Housing Benefit question

cheekykid

Assuming I have a tenant who pays me monthly without problems, whose references were good and I had reasons to believe that he won't at any point be unable to pay his rent. Suppose he loses his job and for x reasons his asks for housing benefit and gets it.

After the council seeing the original rent contract(its what they ask as far as i know) are they going to call the landlord(me in this case) to check up if the housing benefit tenant indeed lives there, to make me aware of how he will be paying me in the future etc.?
Is the council going to let me know? as i care to know who pays me and how and am not sure i would be 100% comfortable with the knowledge that I have a pennyless council tenant since i've heard stories of councils stopping the payments to them or they give them the money and they spend it elsewhere.

Thanks

cheekykid

Firewallrob wrote: »

The tenant has the option to let you know or not on the application form.

He/she may elect to pay yoyu directly in some cases.

I'm pretty sure that if they tick no, that you cannot find out yourself.

Are you saying that if I don't get paid directly by the council I can't find out myself?
I have seen the form in question and I don't remember any section that asks the tenant if he wants to disclose to the LR that he receives benefits. There is only a section asking if you want the money directly paid to you or to the LR.
The council upon receipt of the contract from the tenant requesting benefits shouldn't they let me know about it ? It seems innpropriate isn't it?

bunny999

cheekykid wrote: »

Assuming I have a tenant who pays me monthly without problems, whose references were good and I had reasons to believe that he won't at any point be unable to pay his rent. Suppose he loses his job and for x reasons his asks for housing benefit and gets it.

After the council seeing the original rent contract(its what they ask as far as i know) are they going to call the landlord(me in this case) to check up if the housing benefit tenant indeed lives there, to make me aware of how he will be paying me in the future etc.?
Is the council going to let me know? as i care to know who pays me and how and am not sure i would be 100% comfortable with the knowledge that I have a pennyless council tenant since i've heard stories of councils stopping the payments to them or they give them the money and they spend it elsewhere.

Thanks

The council won't let you know. The tenant will still be a private tenant not a council tenant. It often takes ages for HB to be sorted and paid. There is nothing to stop the tenant keeping the money and not payong the rent. To get the tenant evicted takes ages, you have to take them to court. A friend of mine let a flat to a HB tenant , they didn't pay the rent,(they lied saying they were still waiting for HB) disappeared with half the furniture. and trashed the flat. Buy to let is not always the easy money that people think.

cheekykid

bunny999 wrote: »

The council won't let you know. The tenant will still be a private tenant not a council tenant. It often takes ages for HB to be sorted and paid. There is nothing to stop the tenant keeping the money and not payong the rent. To get the tenant evicted takes ages, you have to take them to court. A friend of mine let a flat to a HB tenant , they didn't pay the rent,(they lied saying they were still waiting for HB) disappeared with half the furniture. and trashed the flat. Buy to let is not always the easy money that people think.

The council would accept a contract just like that:huh: and start paying money to him without even phoning me to confirm that he lives where he says he lives etc.?

All seem too fallible to me

bunny999

It certainly is.

fluffymovie

Under the Data Protection Act, we are not able to contact a landlord without permission from the tenant unless we suspect an offence is being committed.

There are ways to check ownership of a property and if we had any queries about a tenancy document, there are cross checks that can be made such as asking the tenant to get proof from the landlord that the agreement is current, checking Land Reg, contacting other bodies to see if the claimant is giving them the same address, sending post in a Do Not Redirect envelope etc.

No system is foolproof but in my 9 years plus in benefits, I have only come across 2 cases where the claimant didn't live at the address, although we do often find out that people have left some time after they have gone!

UnderPressure

Why would this be of concern to you? People circumstances change sometime for the good sometimes for the worst, as long as your rent is paid on time and you property is well cared why should any of this bother you really?

If the rent stops being paid at any stage you are looking at a few hundred pounds and 2-3 months to gain the property back, you would encounter this with any tenant, if anything I would be glad my tenant was addressing any problems they had to ensure my rent was being paid.

Sorry I just dont understand why this should be an issue to you either way? You have already said they had good references cant you just accept that their circumstances have changed? Does it make them less of a decent person becasue they are now in a position where they need some help paying their rent?

You obviusly live in an ideal world, lets hope you dont find yourself in a similar situation one day with a similar landlord................................

dmg24

cheekykid wrote: »

Is the council going to let me know? as i care to know who pays me and how and am not sure i would be 100% comfortable with the knowledge that I have a pennyless council tenant since i've heard stories of councils stopping the payments to them or they give them the money and they spend it elsewhere.

Thanks

Not everyone on LHA is penniless!

Orville

dmg24 wrote: »

Not everyone on LHA is penniless!

Yes we are not all bad. OP you might want to consider doing what some Estate Agents do and insist that any HB tenant has a guarantour willing to sign to say they would pay should the tennant default.