The council have sent me a questionnaire for hb claim

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

silvercar

I let to a tenant that originally claimed HB, she just send them a copy of the tenancy agreement; no info required from me.

I think the questions are outrageously intrusive, but I guess the quicker you answer them the quicker the claim is processed and the quicker the tenant is in a position to pay you rent.

prudryden

Another reason to steer clear of HB tenants!

Gorgeous_George

silvercar wrote:

...but I guess the quicker you answer them the quicker the claim is processed and the quicker the tenant is in a position to pay you rent.

Surely the Data Protection Act could be cited as a reason not to answer questions that are irrelevant.

Is there a justifiable reason for such an intrusive questionnaire? I think we have far tooo many council staff if they have nothing better to do than hassle landlords with 'pointless' questionnaires.



GG

jonesMUFCforever

Make sure that the claimant is entitled to HB, otherwise when the !!!! hits the fan they will claim it back from you!!

Scooby_Man

prudryden wrote:

Another reason to steer clear of HB tenants!

Thats not quite true in all cases.

Through out the let of my house, I have had a number of tenants: students, professionals, HB etc.

The worst tenant was a HB tenant (the others weren't far off).

However, the best tenant, by far, was also a HB tenant. She really looks after the place and constantly is thankful to me for giving her such a nice place. The council pay me directly (via BACS) so never a problem with payments. With such a big waiting list for council housing, the last thing a HB tenant would want to do is get themselves booted...or be reported for benefit fraud.

Scooby_Man

prudryden wrote:

Another reason to steer clear of HB tenants!

In fact, it is this kind of perception that has led to a massive shortfall of houses for council tenants in my local area.

Gorgeous_George

ejones999 wrote:

Make sure that the claimant is entitled to HB, otherwise when the !!!! hits the fan they will claim it back from you!!

How do you do that?

The HB Officer assesses the claim using the information that the claimant gives them. It's the HBO that approve the claim. As a landlord, I am not in a position to 'make sure the claimant is entitled to HB'. Nor do I want to be.

Or, do you mean that if I hear that the tenant's situation has changed, I need to inform the HBO.



GG

Gorgeous_George

My tenant is a HB claimant.

£60 extra for buildings insurance.

Might have to increase the rent to cover my additional costs



GG

Tiglet

Councils seem to be very careful about paying HB. There has been a lot of fraud in the past and they need to be able to demonstrate that they have proven that the claim is valid before they pay it.

The trouble is that there doesn't seem to be any agreed way to do this. Different councils (and perhaps different people within the same council) will have different methods, some of which may be intrusive, irrelevant, or both.

Many of the questions they are asking are hypothetical. I can't see any reason why they would want to know the answers, or any way they could hold you to whatever answers you give. They certainly don't seem relevant to their liability to pay the HB claim.

As Goerge said, Data Protection is one consideration. It isn't any of their business what you may or may not have put on your tax return but if they can get you to volunteer that information, then they can use it. To the question "Can we have proof?", I think a perfectly good answer would be "No!"

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here is a link to the thread on landlordzone - red40's answer treats the questions with the respect they deserve :rotfl:

jonesMUFCforever

If HB is paid to you as tenant and council then find out about any fraudelent case it is you who WILL have to pay back.
It may be better for your tenant to get money and then for them to pass on to you if at all possible.
I worl for a bank and probably deal with hundreds of council cheques for HB coming in by post because landlords think that the council won't be able to claim money back. It'ain't so but what do I care?