Renters who filed Universal Credit claims during lockdown may have to repay thousands of pounds as the DWP is now making extra checks.
The DWP is revisiting claims it approved without its usual verification process, which were rushed through due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to lockdown and an influx of applicants, the DWP suspended face-to-face interviews and its full verification checks, including asking claimants who rent their accommodation for a copy of their tenancy agreement.
Those who have an informal renting arrangement, like people who are not named on the tenancy and pay their rent to a housemate rather than a landlord, could be forced to pay hundreds back.
Read More: Universal Credit payments to drop by £20 from September
One renter, Tina Newman in Essex, told the i newspaper she has had to pay £5,372 back because she does not have a tenancy agreement. Despite providing bank statements that show she paid her rent to a housemate, the DWP refused to accept that as evidence that she was a renter, the landlord was contacted and denied she lived in the house.
Ms Newman says she was not asked for a copy of her tenancy agreement when she first filed her Universal Credit claim after losing her job.
Caseworker Alice Devoy is assisting Ms Newman, who plans to appeal. Ms Devoy says there has been a 100% increase in rent-to-rent sublets during lockdown.
Ms Devoy said: “Refusing to provide housing benefit to those without a tenancy agreement is discriminatory.
“We are concerned that this DWP policy will be particularly harmful for those in unlicensed properties.”
A DWP spokesperson told The Mirror that Ms Newman did not tell them she was sub-letting and had no formal tenancy agreement, which made her ineligible for the housing payments included in her Universal Credit.
They said: "This means that she has been paid money that she was never entitled to, and we are seeking to correct this whilst offering support to ensure that repayments are affordable.
"Ms Newman has now asked us to relook at her case, and we have agreed to do so."
