Has anyone come across this before – any advice/comments would be appreciated.
ALMO who deal with the tenancies for Council Properties have recently questionned the ‘furniture charge’ paid by HB.
They have a furnished tenancy scheme that requires the tenant to have a furnished tenancy for the duration of the tenancy. The tenant cannot opt out of the furniture charge. It was mentioned that this may discourage the tenant to stop claiming HB. They may struggle to pay the rent and the furniture charge if they started work for example….
The ALMO cannot let the tenant opt out of the furniture charge after a period (but still remain in the property) as the furniture charge would not be an eligible service from the outset – there is an intention that the furniture may become part of the claimants personal possessions.
They are now suggesting to do a variation to these tenancies to remove the furniture charge after a certain period (approx 5 years). At this time they would either remove the furniture themselves or ask the tenant to dispose of the furniture (very possible the tenant could just keep the furniture anyway).
If they introduced this variation after 5 years would the furniture charge be covered by HB from the outset? 😕
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