Dear all; client had a court order for £5.00 deductions to be made from her HB towards rent arrears. After the court case, client’s l/lord (housing association) realised that they incorrectly calculated the arrears; in fact they were larger. So they hiked up the deductions. Can they do that? Don’t they have to go back to court? My client is KO’d by this deductions and I am not a very experienced adviser. She is a single mum, in receipt of Student Loan.

Sorry - not really getting this. Deductions from HB for rent arrears? I was not aware that such a thing was legally possible and it seems utterly self-defeating, given that HB is paid to cover rent liability in the first place. Are you sure about the facts here?

there are many threads in this case, but it seems like they are deducting from HB for rent arrears. The court order says £5.00pw towards the arrears, client's HB should be £53pw but she is getting £42pw. We asked for more info, but it's like throwing a stone in a deep, dark well. On top of it, client is being pursued for CT for the time when she lived abroad in early nineties. Anyway, these deductions- I know that I may not have the full story but can the amount of deductions- be it for o/payment or arrears- be decided willy nilly, even if the court settles the amount for £5.00?

Unfortunately, the info given for this query doesn't appear to be enough to properly assist. I'd be astonished if a court order was granted to pay rent arrears by way of deductions from HB for the reason given in Andy Richards' post.

I could understand it if there was an O/P for HB and the LA was pursuing recovery by way of making deductions from ongoing HB (this *seems* possible - I noticed the difference is £11.00 which is almost equivalent to the standard deduction in fraud cases), but the amount of deductions in these circumstances would rarely be set by a court.

If you can provide full details, it may be possible to offer much more relevant advice.

Regards
Kevin D

Thank you for your contributions. I am afraid I may have to come back to this thread and revive it after I receive more info from the LA. Unfortunately, the local welfare specialists are swamped and the client is kind of stuck with me. Luckily, I know about this discussion forum.

Deductions can be made from certain benefits and paid to a landlord to recover rent arrears. Usually the deductions (a maximum of £2.80 per week!) are made from JSA or Income Support.

I have never before heard of deductions being made from HB to recover rent arrears. It would be pretty pointless as Andy has pointed out and I do not think it can be done.

What is more likely is that the HBO has overpaid your client and they are making deductions from your client's ongoing benefit to recover the overpayment. There is no reason why they should not do this, because the possession order has nothing to do with the HBO or its contract with your client.

The terms of a suspended possession order are usually expressed as '£5 per week (or whatever is the agreed amount) in addition to current rent'. This means that if a tenant is not getting full HB, they must make up the shortfall as well as making the required payment towards the arrears. If they do not do this they will be in breech of the order and will lose their security of tenure.

Therefore, in order to comply with the terms of the suspended possession order, your client must pay to their landlord:

- £5 per week towards the arrears; and
- £5 per week to make up the shortfall between her HB and the rent due

This means that she must pay £10 per week to avoid eviction.

If her HB entitlement should further reduce or cease altogether she will need to pay more.

If as a result of the HBO's deductions from her HB she is struggling to pay her rent she can either:

- Ask the HBO to reduce the amount they are deducting (although it sounds like they might have done this already - they could take up to £8.40 per week if they wanted to); or
- go back to court and ask them to vary the terms of the suspended order to a lower repayment amount (£2.80 is the minimum acceptable in most cases).

I hope this helps...

Carol

Sorry,

I misread the bit where you said what the HB deduction was (I thought it was £5!).

Carol

I am so exasperated because my client, as a lone, not working parent, has long been eligible for full HB- so where the overpayment is coming from? As it has been said, too little info, have to chase LA for explanation. Digressing slightly; Gordon Brown says more frontline staff will be available- I'd rather go for quality then quantity. So I don't have clients with eyes bulging with frustration. Anyway, thank you all.

You may also want to check out the CT details as the LA might be time barred from recovery under The Limitation Act 1980.

Regards
Paul