Contents

Introduction

The Housing Advice Unit at Waltham Forest Housing Services gives free advice on housing matters to all residents within the borough.

If you are experiencing problems you should get advice. You can do this by contacting the Housing Advice Unit, Citizens Advice Bureau or a solicitor specialising in housing.

When you seek advice, you should take any documentation that is relevant to your case. For example, your original tenancy agreement, court papers, correspondence from your landlord, housing benefit, or solicitor. Even if you do not have any papers, you should still get advice.

When reading this information, it is important to remember that the laws concerning housing and welfare rights are very complicated. The information here cannot explain everything; it is intended to provide a guide to enable you to exercise your rights.

Before you move into rented accommodation, you will have agreed with your landlord how much your rent is and whether you will pay the rent weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly. Details of your rent should be contained in a written agreement if you have one. If you do not have one, then the rent you agreed at the start of the tenancy with your landlord is the rent you legally have to pay.

Rights on rent

There are rules on how much rent your landlord can charge and how and when it can be increased. The rent you pay and what you can do if your rent goes up will depend on the type of tenancy or license agreement you have. If you want to know what your security of tenure is, seek advice from the Housing Advice Unit.

Can I have a rent book?

By law a landlord has to provide a rent book to somebody who pays rent weekly, unless the rent includes a substantial payment for meals.

The rent book must contain:

  • The name and address of the landlord and the landlord's agent if there is one
  • The amount of rent to be paid
  • Description of the property for rent

If you pay rent weekly and your landlord fails to provide you with a rent book or the required information, they have committed an offence and in some cases may be prosecuted by the Council. If you ask your landlord for a rent book with this information but they do not give it to you, you should contact the Tenancy Relations Service by telephone on 020 8496 3000.

If you do not pay rent weekly you are not entitled to a rent book. However, you should make sure you get receipts for your rent, or pay by cheque or standing order to prove you have paid.

If the landlord refuses to take your rent

You should seek advice urgently, because your landlord may try to evict you for non-payment of rent. You should put the rent in a separate account and tell the landlord in writing that you will give it to them as soon as they will accept it - keep a copy of the letter.

If you are claiming Housing Benefit, you could write to the Housing Benefit Section explaining the problems you are having and ask them to keep the money aside until your landlord asks for it.

You should copy any letters that you write, and keep them safe because you may need to show them at court.

Rent and disrepair

You should never stop paying rent because of repair problems unless you are advised to by a specialist solicitor or an advice agency who is acting on your behalf.

If your landlord starts possession proceedings because you have rent arrears, sometimes you may be able to put in a counter claim because of the disrepair.

If you would like to know more about your rights about getting repairs done, read our leaflet, 'Repair Problems in Private Rented Accommodation'.

Other tenant's rent

If you have a joint tenancy (where more than one person shares a tenancy), and the other people move out, unless the agreement states otherwise, you will have to pay their part of the rent as well as your own. You may be able to negotiate with your landlord to find somebody else to move in to the property so that you do not have to pay the extra rent yourself.

As soon as you know that your joint tenant intends to move out, you should get advice.

Pressure from your landlord

If your landlord is putting pressure on you because you owe rent, you should never ignore it.

You should:

  • Get advice by calling 020 8496 3000 and asking for the Housing Advice Unit.
  • If you are waiting to receive housing benefit you should find out what is happening with your claim and ask what extra information, if any, is needed. If your landlord has given you a 'Notice Requiring Possession' or a summons, bring this into the Housing Advice Unit and we will seek to fast track your housing benefit claim in order to prevent homelessness.
  • If you receive a summons to go to court, or your landlord is harassing you or threatening to evict you, contact the Housing Advice Unit at once.

If you do not pay your rent on time or you fall into arrears, you could risk losing your home because your landlord can take legal action against you.

What is housing benefit?

The purpose of housing benefit is to help people on low incomes to pay their rent. Housing benefit is a means tested benefit, which means that the amount of benefit you get depends on your income.

Housing benefit - who can claim

You can claim housing benefit if you are working or unemployed but it is usually only people on a low income or getting some form of state benefit who qualify.

Even if you are on a low income you will only be entitled to housing benefit provided you do not have capital or savings over a certain amount. If you are not sure if you earn too much, or have too much in savings to qualify you should claim anyway.

Most students and some people from abroad are not eligible to claim housing benefit, but you should seek advice first because each case is different.

People under 25

Housing benefit for people under the age of 25 and living in private rented accommodation is generally restricted to the 'market' rent of a single room, with shared use of kitchen and bathroom. This housing benefit restriction is known as the Single Room Rent. In effect, if you are single and under 25 years old and find private, self contained accommodation, housing benefit may not cover all the rent you have to pay. This means that you will have to pay any rent housing benefit do not give you out of your own income.

How do I apply for housing benefit

If you want to claim housing benefit you should get an application form from the finance department at:

221 Hoe Street
Walthamstow  E17

At the same time you can complete a 'Pre-Tenancy Determination Form',  which will give you some indication of the most that Housing Benefit will pay for a particular property. You should remember that you may not get as much as the 'Pre-Tenancy Determination' says if, for instance, you are working.

People claiming Income Support, or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, claim housing benefit on a form called an NHBI which is inside the Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance claim pack.

To make sure your housing benefit application is processed accurately and quickly you need to provide the housing benefit office with all the relevant information they require such as:

  • Your tenancy agreement (if you have one), rent book, letter from your landlord with details of your home and rent
  • Proof of income e.g. payslips, bank statements. If you are receiving benefit, Housing Benefit will want to see your benefit book, giro, certificate from the DSS
  • Completed Housing Benefit / Council Tax Benefit form

Not enough housing benefit

Once your housing benefit application has been accessed, you will receive a letter from the Housing Benefit Office explaining how your claim has been calculated. Because every housing benefit application is assessed individually, there are many reasons why the housing benefit office may not meet the full cost of your rent. Some examples are:

  • Single room rent applies
  • Your income is above the level where you qualify for benefit to meet your full rent
  • The Council (advised by the Rent Office Service) have decided that your landlord is charging you more rent than your accommodation is worth compared with similar properties in the area
  • Your accommodation is too large for your needs
  • Your rent includes payment for gas and electricity or other charges that housing benefit will not cover
  • You have adults (other than your partner) in your household. These people may have to make a 'non-dependant's contribution' towards the rent
  • You made your claim for benefit late, without good reason for the delay
  • Your rent is higher than the average for properties of the same size in the same area.

Housing benefit appeals

If you disagree with a decision about your housing benefit you have the right to appeal but there are time limits. You should put any appeal in writing, and keep copies of your letters.

Before you make an appeal you should ask the Housing Benefit Office to give you written reasons for their decision.

If you are still not satisfied with their decision you can ask for an:

  • 'Internal review' by Benefits staff
  • Independent 'Review Board' hearing where local Councillors, not Benefits staff, make the decision

You are not likely to win your appeal unless you understand the reasons for the original decision and say clearly why you disagree. It is best to get help from an advice agency with housing benefit appeals.

Leaflets online

The above leaflets are all available free of charge, by downloading from this web site, by post or in person from our office.

The text for this web page has been adapted from the Rent and Housing Benefit Problems leaflet.

Click here to download Rent and housing benefit problems leaflet

Click here to download the Rent and Housing Benefit Problems leaflet as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file (1.65MB).

Contact us

Housing Services

Cedar Wood House
2d Fulbourne Road
Walthamstow  E17 4GG  (map)

Tel 020 8496 3000
Fax 020 8496 5431
Email housing.advice@walthamforest.gov.uk

Our office is located on Fulbourne Road.

Open to personal callers: Monday-Thursday, 9am-4.30pm; Fridays 10am-4.30pm

Telephone enquiries: 020 8496 5575, Monday-Thursday 9am-5.15pm; Friday 9am-5pm