Hap

Xxsuexxo

I'd really appreciate some advice regarding hap . I moved into my house on the 27th of may I paid my own deposit and first month's rent in advance and in my mind my hap would be through for June but unfortunately it wasn't so I had to pay another 800 months rent which left me broke as I'm a single parent with 3 children under 18 I was told that my hap will kick in for July .so my question is will I get back any of the rent I had to pay for may and June and if so who do I contact about it .kind regards . And Tia

Contact your Local Authority.

Graham

Mod Note

OP, I'm moving your post to the State Benefits forum where you may get a few more responses.

The_Conductor

Normally HAP is backdated to when the local authority receive the application- and paid retrospectively in a lumpsum when its finally sorted.
Note: it can take months to sort HAP at the outset- it relies on both the local authority sorting the application- but they may also have a list of items they require from the landlord (such as his/her tax clearance and R2 certificates- which Revenue will try to get people to generate themselves online, but if it doesn't work online- can take 2-3 months to send formal copies in the post to people). All the while, the rent continues to be due to be paid.

The backdated payment is normally made directly to the landlord (and you should note that unlike regular rent- HAP is normally paid in arrears- not in advance)- so in your case, if you have continued to make rent payments (which you are supposed to do)- you would be entitled to a rebate of those payments from the landlord- however, you have to be cognisant of the fact that HAP is paid in arrears, not in advance (your rent is due in advance)- so any rebate would be cognisant of the fact that HAP is an arrears payment.

If you are under financial distress- I would strongly encourage you to contact the local HSE Community Welfare Officer (they can normally assist in cases like this).

Xxsuexxo

The_Conductor wrote: »

Normally HAP is backdated to when the local authority receive the application- and paid retrospectively in a lumpsum when its finally sorted.
Note: it can take months to sort HAP at the outset- it relies on both the local authority sorting the application- but they may also have a list of items they require from the landlord (such as his/her tax clearance and R2 certificates- which Revenue will try to get people to generate themselves online, but if it doesn't work online- can take 2-3 months to send formal copies in the post to people). All the while, the rent continues to be due to be paid.

The backdated payment is normally made directly to the landlord (and you should note that unlike regular rent- HAP is normally paid in arrears- not in advance)- so in your case, if you have continued to make rent payments (which you are supposed to do)- you would be entitled to a rebate of those payments from the landlord- however, you have to be cognisant of the fact that HAP is paid in arrears, not in advance (your rent is due in advance)- so any rebate would be cognisant of the fact that HAP is an arrears payment.

If you are under financial distress- I would strongly encourage you to contact the local HSE Community Welfare Officer (they can normally assist in cases like this).

Thanks so much for the reply really appreciated my hap will call me thoug next
Month so I've no need to contact the community welfare office if I'd have known they would have help with last months I would have contacted them but really no point now .