Migration to UC - Tenancy being Rejected

Hi,

I submitted my Universal Credit claim on 16th April, ahead of the 20th April deadline, and everything seemed fine. I was previously on income-related ESA Support Group and Housing Benefit. I passed the identity checks without issue. A few days later, I was asked to attend an appointment at my local Job Centre. While I struggle with these interactions due to my mental health, I wanted to get it over with.

I brought all required documents, including my current tenancy agreement. However, the staff member rejected the tenancy agreement and my housing element, stating I needed a new one. She mentioned I should have brought the deposit notice from five years ago as well. After speaking with my estate agent, I found out she was wrong – the tenancy agreement only needs to be signed by the agent acting on the landlord’s behalf, not by the company director and secretary as she claimed.

When I tried to explain this to her, she repeated the same thing back in my journal. I’m concerned my UC will be assessed without the housing element, which would make it impossible for me to pay rent. I had previously mentioned my mental health struggles in the journal, but it wasn’t acknowledged.

Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thank you,

Matthew

Hi David,

Thank you so much for your quick reply — I really appreciate it.

I’ve thankfully managed to resolve this now, but I’ll explain how below as I imagine it could be helpful for other members. That said, if you could still provide me with the name of the Area Manager to complain to for future reference, I’d really appreciate it, as I suspect it may come in handy in the future.

I reached out to Citizens Advice (who had helped me initially with the claim), explained what happened, and asked for their advice. I also sent them a copy of my tenancy agreement to check. They confirmed it was all okay and valid and, after discussion with a manager, recommended I try the following options:

• Get a new tenancy agreement signed (even though it’s a very petty reason for the Job Centre to reject it).
• Ask for a letter from the landlord confirming the tenancy and that they’re satisfied with it.
• Message via ‘service issues’ on the online journal to challenge the rejection of a valid tenancy agreement.
• If not accepted, raise a formal complaint through the complaints process.

I posted in my UC journal explaining that Citizens Advice agreed the tenancy agreement was valid and that if it wasn’t accepted, I would file a complaint and copy in my MP (as recommended in the guide).

They replied asking me to upload the tenancy agreement again, along with my council tax bill. Shortly after, it was, thankfully, approved.

I truly hope no one else has to go through something similar, although I suspect many do. If so, I hope this information helps.

Matthew

Hi David,

I realised I didn't include my area - sorry!

North London. Haringey is my local council.

Many thanks again.

Matthew

Hi David,

Yes apologies - from looking recently (I had replied to a message directly) - that option has been removed.

Thank you again. If you get a chance to send the contact details of who to contact in Haringey that would be great but no worries if it's a task.

Best,

Matthew