Tenant with housing benefit

silvercar

lfckerry wrote: »

yes i know having no rent in advance was daft but i was under the daft illusion that i would receive my first payment 2 weeks after she moved in-lesson learnt there!
does anyone know how long interim payments usually take to be dealt with??

I had the council set up payments in 4 weeks.

You are now in the (good) position where the tenant is two months in arrears and you can apply to have the HB paid directly to you. This will mean that the local authority pays you directly from now on, so no risk of the tenant's rent money being side tracked elsewhere.

lfckerry

but surely the being in arrears has to be due to the benefit being paid to the tenant and her not paying me?? shes not had the opportunity to pay me yet though.
that would be great if i can get it sent directly to me though!

BitterAndTwisted

marleyboy wrote: »

In what way would 28 day notice be misleading or inaccurate?

If I stopped paying my rent, I am 99% certain, my landlord would give me a deadline to pay up or vacate. I can guarantee he wont give me a 12 Month notice.

A landlord might threaten the tenant with eviction within 28 days but it could not be enforced during anything like that time-scale. That is why I considered your advice as poor, misleading and inaccurate and should therefore not be relied upon

zzzLazyDaisy

silvercar wrote: »

You are now in the (good) position where the tenant is two months in arrears and you can apply to have the HB paid directly to you. This will mean that the local authority pays you directly from now on, so no risk of the tenant's rent money being side tracked elsewhere.

Just to add that if a landlord applies for the LHA to be paid direct on the basis that the tenant is at least two months in arrears with the rent, the LA MUST suspend payments to the tenant while they investigate and if they are satisfied that the tenant is indeed at least two months in arrears, the LA MUST make direct payments to the LL. There is no discretion, it is a legal requirement (it is worth googling for your local authorities policy on LHA and direct payments, so you have it chapter and verse).

The good thing is that once Direct Payments have kicked in, you will continue to be paid this way, which means, in effect, you will be guaranteed payment of rent (at least up to the level of the LHA payment).

Put your application in writing to the LA, and do it now - if she starts to pay of small amounts and succeeds in bringing the arrears below the magic two months' rent, then you can't apply until the arrears build up again.

silvercar

but surely the being in arrears has to be due to the benefit being paid to the tenant and her not paying me?

Could be that her claim hasn't been processed.

Whatever, you are now in a position to tell the local authority that she owes 2 months rent (which happens the day the second rent is due and the first month not paid). They then have to start paying you direct. Tenant can't really object (and has no right to anyway) as she would be passing the money straight over.

You'll soon find out if she has received any money as it will all come to you if none has yet gone to the tenant.

Trow

I see someone has advised that you get the housing benefit office to pay the rent directly to you.

If you do this you need to be aware that should there be an overpayment of housing benefit, for whatever reason, they will seek to reclaim it from whoever they paid it to.

I know a landlord that had been receiving benefit over a period of time. The claim was recalculated and the landlord got a bill for over £1,000 - they of course are supposed to get this back from the tenant. Who had no money to do this. They agreed terms then the tenant did a runner, leaving the landlord over a grand out of pocket through no fault of his own.

morganslv

Trow wrote: »

I see someone has advised that you get the housing benefit office to pay the rent directly to you.

If you do this you need to be aware that should there be an overpayment of housing benefit, for whatever reason, they will seek to reclaim it from whoever they paid it to.

I know a landlord that had been receiving benefit over a period of time. The claim was recalculated and the landlord got a bill for over £1,000 - they of course are supposed to get this back from the tenant. Who had no money to do this. They agreed terms then the tenant did a runner, leaving the landlord over a grand out of pocket through no fault of his own.

So its better to get the rent to go to the tenant?

Trow

I think it depends on the local authority - but it is something worth checking on.

marleyboy

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

A landlord might threaten the tenant with eviction within 28 days but it could not be enforced during anything like that time-scale. That is why I considered your advice as poor, misleading and inaccurate and should therefore not be relied upon

I have no idea what the time scale is for enforcement, which is why I suggested as a way to nudge the tenant.

28 days notice is what my Landlord could give me to vacate, as my rent is paid a Month in advance INCLUDING my deposit (equivalent to 1 Months rent).

If I did not pay next Months rent on the due date, I have no qualms that my Landlord would give me a 28 day notice to pay up, if I STILL did not pay up 28 days later, the Landlord would be in his rights to serve me with an eviction notice whilst detaining my deposit.

zzzLazyDaisy

marleyboy wrote: »

I have no idea what the time scale is for enforcement, which is why I suggested as a way to nudge the tenant.

That much is obvious. The tenant is still within the fixed period of the AST, which means the LL cannot seek to evict unless the Tenant is at least two months in arrears - not only at the date of the S8 notice, but also at the date of the court hearing (which may be some time later).

If a LL tried to evict the T on giving 28 days notice, as per your advice, s/he could end up with a claim for unlawful eviction.