Rent Officer?

[malaise]

Today I received a letter informing me that a rent officer would come and view my property to assess how much housing benefit we would be paid. Can I refuse entry? If so, will I still get my benefit? (The reason I am annoyed is that this has been ongoing for about 5 months now and we've been visited 3 times already by different people. I don't see why we have to be visited AGAIN!)

[Ethel]

If you don't co-operate you will get nothing.

Contact CAB for advice, or your MP.

The amount of visits you have had does seem a bit much.

[kevb0444]

Hah your lucky you were pre-warned. I had them turn up at my door with no notice. I was in the bath at the time so i told them it wasn't convenient and the dude got moody and said he'd be back in 10 mins......by the way...if they keep turning up like this, chances are that you've been suspected of co-habiting with some one and they're trying to catch you out. They should only need to assess your rent once a year.

[malaise]

Thanks Kev. I've already had the house assessed for cohabitation, and they've agreed on the verdict. Think this one is to assess the "fair rent" but I don't really know why this would be necessary. The annoying thing is, I'll need to take another day off work to cover the visit.... If I keep on taking days off I'll be fired... So I'll have to claim JSA and HB again as a result. Haha. =-/