fleming Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Our local council would not rehouse our tenant until we reached the end of eviction process and arranged bailiff. We were still owed 3wk DSS at the end of the tenancy. After 2 months and numerous letters and phonecalls (most of them a waste of time because of the Data Proection Act) we received the worst example of a standard letter I have ever seen. The only info directly related to our query was that suddenly the DSS seem to have realised they have overpaid the tenant as she ceased to qualify for benefit on 27/2/06 and they want nearly 600 pounds from us as rent went straight to us. I know that legally a landlord is obliged to refund any overpayment but surely they have to substantiate the figure they are claiming? I know the Council doesn't care that their rehousing policy and incompetance with the benefit system will mean that we will be over 1500 pounds out of pocket, but do any of you have any advice where to go from here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleming Posted August 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 Good news. I have found out that amazingly the law re landlords being chased for DSS overpayments has recently changed.Wow! If a landlord is unaware of a tenant's eligibilty for DSS or not (which is more than likely because of the Data Proection Act), it has been decided that it is unacceptable for DSS to automatically chase the landlord for any overpayment made. It is such a recent change (May)that this info has not filtered through to the local Housing Benefit Departments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted August 16, 2006 Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 Good job too fleming. My working knowledge of the DSS system is -1 because I won't have anything to do with them and that is partly because of the case you have just mentioned. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDTWIN Posted August 16, 2006 Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 That is a really usefull bit of info thanks Fleming. Is there a ref No relating to the law that we can quote when dealing with the dss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lparsons1964 Posted August 17, 2006 Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 had recent issue with DSS re overpayment. I wrote to them explaining that as the tenant is responsible for advising them of change in her cirumstances and not me I felt that they should be chasing the tenant for the overpayment. They agreed to do this - however tenant is now taking me to small claims court for it. You just can't win sometimes can you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleming Posted August 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2006 Hi Speedtwin. The changes are contained in Housing Benefit and Council Benefits Circular (HB/CTB A4/2006) which states "13 Regulation 6(3) to (5) amend Regulation 101 of the HB regulations, so that the chief consideration when deciding 'whom to recover from' should be who has misrepresented or failed to disclose information, and in a case of official error the person who could reasonably have been expected to realise that there had been an overpayment." Hope that helps. I know I will enjoy typing my respnse to the Housing Benefit Dept! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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