Rent upfront & HB

honeyD

Hi, just wondering if anyone can help.
How does it work when you go into a private let and they ask for one months rent upfront but you get Housing benefit? Do you generally still need to pay the 1 month upfront or will they wait for the HB to come through. The HB would be paid straight to the LL so not passing tenants hands so no problem of not getting the first month or having the tenant pass it all on.
Just wondering because if they take one month rent upfront, they will get 7 months rent for the 6 months if you see what I mean since tenant would have already paid 1 month and HB would pay 6..
Any help with this is appreciated as I cant faddle it out! :rotfl:

Jowo_2

Typically virtually all landlords require a month's rent in advance, PLUS the deposit (usually equivalent to a month's rent). A tenant needs to stump up the equivalent of two month's rent before getting the key.

Rent is paid to the landlord in advance, not arrears. LHA is paid to the tenant in arrears. The gap between when the rent is due to the landlord and when the Local Housing Allowance is received by the tenant is the tenant's problem to resolve - most landlords will not consent to a tenant moving in before a month's rent and deposit is handed over.

Some local councils offer deposit guarantee schemes to tenants on low income/benefits/housing need.

Under HB, a tenant could direct the payment to the landlord but now all new claims for private rent are processed under LHA, the tenant receives this and cannot direct it to the landlord unless the council believes the tenant is vulnerable and cannot manage their financial affairs. Therefore, rent passing to the landlord is no longer guaranteed. Some landlords no longer rent to claimants now it is riskier for them - there is a perception (don't know if its the reality) that rent arrears have increased since LHA is now paid to the tenant (i.e. they aren't passing it on to pay their rent but spending it on other things).

You obviously are struggling to get to grips with paying rent to the landlord in advance which doesn't mean the landlord accidentally ends up with 7 months payment instead of 6. The fact that the tenant may receive their LHA in different frequencies than when the rent is due also confuses matters, but again, that's the tenants problem to resolve through budgeting.

For example, 6 months tenancy commences on 1st January and ends 30 June. You can see here that there are 6 payments made by the tenant to the landlord in advance - the fact that the LHA might be paid to the tenant in 4 weekly durations in arrears is irrelevant to their legal obligation to pay the landlord as follows.

Tenant pays rent
on/before 1st January to cover Jan rent
on/before 1st February to cover Feb rent
on/before 1st March to cover March rent
on/before 1st April to cover April rent
on/before 1st May to cover May rent
on/before 1st June to cover June rent

honeyD

Thanks Jowo for explaining it. That makes more sense. I thought it could still be paid to the LL if you requested it to be.
Never had to do anything like this before so its good to find out how it works!
Thanks very much