by edg516 on Tuesday 29th December 20:22

[Sarah_W]

ineedagallardo said:

Just to cover yourself here I would start the legal procedings to get him removed which normaly takes around three months in case it all goes wrong.

As ma lodger in your main home, I don't think he has the normal rights someone would have under a tenancy. For example, I thought you could kick him out without notice and that te usual rules about registeringthe deposit don't apply either...