Universal Credit Housing Costs

Verity123

Please, please, help, we are at our absolute wits end!

We are now 5 weeks into our managed migration with no money and this has just been posted to our journals! Without exageration we will be homeless within 3 months if we cannot resolve this and we have absolutely no idea what they are talking about!!

"We are unable to verify your Housing costs as you have not reported the correct date as do not match the Tenancy agreements we need the original tenancy agreement along with rent increase notification section 13 or headed letter from the landlord and incorrect rent amount this is £(deleted) not the £(deleted) with the rent arrears please re report when you have the correct information and re-supply the requested evidence we can't except an e mail from the landlord.  This needs to includes fully signed Tenancy agreement and if rent increase this needs to be section 13 or a signed headed letter from landlord along with original tenancy agreement and evidence of  proof of address this needs to be either utility bill (gas electric water ) council tax bill or bank statement and all needs to be dated  with in the last three months.current driving licence bank, building society or credit union statement dated within the last 3 months HMRC self-assessment letters or tax demand dated within the current financial year. When you have the evidence, please report a change to where you live and what it costs in your account and upload the evidence through the to do that will generate in your to do list. We do not retain any of the evidence you previously uploaded and therefore you will need to upload all of this again."

Verity123

We are unable to verify your Housing costs as you have not reported the 
correct date as do not match the Tenancy agreements we need the original 
tenancy agreement along with rent increase notification section 13 or 
headed letter from the landlord and incorrect rent amount this is £1125 
not the £1200 with the rent arrears please re report when you have the 
correct information and re  supply the requested evidence we can't except 
an e mail from the land lord.  - This needs to includes fully signed 
Tenancy agreement and if rent increase this needs to be section 13 or a 
signed headed letter from landlord along with original tenancy agreement 
and evidence of  proof of address this needs to be either utility bill 
(gas electric water ) ,council tax bill or bank statement and all needs 
to be dated  with in the last three months.current driving licence bank, 
building society or credit union statement dated within the last 3 
months HMRC self-assessment letters or tax demand dated within the 
current financial yearWhen you have the evidence, please report a change 
to where you live and what it costs in your account and upload the 
evidence through the to do that will generate in your to do list. 
We do not retain any of the evidence you previously uploaded and 
therefore you will need to upload all of this again.

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

Does your current rent amount include paying arrears due to previous missed rent payments? If so, UC will only cover your actual rent amount, not the arrears as well.

Can you provide UC with an original tenancy agreement? And a rent increase letter if the rent has gone up since you started the tenancy?

That is what they are asking for. Though I can't say whether they are correct to ask for it from the information we have so far.

Verity123

Thank you so much for replying, I'm in tears at the moment with the stress!!

They have the original, which includes the overdue rent, so is it best to ask the landlord to totally re-write it without the overdue rent and date it from the original (12 June 2024), or will this be an issue with the UC, will it have to be dated from now, which could then be an issue with the landlord, as it's a 12 month tenancy June 2024 to June 2025!

Oh gosh, I haven't got a good feeling about this!!

Jimm_Alumni

Does your landlord rent through a letting agency or do you deal with them directly @Verity123?

I would perhaps suggest reaching out to your local Citizen's Advice if you'd like to discuss this with someone in-person: Find your local Citizens Advice - Citizens Advice

Verity123

Hi Jimm, we deal with landlord and the contract is all handwritten!

We tried CA, unfortunately the more we explained the situation the more they seemed to just want to get rid of us with a standard " go and talk to your case worker" which is fine if you can get hold of them!

OverlyAnxious

Sadly this is an unusual situation. I'm not sure which date would be best myself and wouldn't want to give the wrong advice.

I wonder if it's possible to split the actual rent and rent arrears completely as two different payments with two different forms? That way UC would be happy as one form would just be for rent. And the landlord would be happy as you'll be still paying the overdue rent as well, just in a separate payment.

Hopefully UC will be able to suggest the best option if you can ever get through to them!

Jimm_Alumni

You may want to consider going to your local Citizen's Advice as I linked earlier and getting more indepth support from a trained Benefits Adviser. They will know what documents are needed or best to get, they can detail exactly what your landlord needs to create for your application and housing amount to be accepted.