Tenants owing rent

Sc4rlett

I am currently renting out 2 rooms to lodgers who are claiming housing benefit.
The tenancy agreement started on 3rd March 2010 and I agreed to wait for the housing benefit payments to start before expecting any rent from them.
After checking with the housing benefits dept they have confirmed that full housing benefit has been agreed and back paid until 3rd March 2010 and the full amout of rent I requested has been paid.
This payment was paid in full by housing benefits over a week ago and the tenants still have not paid the rent to myself.
They have signed a full rental agreement and to date I have not received a penny in rent.
Where do I stand and how can I get them evicted for non payment of rent. And how do I inform the housing benefit department that rent has not been paid to the landlord and therefore the tenants are keeping hold of the money paid fraudulently?
I have rented rooms before to lodgers and have never had a problem until now.

Jowo_2

How much notice is in your lodgers agreement that you have with them? What is the rental period - weekly? monthly?

Are they definately lodgers as you refer to them also as tenants - do you live in the same property as them and share amenities? Hoe much deposit did they give you? did you take up previous landlord references?

Most landlords will not give keys to anyone who doesn't pay the first months rent upfront. Few landlords accept claimants as lodgers - the best lodgers are ones that are studying or in employment so are relatively sorted and out of the property for most of the time.

A local council will switch payments directly to the landlord when the tenants/lodgers are in arrears but since your lodgers have evidentally spent their rent on themselves rather than the rent, you are better off serving them notice so the rent arrears do not continue and find better ones. Phone up the local council - I think the occupants have to be in arrears for 8 weeks before they switch over to paying the landlord directly but hopefully you'd have them out before this happens.
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