Rent Allowance claim rejected, appeal?

holy guacamole

For reasons which I'm struggling to fathom my application for rent allowance has been denied, I moved into a new apartment in January having spent some time at my parents house and before that having rented for a couple of years.

When it became apparent that it was going to be increasingly difficult to find work I decided to apply for rent allowance seeing as it appeared I was entitled to it. I completed all the relevant forms to the officers satisfaction and had a house visit from someone from the Social Welfare and it appeared to all intents and purposes that my claim would be accepted.

However I received a letter today stating that my claim had been rejected on the grounds that 'You could not reasonably have afforded the rent at the commencement of the tenancy', this appears to suggest that they think that because I was able to afford to move in that I should be able to pay the rent by myself.

Obviously I will appeal this decision and I just wondered if anyone has ever been in a similar situation and if so how did you proceed?

MagicMarker

No, it basically means that you COULDN'T afford to move in in the first place, which you couldn't.

Why on earth did you move out of your parents place without a job?

munstergirl

As far as i know you have to be renting at least 6 months, before applying for rent allowance.

holy guacamole

MagicMarker wrote: »

No, it basically means that you COULDN'T afford to move in in the first place, which you couldn't.

Why on earth did you move out of your parents place without a job?

Don't really get on with my stepdad so staying at home wasn't really an option for me, it was a case of me moving out or live in a house with constant tension and the threat of aggro.

holy guacamole

munstergirl wrote: »

As far as i know you have to be renting at least 6 months, before applying for rent allowance.

Yeah they told me that but they said that because I'd rented before in different places that that wouldn't be a problem.

The weirdest thing is that they gave no indication whatsoever that my claim would be rejected until I got the letter this morning.

January

Well if "they" said it wouldn't be a problem as you'd lived in other places before I would appeal it on those grounds and give the person's name that told you it wouldn't be a problem.

holy guacamole

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Well if "they" said it wouldn't be a problem as you'd lived in other places before I would appeal it on those grounds and give the person's name that told you it wouldn't be a problem.

When speaking of 'they' I was referring to the people whom I'd spoken to and met in the community welfare, unfortunately it seems that when applying for something of this nature you can't just deal with one person the whole way through. The thing is all the people I spoke to said that the fact I'd rented before would count towards my six months.

Once I speak to the person who rejected the claim and find out their reason for doing so I'll have a better idea of how to proceed from that point onwards.

January

There's only one community welfare officer for the area you are renting in. If they are off sick/on holidays they'll have someone to cover them. The reason they rejected your claim is because you couldn't afford to move into the accommodation without help in the first place.

When applying for rent allowance there are two conditions to it. The first is the six month clause, if you have been told that living in previous accommodation covers that by several people, I would give their names. The second is you need to have been assessed by a local authority housing scheme. I'd advise you to do that anyway, the waiting list is long and in most areas is based on a points scheme.