Backdating to include a previous tenancy

Hi, I’m scratching my head having read the Zebedee, Ward and Lister bookso am putting this out to see what people think.

my client made a claim for HB on 8th April and asked for a backdate because he had good cause for not claiming earlier   ( serious illness being investigated , multiple stays in hospital whilst the doctors investigated various possible life threatening ilnesses).

The backdate request has been refused as HB say there is no good cause, appeal has been made.

The client belatedly informs me that he had only moved into the property in mid march and prior to that had rented a house elsewhere in the city.

My question is - if you live in one property, can a backdating of Housing Benefit also include a period when a person was living in another house for which they were also liable to pay rent.?

Also would the fact that they were able to move house harm the good cause through ill health argument?

I don’t think it’s fatal that he moved address - as long as both are in the same local authority it would be the same claim for HB, with just a change of circumstances for the change of address.

As you say though, I think it might be harder to establish continual good cause via illness if someone managed to move home. I guess it depends on the nature of the illness and on how much help they had to move

Hi,

Do the tenancies run concurrently? If the tenancies overlap a two homes payment request may need to be made.  In addition, if the customer moved in after his tenancy start date he may have a period of nil entitlement from the tenancy start date to the date he moved in.

Thanks

Allan

Thanks for the replies, The tenancies run concurrently. I have also heard from my client to say that they were called and asked to provide a copy of the tenancy agreement for the previous tenancy and income details for the past period.

Fingers crossed