Rent allowance ADVICE NEEDED!

AineRua

Hi there. I applied to Dublin local authority for housing support as part of my rent allowance application over 6 weeks ago and have had no reply yet. Is this the norm? In order for my application to be processed I need this letter to prove I have a housing need. I have been paying my rent out of my social welfare and it is stretching me to the max and is becoming almost unmanageable. If there is anyone that can advise me, it would be much appreciated. As far as I understand I cannot go to my CWO as the system is now centralized...? I live in Dublin 3. By the way my only issue here is not that I actually do have a housing need (I am renting a lovely house share) I just badly need rent allowance support...thanks in advance. If there is a loophole that anyone can share, please pass on!! :rolleyes:

Kristopherus

When you say " house-share", what exactly do you mean? Is it the family home?

AineRua

No, I share a house with 2 people. It is a rented house, not family..I am single with no children...

Kristopherus

AineRua wrote: »

No, I share a house with 2 people. It is a rented house, not family..I am single with no children...

In that case you'll have to get on the local L.A. housing list and be on that for at least 6 months before qualifying for R.A. So no good news in the short-term, I'm afraid. Also if the others in the house with you are working, it will count against you.

AineRua

I thought that once the housing unit deem me a suitable candidate for a housing need that this would negate the 6 month requirement? So so much unnecessary hoops...one of my housemates works, yes. Didn't know this would go against me. Hmm..thanks for your help though

irishbrain

Kristopherus wrote: »

In that case you'll have to get on the local L.A. housing list and be on that for at least 6 months before qualifying for R.A. So no good news in the short-term, I'm afraid. Also if the others in the house with you are working, it will count against you.

This is incorrect. You are right AineRua. Once you are assessed as in need of housing you can apply for rent supplement. There is no need to wait any period of time other than the wait to be assessed.

Contact the office.

AineRua

Thanks very much irishbrain-I think I may need to chase them next week. Seems like an excessive amount of time to wait to be assessed..understand there are cutbacks but in the meantime am scraping by every month to make the rent. Anyway, here's hoping for a good result soon!

nedden

Hi Aine,

I recommended that you in person to Dublin City Offices on Wood Quay and they will process your application while you wait and issue you the letter there and then. was in the same boat myself recently and was a nightmare. Let me know if you need any more advice

AineRua

Thanks nedden-I am going in this morning to hopefully move things along. Cheers for your support-will let ya know how I get on

gline

AineRua wrote: »

Thanks nedden-I am going in this morning to hopefully move things along. Cheers for your support-will let ya know how I get on

How did you get on, going into the office?

AineRua

Hey Gline-I went in there and asked for a letter-got one straight away (I should have gone in earlier!) and within a fortnight-my rent allowance was through so it all worked out great in the end! It's a pity things can't happen more smoothly in this country but lesson learnt-won't make same mistake twice!

gline

AineRua wrote: »

Hey Gline-I went in there and asked for a letter-got one straight away (I should have gone in earlier!) and within a fortnight-my rent allowance was through so it all worked out great in the end! It's a pity things can't happen more smoothly in this country but lesson learnt-won't make same mistake twice!

Thanks for getting back to me. How long in total did it take once you had posted off everything?

AineRua

No problem-I think my first payment came through about a week later so it was really fast. I did have to send a proof of ownership letter too from my landlady but there was no problem there. Good luck with your application, hope there are no hitches!

gline

AineRua wrote: »

No problem-I think my first payment came through about a week later so it was really fast. I did have to send a proof of ownership letter too from my landlady but there was no problem there. Good luck with your application, hope there are no hitches!

Thanks for the info, Ive sent in ALL forms on Monday, just trying to get an idea of wait times so I can plan a budget etc, you know yourself Glad you got it all sorted in the end.

trishawisha

Hey, IV also applied but have been unable to get proper documents from LL, he gave us insurance details for land and out buildings from last year. We live in a small house on a farm.
Is there anything else we can do? Really like house and its first time applying, just received letter from council that we are in need of housing.
Don't want to move

gline

trishawisha wrote: »

Hey, IV also applied but have been unable to get proper documents from LL, he gave us insurance details for land and out buildings from last year. We live in a small house on a farm.
Is there anything else we can do? Really like house and its first time applying, just received letter from council that we are in need of housing.
Don't want to move

Have they refused your application when you handed in the insurence document? It might be enough. I couldnt get the correct form either from my LL, he just gave me a copy of a house tax form, though that is not what the HSE ask for for proof of ownership, I'm hoping it is enough though, sent it in along with everything else, just waiting to hear back from them.

trishawisha

gline wrote: »

Have they refused your application when you handed in the insurence document? It might be enough. I couldnt get the correct form either from my LL, he just gave me a copy of a house tax form, though that is not what the HSE ask for for proof of ownership, I'm hoping it is enough though, sent it in along with everything else, just waiting to hear back from them.

The CWO just refused to take the insurance because the house wasn't even listed, just the farm, so I said we would try and get correct doc's. All the rest of our docs are in our file in CWO office. This is going on since April!

You could be ok if they took the tax thing, fingers crossed for you.

gline

trishawisha wrote: »

The CWO just refused to take the insurance because the house wasn't even listed, just the farm, so I said we would try and get correct doc's. All the rest of our docs are in our file in CWO office. This is going on since April!

You could be ok if they took the tax thing, fingers crossed for you.

Because Im in Dublin I had to send them to the central rent unit instead of dealing with a CWO, so they might not accept it, I havent heard anything from them yet so fingers crossed. I dont see why a house tax form shouldnt be enough, it is sent to the owner of the property and has his name and address on it and a property ID. As for the insurence form, if it doesnt mention the building you are living in, it makes sense for them not to accept, though the whole rent allowance application is a bit of a joke. A tenant asking for proof of landlords ownership and then passing this on to the HSE is a bit crazy, they should request this off the landlord themselves and deal privitely with the LL for the info they need from him/her, instead of the applicant being piggy in the middle.

trishawisha

gline wrote: »

Because Im in Dublin I had to send them to the central rent unit instead of dealing with a CWO, so they might not accept it, I havent heard anything from them yet so fingers crossed. I dont see why a house tax form shouldnt be enough, it is sent to the owner of the property and has his name and address on it and a property ID. As for the insurence form, if it doesnt mention the building you are living in, it makes sense for them not to accept, though the whole rent allowance application is a bit of a joke. A tenant asking for proof of landlords ownership and then passing this on to the HSE is a bit crazy, they should request this off the landlord themselves and deal privitely with the LL for the info they need from him/her, instead of the applicant being piggy in the middle.

I knew they wouldn't accept it really, there has been no household charge or property tax forms delivered here (we've lived here nearly two years) so we can't try that. Our LL is a part time farmer/excavater/has multiple houses around county. I reckon he does not want this house declared for tax purposes, so we probably wont get anywhere with him
I did think insurance for the house was something a LL had to have though.
Hopefully as it is the central unit if there is a problem it'll slip through the cracks

gline

trishawisha wrote: »

I knew they wouldn't accept it really, there has been no household charge or property tax forms delivered here (we've lived here nearly two years) so we can't try that. Our LL is a part time farmer/excavater/has multiple houses around county. I reckon he does not want this house declared for tax purposes, so we probably wont get anywhere with him
I did think insurance for the house was something a LL had to have though.
Hopefully as it is the central unit if there is a problem it'll slip through the cracks

If he doesnt want his house declared for tax reasons then I dont think he would have given you anything for the rent allowance, I think sometimes LL's just dont know the whole process and when they find out what is required, they arent bothered to pursue it any further. Did he sign the RA form where it asks for his tax number? Im not sure about LL's having insurence but I would have thought so.

I dont know about slipping through the cracks haha , I dont think anyone does, but I have been getting RA since 2009, but had to move a month ago due to owners selling. The HSE said I had to put a whole new application in, which is crazy as they have already deemed me in need of RA and that hasnt changed other than the place I live.

trishawisha

gline wrote: »

If he doesnt want his house declared for tax reasons then I dont think he would have given you anything for the rent allowance, I think sometimes LL's just dont know the whole process and when they find out what is required, they arent bothered to pursue it any further. Did he sign the RA form where it asks for his tax number? Im not sure about LL's having insurence but I would have thought so.

I dont know about slipping through the cracks haha , I dont think anyone does, but I have been getting RA since 2009, but had to move a month ago due to owners selling. The HSE said I had to put a whole new application in, which is crazy as they have already deemed me in need of RA and that hasnt changed other than the place I live.

That is crazy for you, why can't it all run smoothly and automatically? Hope you get sorted soon.
He did do everything else-signed and pps. I'm just so frustrated that he can't or wont supply us with what we need. I was even thinking of offering to pay the fee for him to register us for PRTB and then I copped on cos we're really struggling!

gline

trishawisha wrote: »

That is crazy for you, why can't it all run smoothly and automatically? Hope you get sorted soon.
He did do everything else-signed and pps. I'm just so frustrated that he can't or wont supply us with what we need. I was even thinking of offering to pay the fee for him to register us for PRTB and then I copped on cos we're really struggling!

If he gave you his PPS no. then he has already given you the "dodgy" bit if he was hiding anything. Thats a strange one. Whats your next move then? Is he definitly not gonna play ball?

trishawisha

I have no idea what to do next. Everytime I ask him I feel like I'm annoying him and he says he will try to fins something.
I think we will have to struggle on if we want to continue to live here. Don't think there is a solution besides moving
Thanks for letting me vent!

gline

trishawisha wrote: »

I have no idea what to do next. Everytime I ask him I feel like I'm annoying him and he says he will try to fins something.
I think we will have to struggle on if we want to continue to live here. Don't think there is a solution besides moving
Thanks for letting me vent!

Thats a shame. Some LL's can be awkward, its weird that he signed everything else though. Hope everything works out in the end for you, you never know, you might find a better place to live