Can landlord ensure they receive the housing benefit?

UKSBD

I'm a landlord
not an evil one, my tenant pays about 40% below the actual rental value and well below the LHA rate.
Doing quick calculations on entitled to it says he would be eligible for £580 a month housing benefit as part of UC (he pays £500)
Is there a way this benefit is paid direct to the landlord (me), if not what's to stop him pocketing it?

GHolmesAdmin

Whats to stop YOU running off with someone else's cash?

Caz3121

his housing element is based on the LHA rate or the actual rent whichever is lower. If his tenancy agreement showed £500 then that's the maximum he could receive

If your rent is lower than the Local Housing Allowance

The maximum Housing Benefit you can receive will not be more than your rent.

https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/local-housing-allowance-lha/

calcotti

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords

UKSBD

Caz3121 said:

his housing element is based on the LHA rate or the actual rent whichever is lower. If his tenancy agreement showed £500 then that's the maximum he could receive

If your rent is lower than the Local Housing Allowance

The maximum Housing Benefit you can receive will not be more than your rent.

https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/local-housing-allowance-lha/

Yes, I appreciate that, but how can I ensure it comes to me, rather than him pocketing it?
I doubt he would do it deliberately, but he's not the brightest spark, if he received £900 A MONTH benefit I doubt he would even consider that £500 of it was specifically for paying his rent.

UKSBD

GHolmesAdmin said:

Whats to stop YOU running off with someone else's cash?

Getting my hands on it in the 1st place

calcotti

UKSBD said:

...how can I ensure it comes to me, rather than him pocketing it?
I doubt he would do it deliberately, but he's not the brightest spark, if he received £900 A MONTH benefit I doubt he would even consider that £500 of it was specifically for paying his rent.

Read section 8 of the link I have already provided and is a UC guide for landlords.
the short answer is that in England and Wales you can’t unless your tenant is already in difficulty - that was a deliberate design decision by the government. In Scotland the Scottish government have amended the rules to make it easier to arrange direct payments.

seatbeltnoob2

governments gives the benefits, and they say it's paid to tenant and landlord. 

Landlords already get the money in advance, they receive 5 weeks deposit as well as the months rent in advance. Claimants receive the payment at the end of the month.

Stop being greedy, if the tentant is lying about the rent to the government then that's an issue between them and universal credit. Your property standard is worth below the 30th percentile so your rent is lower. What do you want? Tentant to collude with you and say the rent is more and to hand you the extra cash?

seatbeltnoob2

UKSBD, are you the owner of uksmallbusinessdirectory website (co.uk)

badmemory

What on earth is wrong with a landlord wanting to receive his rent?

UKSBD

seatbeltnoob2 said:

governments gives the benefits, and they say it's paid to tenant and landlord. 

Landlords already get the money in advance, they receive 5 weeks deposit as well as the months rent in advance. Claimants receive the payment at the end of the month.

Stop being greedy, if the tentant is lying about the rent to the government then that's an issue between them and universal credit. Your property standard is worth below the 30th percentile so your rent is lower. What do you want? Tentant to collude with you and say the rent is more and to hand you the extra cash?

Not in our case, he didn't pay a deposit and actually had the 1st 3 weeks for free.

What are you on about, when you say being greedy and the tenant lying?

I only mentioned the LHA to demonstrate he was paying less than it, and was therefore entitled to the whole £500
The £900 I mentioned was the full amount of benefit he's entitled to, if he pays me the £500 he still has nearly £400 a month to live off.

I don't know why you tar everyone with the same brush and jump to conclusions, I just wanted to know if there was a way to ensure that if he got £500 specifically to pay his rent, he actually used it for that.