Housing Benefit and Tenant Rights

Cpcompany

Hello.

I recently made a post or two about my Landlord refusing to let me claim housing allowance (Although I still put a claim in) and trying to get me to move out. On the application I left the part where I needed to put the landlord details blank. The guy dealing with my application didn't even mention it when he went through it.

I recently downloaded the land registry to find out if my landlord is eligible to rent the place out.

According to the date, the owner is the Council Housing Association and the property is on a 125 year lease.

We had a council tax officer from Tower Hamlets around today as apparently the council tax is registered to a tenant who hasn't paid and no longer lives in the property. The official seemed to be totally unaware of who the owner was. So it is all a bit confusing to me.

The agent today asked me to move out and said that I could skip this months rent and they would also give me my deposit back. I simply told the agent I have received no benefit and they haven't replied.

I should find out if I am getting housing benefit and back payment within a week.

I just got the details of the leashold between the council and the owners, of which their are two. They are both registered to this property.

There isn't any information as to regards if they can rent this place out. A I correct in assuming that it is not available to rent out?

It also states the lender is the Bank of Scotland but the RBS also became the proprietor last year.

The rent is only 10 pound apparently.

Any help and advice on here would be great.

BigAunty

A tenant cannot necessarily identify from the land registry info if their landlord's lender has given them permission to rent out their property, though if the owner's address is a separate location, it does tend to indicate it is a buy to let property.

A landlord, who previously lived in the property and has a conventional residental mortgage, can get permission from their lender to rent out their property (there might be some criteria attached to this and they generally have to pay a fee). Therefore, the fact that there address is where you now live can indicate that they either do not have permission to rent out the property or they subsequently got permission to rent it out - you'll never know.

Even if a landlord does not have permission from their lender, it doesn't invalidate your tenancy agreement with them, nor affects the tenant's rights during the contract (generally, this failure to have consent from the lender can be an issue for them if the property gets repossessed but that's about it, as far as I can recall).

What does your contract say about council tax? Is the landlord supposed to pay this or you? There is a hierarchy of liability for payment of council tax which usually puts the tenant at the top - meaning the occupant pays.

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/51-100/57_council_tax/who_has_to_pay_council_tax.aspx

BitterAndTwisted

Precisely what help are you looking for with all that info?

BigAunty

Here is some info about obtaining a landlord's address

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

You indicated in a previous post that you think the property has been sublet. So do you think that there is a tenant renting out the property without the knowledge of the actual owner?

Cpcompany

BigAunty wrote: »

A tenant cannot necessarily identify from the land registry info if their landlord's lender has given them permission to rent out their property, though if the owner's address is a separate location, it does tend to indicate it is a buy to let property.

A landlord, who previously lived in the property and has a conventional residental mortgage, can get permission from their lender to rent out their property (there might be some criteria attached to this and they generally have to pay a fee). Therefore, the fact that there address is where you now live can indicate that they either do not have permission to rent out the property or they subsequently got permission to rent it out - you'll never know.

Even if a landlord does not have permission from their lender, it doesn't invalidate your tenancy agreement with them, nor affects the tenant's rights during the contract (generally, this failure to have consent from the lender can be an issue for them if the property gets repossessed but that's about it, as far as I can recall).

What does your contract say about council tax? Is the landlord supposed to pay this or you? There is a hierarchy of liability for payment of council tax which usually puts the tenant at the top - meaning the occupant pays.

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/51-100/57_council_tax/who_has_to_pay_council_tax.aspx

On the contract council tax is included in the rent. Which I showed the tax officer.

All I really know is that the council tax hasn't been paid for a while and we have had bailiffs threatening the tenants. The council tax inspector claims it was uner the name of a past tenant.

It seemed incredibly strange that he had no idea who the property owner was or who was liable for the council tax.

Cpcompany

BigAunty wrote: »

Here is some info about obtaining a landlord's address

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

You indicated in a previous post that you think the property has been sublet. So do you think that there is a tenant renting out the property without the knowledge of the actual owner?

According to the documents I downloaded from the land registry, the two people who own/lease this property are supposed to be living here as my address is the only one on the contract.

BigAunty

Cpcompany wrote: »

According to the documents I downloaded from the land registry, the two people who own/lease this property are supposed to be living here as my address is the only one on the contract.

I'm not sure I fully understand your comment so forgive me if my response is off-target.

The joint owners don't have to live at a property just because the land registry info gives it as their address.

They may either have not sought permission from their lender to let out the property or they may have secured it and then moved out. You will never know.

But this doesn't affect your current rights (permission or no permission from the lenders) so what precisely is the query/ies that you'd like the MSE posters to answer.

Cpcompany

BigAunty wrote: »

I'm not sure I fully understand your comment so forgive me if my response is off-target.

The joint owners don't have to live at a property just because the land registry info gives it as their address.

They may either have not sought permission from their lender to let out the property or they may have secured it and then moved out. You will never know.

But this doesn't affect your current rights (permission or no permission from the lenders) so what precisely is the query/ies that you'd like the MSE posters to answer.

Well, I was wondering if anyone had been in this position before, or if anyone with a clear understanding of tenants rights can advise me.

After reading back, I am aware that my posts have been a bit scatty, probably with the situation I suppose.

So, here is the help I am after.

The agent said I can't claim housing benefit and has offered t let me leave without paying this months rent and giving me my deposit back.

I have let her know I am not getting benefits but didn't say that I had applied.

I will find out within a week if I am eligible or not.

Would people advise me to take the agents cash and move out? even with or without housing benefit?

Or should I hold tight and hope I get the hosuing benefit, and pay the rent monthly and hope the landlord doesnt get wind of it?

I am a bit worried that if the landlord is fraudulent, it will mess up any benefits I am hoping to claim and leave me and my housemates with nowhere to live. Getting another place while claiming is also pretty hard due to the trend of No DSS on lettings ads.

CIS

On the contract council tax is included in the rent. Which I showed the tax officer.

The contract cannot override council tax legislation.

Do you rent the whole of the property or only a room in the property ?

Cpcompany

CIS wrote: »

The contract cannot override council tax legislation.

Do you rent the whole of the property or only a room in the property ?

I only rent one room. There are 5 rooms that are being rented out in this property.

CIS

I only rent one room. There are 5 rooms that are being rented out in this property.

Its a Council Tax HMO so the landlord is responsible (on this occasion the tenancy agreement is correct regarding council tax).