Landord seems not to understand LHA payments

Viberduo

GirlFromMars wrote: »

It is up to you to pay your rent on time to the landlord. It doesn't matter to them that your LHA will pay part of next month's rent early, what they are worried about is that you are paying part of this months rent late.

Seems like you would be much better off having the LHA going into your bank account and paying the landlord yourself.

As the LHA is paid every 28 days and you pay rent monthly you are always going to be out of sync, and are always going to have a random amount to make up at the beginning of the month (well until the LHA catches up).

Surely it would be better for both you and the landlord if you each had one payment going in and another going out each month? ... especially as affording the rent doesn't appear to be the problem, you only seem to have a problem with the LHA not paying it on time.

It seems the context of the situation isnt sinking in, yes there is a £133 arrears on one hand but LL is not saying I owe arrears in that sense they say I owe a top up to them of £20 per month and do not seem to be chasing up the rest which if I had to I would pay instantly, people keep writing about how they would do it or that I should be paying on the 3rd but I would do this just originally had a different agreement with LL

missbiggles1

And claimants wonder why landlords don't want to let to those on benefits!

Viberduo

missbiggles1 wrote: »

And claimants wonder why landlords don't want to let to those on benefits!

Yet I have lived away from home for 15 years and the times when I have been in a good job been paying extra rent i.e rent due weekly and I paid about 4-8 weeks in advance so I had no worries, I have even been asked to stay on at properties for lower rents if I stayed as I am a good tenant(I do not cause noise, do not damage furniture) the only issues I have ever had with tenancies have been on the LL 's end i.e not doing repairs or claiming when deposit is due to be returned flat is unclean or damaged(despite each time having no inventory)

Try and not get the end of the stick, how many times do I have to explain that I am not trying to dodge paying or anything nor if the LL said tomorrow to pay the £133 I would pay it instantly, in fact I even ASKED the LL before I even wrote this thread if it was easier for me to just pay the £133 due and get LHA paid to me and all they said was I owe £20 top up!

Do not think worse case scenario, and I have to bring up my disabilities since they are the reason for my brain pattern.

pmlindyloo

It seems as if the landlord is happy with the arrangements made about HB and accepts that although it is in arrears he knows that by the end of the tenancy period everything will be up to date as far as HB is concerned.

What he is concerned about is your top up of £20. Every time the council pay your rent it is short of your top up so at the end of the tenancy period there will still be rent arrears because of the top up not being paid.

You need to treat this top up as separate from the HB payments. Your part of the tenancy agreement is that you must pay a £20 top up each month.

If I am understanding you correctly you have not been paying this at all. You must not think of the rent being in credit at all. That is going to happen because the HB is paid every 4 weeks rather than every calender month.

The £20 top up is quite separate. The landlord thinks that you will never pay it and he is going to be out of pocket at the end of the tenancy. Pay what you owe of this £20 top up and start paying it every calender month (on the 2nd is it?) by Standing Order. Then the landlord will know that you are paying your part of the rent. He is not interested in the HB. He knows how this works. It is quite separate.

The other thing that you need to think about is the last two months of your tenancy (whenever that is)

Since you paid 2 months rent in advance you should not have to pay rent for the last two months of your tenancy. However, HB will continue to be paid to the landlord at this time so he could be getting extra money.

You need to speak to the council about this so they are aware of the situation.

All in all being paid HB yourself might be the best solution. However, you are going to need some help with setting this up so please go to the council for some help.

BigAunty

So do we think it is the case that the main issue is that, as the OP outlined, the landlord insists that the extra rental payment made upfront is always kept in credit? That skipping July's payment is the original reason for the arrears, not helped by LHA payments/rent due cycle being out of synch?

You have to agree that being a month's clear in rent, the way the OP has described having to keep the rent paid 2 month's in advance, is an unusual one from a landlord? Most take 1 month's rent in advance and keep the deposit (usually 1 month's rent) in the background, completely distinguised from rent. In either scenario for a tenant, rent would have been due again in July, just that the first scenario is quite a rare one.

duchy

Actually I think it does make it simpler for you.
My son has Aspergers and like you likes everything nice and clear cut and regulated.
With your rent cycle and and your HB benefit cycle out of synch with each other this will simply cause you stress and anxiety so better to have it where you have the control of the payments.
A bit of a pain to set up but in the long run a lot less stressful.

pmlindyloo

BigAunty wrote: »

So do we think it is the case that the main issue is that, as the OP outlined, the landlord insists that the extra rental payment made upfront is always kept in credit? That skipping July's payment is the original reason for the arrears, not helped by LHA payments/rent due cycle being out of synch?

You have to agree that being a month's clear in rent, the way the OP has described having to keep the rent paid 2 month's in advance, is an unusual one from a landlord? Most take 1 month's rent in advance and keep the deposit (usually 1 month's rent) in the background, completely distinguised from rent. In either scenario for a tenant, rent would have been due again in July, just that the first scenario is quite a rare one.

Personally I don't think the landlord is concerned about the HB payments. He knows he will get paid in the end.

I think he is concerned that the OP hasn't paid the top ups at all. I think the landlord thinks the OP will never pay these.

I agree the two months rent up front is very unusual.

It could be that the LL doesn't want to be bothered with the deposit scheme or it could be that he always does this to cover the rent for the 2 months notice he has to give. Perhaps he has given notice before and the tenants just stop paying.

GirlFromMars_2

Viberduo wrote: »

It seems the context of the situation isnt sinking in, yes there is a £133 arrears on one hand but LL is not saying I owe arrears in that sense they say I owe a top up to them of £20 per month and do not seem to be chasing up the rest which if I had to I would pay instantly, people keep writing about how they would do it or that I should be paying on the 3rd but I would do this just originally had a different agreement with LL

I agree with pmlindyloo, the landlord is worried that they are never going to see your portion of the rent.

If they aren't fussed about the £133 arrears that you technically owe them, I cannot see why you aren't meeting them halfway and paying the extra £20. It will all work out in the end. And you are creating this much stress for yourself over £20.

Yes, I do understand that the first "months" LHA was higher than usual as a result of it being late. But the landlord is accepting late payments, so technically money is owed every 3rd of the month, and as LHA aren't going to pay this why can't you?

You could argue with them that the first payment of 417 was £162(?) higher than usual and you will give them their £20 if they will give you your £162. BUT that is only going to make them wonder why on earth they are letting you pay late each month.

Look at that extra cash as being the buffer you have given them so that they will allow you to have late LHA payments every month.

OR switch over so that the LHA pay the money into your account and you pay the landlord yourself on the correct date every month.

Marisco

GirlFromMars wrote: »

OR switch over so that the LHA pay the money into your account and you pay the landlord yourself on the correct date every month.

This is by far the better scenario all round, then it really doesn't matter what date the LHA goes in. Just get the money paid to you, and you pay the full rent, including the top up, to the LL on the 3rd of every month. Job done!

missbiggles1

Viberduo wrote: »

Yet I have lived away from home for 15 years and the times when I have been in a good job been paying extra rent i.e rent due weekly and I paid about 4-8 weeks in advance so I had no worries, I have even been asked to stay on at properties for lower rents if I stayed as I am a good tenant(I do not cause noise, do not damage furniture) the only issues I have ever had with tenancies have been on the LL 's end i.e not doing repairs or claiming when deposit is due to be returned flat is unclean or damaged(despite each time having no inventory)

Try and not get the end of the stick, how many times do I have to explain that I am not trying to dodge paying or anything nor if the LL said tomorrow to pay the £133 I would pay it instantly, in fact I even ASKED the LL before I even wrote this thread if it was easier for me to just pay the £133 due and get LHA paid to me and all they said was I owe £20 top up!

Do not think worse case scenario, and I have to bring up my disabilities since they are the reason for my brain pattern.

I never intended to suggest that you're a bad tenant or unwilling to pay but most LLs want an easy life and you seem to be making the situation very complicated.

I hope you get this sorted out but you do seem to be going a very long way round to do so.