Untidy tenancies - here we go again

Morning all

I’m sure I saw a thread about this somewhere but I cannot find it.

We have had a few untidy tenancy cases by now and UC have been good at resolving these quickly as of late. But we have one case where UC are refusing to play ball.

I spoke to the UC helpline and added a note to the journal with the relevant info and briefly directing to regs. Claimant is a joint tenant however ex-partner has left the household and is in temporary accommodation of her own.

I received a message to say that the journal response is saying that the claimant must report a change of circumstances declaring that he has a sole tenancy from the beginning of his claim and why he did not report this earlier. I haven’t seen this message yet but it echoes what the helpline staff said on the phone. Has anyone else experienced this? Even if the claimant did as he is asked, which I will not be advising, when we receive the new housing cost verification we would verify it is a joint tenancy anyway.

Any ideas here? I’d like to avoid an MR/appeal. Thanks

Is this the previous thread you were looking for https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/13045

Yes, that is it. Thank you.

DWP supposed to be issuing guidance to UC staff on untidy tenancies in March. As long as the claimant declares they are the sole tenant then it MUST be accepted by DWP and they should not be asking for a new tenancy agreement as one is not required.