As the changes to Support for Mortgage Interest start to impact on local homeowners,  Louise Loughlin, Court Representation Officer with the Preventing Possession Initiative, discusses the difficulties that can be encountered when making an initial application for assistance with housing costs and suggests a possible solution

A concern which has arisen in a number of cases is that SSA/ESA/Pension Credit will only make a final decision on an application for assistance with housing costs when they are in receipt of all information/documentation in a case.

For example, a client may originally have borrowed £50,000 to purchase the property. Over the years, they may have remortgaged several times for home improvements or other uses such as debt consolidation.

In such a case the borrower has to obtain original correspondence and provide a fully vouched for breakdown of all the work they have done with the remortgage funds. Therefore, they have to obtain correspondence from their original solicitor who did the conveyancing work for them. Such correspondence may not be readily available and can take several months to source. In some instances, a client may then have forwarded that onto the SSA only to be told they need further documentation such as receipts etc for work done.

The problem here is two fold. One is the initial delay, and the second is the further request for information

In my view such cases could be dealt with by way of interim decisions, ie on the purchase price of £50,000 as this is rarely disputed and would mean that a lender was receiving some income and thus greatly enhancing the client’s prospects of being able to maintain their home.

Secondly, it would be more efficient if the request for all further information could be made at the outset instead of several requests for information going back and forward causing further delay, and therefore likely to result in increased mortgage arrears, thus making it more difficult for a client to maintain their home.

There is also considerable variation in the way that such claims are dealt with, eg ESA will accept nothing less than full receipts, whereas some local offices will accept completion certificates etc.

If there was a more consistent approach clients could be better advised at the outset thus reducing delays and administrative costs to the SSA as well as maintaining payments to the lender.

We'd be interested to hear if any other practitioners have encountered similar difficulties in applying for SMI and if there are any other possible solutions to this issue.