Landlord Questionnaire - HB Claimant

deary65

copied from lanlordzone has anyone had similar!!

I have rented my property to a HB claimant.

The council have sent me a questionnaire and asked for me to prove that I own the property. I don't really have a problem but it does seem rather intrusive. Am I legally required to answer ALL the questions and to provide proof that I both own the property and pay tax on the rental income? Can I charge for this service?

23 questions, bizarre numbering system as follows!

1. To whom do you look for payment of rent

2. Has your tenant paid any rent to you

3. By what method of payment have you been paid rent - cheque - cash - credit transfer

4. If housing benefit was paid and not all the rentwas met, what would you do about collecting all or any of shortfall

6. What action would you take if housing benefit was not paid in full

7. What action would you take if the rent was not paid in full

8. What steps would you take, in what order

9. Would you rent the property to anyone other than the claimaint

10. Have you ever rented the property to anyone other than the claimaint

11. Why did you decide to give the claimant a tenancy

12. How did the claimant find out that you wee renting the property

13. If the claimant was not allowed housing benefitwould you let him stay, if so on what basis

10. Who provided your tenancy agreement

11. Did you advertise your property for rent when you decided that you were going to rent it out

14. Do you have, or have you had any other tenants, if so how much rent did those tenants pay, & did those tenants ever claim HB

15. Have you ever taken action againsta tenant who has not accommodated his rent in full

16. If you have never taken action to recover rent due, why not

17. If the tenant moved out of the home would you take another tenant

25. Was there any negotiation with your tenant about the rent that you were going to charge, as the amount is clearly more than your tenant could afford when the tenancy agreeent was signed

26. If say your tenant was not allowed any housing benefit and you evicted him/her, what would happen with the house

27. How do you record the payments of rent for your tenant and for your own records

28. How was the amount of rent to be charged decided

29. Have you declared your income from rent to the Inland Revenue? If so, can we see proof



Thanks in advanc

healy

I thought you were the top expert on housing benefit and councils, in which case you should already know the answer!

deary65

healy wrote:

I thought you were the top expert on housing benefit and councils, in which case you should already know the answer!

Sorry i have no idea what you are talking about!

Emma_G_3

Hello,

It sounds as if they are just trying to establish that the tenancy is on a commerial basis. The hb regs prevent hb being paid if the teancy is not ona commercial basis. If I were you I'd answer as many of the questions as you feel comfortable with - thay can force you to answer them, it is not a legal requirement, but if you don't answer them though they may decide that the tenancy is not on a comerial basis and refuse to pay hb. Most local authorities will ask these types of questions if there is doubt over the commerciality of the tenancy but this list seems quite extensive. Normally these questions are asked if there is a relationship between the landlord and tenant eg father and son .All they really want to know is that you would let the property to someone else and evict the tenant if they didn't pay their rent. With regards owner hsip questions - by any chnace would council tax hold you as the owner of the property? As all they need to do is cross reference. Hope this helps

real1314

This "copy and paste" from landlordzone was posted on 18/01/07 and was onto it's 2nd page within days.
The matter appears to have been sorted now:-

yesterday at 8.03pm:

"Initially, I chose to ignore the questionnaire and received a second letter threatening to reject my tenant's claim for HB if I failed to respond! Quite what legal basis that was based on I may never know.
I wrote to the Council as suggested and, so far, I have not received a reply but my tenant has been informed that his claim will be met."

I'd concur with the "contrived" tenancy angle, however the questions were hilariously OTT. :rotfl: