Housing advice

[nagapie]

A friend of mine used to live with her child in a two bedroom housing association property.
Child has now moved out so she has a spare room. Housing benefit now saying they will not fund £250 of her rent as she has a spare room.
We haven't checked but think it's unlikely the HA will allow her to rent out the room but she can't afford this.

Does she have no choice but to move? She's unlikely to find something affordable as it's London.
If she asks the HA to rehouse her will she have any choice about where she goes? But also she already has some rent arrears so in the past they've refused to move her until they're cleared.

 

[marty21]

She can rent out a room , has to declare it to HB as income so will reduce her HB & other benefits. She can ask the HA to downsize to a one bed flat , they may have a financial incentive (the council I work for pays about £1500 per room downsized.)

She could also look into mutual exchange, basically swap her tenancy with someone in a 1 bed , homeswapper is the main website for this .

She should also be able to apply for a downsizing payment if he swaps .

If she has rent arrears that could be an issue , but she can apply for discretionary HB which can cover the bedroom tax reduction for a limited period. She can get more advice from Shelter or CAB , the HA may have a Welfare Rights department too who can also advise.

The incentive payment can be paid direct to the rent account if there are rent arrears

Most London HAs will be part of the Choice Based Letting system (CBL) so once she registers for a move , she will be able to bid for a property via the Local Authority. The HA may be able to give her a Direct Offer (they need 2 beds for other tenants)

 

[marty21]

PM me if you want , if she lives in my borough , might be able to engineer a swap , I have plenty of tenants who need a 2 bed . And she can swap nationwide if she fancies a change of scene. She should not give up the tenancy , going into private rent would be a world of pain.

 

[nagapie]

PM me if you want , if she lives in my borough , might be able to engineer a swap , I have plenty of tenants who need a 2 bed . And she can swap nationwide if she fancies a change of scene. She should not give up the tenancy , going into private rent would be a world of pain.

Thanks for all that advice.

She's not in your borough.

 

[scooter]

Lodger income is ignored for UC purposes - if she is receiving UC Housing Element rather than HB, which is more likely these days.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

agree with what marty21 says. when it comes to lodgers, generally it's ok - although different councils / HA's will have different policies, so it's worth checking tenancy agreement first. some places it's OK so long as it doesn't cause the place to be (legally) overcrowded, some places you just have to tell them, some places you need to ask permission.

the sort of 'sub-letting' that is (generally) a no-no is where the official tenant moves out and rents the whole place to someone else.

 

[PTK]

A friend of mine has two children and lives in a two-bedroom Housing Association house. She has bid for a three-bedroom house with another Housing Association. She has filled in various bits of paperwork, and the new Housing Association is demanding a photograph of her and a photograph of each of her children before she is allowed to move in. Is it legitimate for a Housing Association to ask for photographs of the children of a potential tenant?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

A friend of mine has two children and lives in a two-bedroom Housing Association house. She has bid for a three-bedroom house with another Housing Association. She has filled in various bits of paperwork, and the new Housing Association is demanding a photograph of her and a photograph of each of her children before she is allowed to move in. Is it legitimate for a Housing Association to ask for photographs of the children of a potential tenant?

sounds odd. not heard of that happening.

would be inclined to ask wtf they want that for.

is there some requirement now for identity checking?

 

[PTK]

A friend is moving from one Housing Association house to another. The two houses are owned by different Housing Associations.

If my friend leaves anything behind in the old property, they will be charged a fee for house clearance by the Housing Association. Is this fee dependant on how much my friend may leave behind?

My Mum was a Council tenant, and we spent a long time clearing everything out, leaving behind only the fitted carpets and a bookcase/bureau that was attached to the wall. We discovered that the Council still demanded the same standard fee we would have been charged if we had left everything.

Do Housing Associations charge a standard fee, or does the fee depend on how much is left behind in the house? Would my friend have to remove everything, including the fitted carpet, to avoid paying a fee? Would it make any difference to the fee how much they left behind in the house? Should my friend go to the trouble of making numerous trips to the tip?​

 

[MrsArcanum]

A friend is moving from one Housing Association house to another. The two houses are owned by different Housing Associations.

If my friend leaves anything behind in the old property, they will be charged a fee for house clearance by the Housing Association. Is this fee dependant on how much my friend may leave behind?

My Mum was a Council tenant, and we spent a long time clearing everything out, leaving behind only the fitted carpets and a bookcase/bureau that was attached to the wall. We discovered that the Council still demanded the same standard fee we would have been charged if we had left everything.

Do Housing Associations charge a standard fee, or does the fee depend on how much is left behind in the house? Would my friend have to remove everything, including the fitted carpet, to avoid paying a fee? Would it make any difference to the fee how much they left behind in the house? Should my friend go to the trouble of making numerous trips to the tip?​

Have a look at the local council website for bulky item removal costs, to see if this is better value than trips to the tip.

It is always better to remove anything you can, and check with the HA they are moving from to see what they charge and why. HAs are on very tight margins so will recharge whatever they can.

 

[xenon]

A friend is moving from one Housing Association house to another. The two houses are owned by different Housing Associations.

If my friend leaves anything behind in the old property, they will be charged a fee for house clearance by the Housing Association. Is this fee dependant on how much my friend may leave behind?

My Mum was a Council tenant, and we spent a long time clearing everything out, leaving behind only the fitted carpets and a bookcase/bureau that was attached to the wall. We discovered that the Council still demanded the same standard fee we would have been charged if we had left everything.

Do Housing Associations charge a standard fee, or does the fee depend on how much is left behind in the house? Would my friend have to remove everything, including the fitted carpet, to avoid paying a fee? Would it make any difference to the fee how much they left behind in the house? Should my friend go to the trouble of making numerous trips to the tip?​

Probably varies between HAs in terms of how strictly they enforce this and what charge applies. I moved out of a HA flat just under 2 years ago and left a washing machine, cooker, old but in working order, thought maybe useful to new tenneant, a sideboard and the carpet. Of course gave the place a thurrugh clean.

I did tell them I'd probably need to leave this stuff when ending my tenancy but was never charged anything in the end.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Probably varies between HAs in terms of how strictly they enforce this and what charge applies. I moved out of a HA flat just under 2 years ago and left a washing machine, cooker, old but in working order, thought maybe useful to new tenneant, a sideboard and the carpet. Of course gave the place a thurrugh clean.

I did tell them I'd probably need to leave this stuff when ending my tenancy but was never charged anything in the end.

i wish there was a better way of doing this.

many people who are new to social housing have got bugger all in terms of furniture and the cost of some sort of carpet and all that is beyond them, so in many cases people would be likely to welcome carpets and so on, or at least to be given the option.

i can see there being arguments about an old carpet if it turns out to be manky or have previous tenant's dog's fleas or something, but common sense seems to be lacking here.

 

[scifisam]

A friend is moving from one Housing Association house to another. The two houses are owned by different Housing Associations.

If my friend leaves anything behind in the old property, they will be charged a fee for house clearance by the Housing Association. Is this fee dependant on how much my friend may leave behind?

My Mum was a Council tenant, and we spent a long time clearing everything out, leaving behind only the fitted carpets and a bookcase/bureau that was attached to the wall. We discovered that the Council still demanded the same standard fee we would have been charged if we had left everything.

Do Housing Associations charge a standard fee, or does the fee depend on how much is left behind in the house? Would my friend have to remove everything, including the fitted carpet, to avoid paying a fee? Would it make any difference to the fee how much they left behind in the house? Should my friend go to the trouble of making numerous trips to the tip?​

I don't think there is a standard answer. My HA didn't charge anything when I left my flat about 8 years ago (to go to another HA flat), but what I left was blinds and very new laminate flooring. I know they removed the blinds and the flooring. It's bare boards underneath - joists only, so no actual flooring - with gaps that go through to the caretaker's basement, so it's freezing without them, and the blinds were custom-made because the windows are a very unusual size. I know they definitely took the blinds down, but hope that they didn't leave the tenants with that shitty bare flooring. And it wouldn't have been reasonable to ask me to remove good-quality flooring.

I was moving for medical reasons, so maybe that's why they didn't charge me. It'd be worth emailing her housing officer to find out what exactly she will be charged and what for.