Moving city whilst claiming housing benefit

[Laucu]

Has anyone ever done this? How does it work?

My DH has recently lost his job and is on JSA, we are waiting for our housing benefit to come through but it should do next week.

As we have no financial ties to London anymore we are exploring options and one of them is to move back to my hometown. Thing is I don't have a clue where to start - would the process go something like this?

1. Find landlord willing to accept HB
2. Pay deposit and month's rent in advance as standard
3. Apply for HB in new area and hope it all gets accepted and in time for next month's rent payment

Is that about right? Seems a bit of a gamble for the landlord, but I guess if we are eligible for HB in our current area we will be eligible anywhere in the country?

 

[pandaspot]

Hi

Yes you are right with the steps you say to claim hb. Check on here for your lha rate in your new area https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx. Then you could look on www.entitledto.com to check what entitlement your entitled to.

You could contact the local authority of the area you are looking to moving to, to see if they run a bond scheme, this will help pay the deposit and first months rent. They may also help you find a landlord.

Just remember that hb is normally paid 4 weeks in arrears.

If the council don't run a bond scheme you could enquire into whether they use their discretionary housing fund to assist in deposit payments as we are now allowed to do TGIF through new legislation. (I am a hb/Ctb assessor)

 

[Laucu]

Thanks for your reply!

I called the local council and they have given me the name of 2 estate agents that deal with landlords that accept HB.

It seems a bit of a gamble but I guess if we are entitled to HB here there is no reason we wouldn't be there.