Claiming back rent in paid in advance

GregoryH

Not sure where to ask this so sorry if it is the wrong section. I was paying my rent to a big housing association due to a nil esa award after renting from them whilst claiming benefit for a while.They told me that they would like their tennants (myself included as it was a personal phone call to me) who aren't getting help through means tested benefits to be at least one month in advance with their rent so I did just that. Now i'm back to paying my rent through Universal Credit again. As it's paid in arrears, is there any legal reason why they could refuse to return the month in advance they still have on my rent account?

powerspowers

Hi, I don’t think you have much recourse here. Many landlords (including social landlords) ask that all tenants are a month ahead with the rent even if they are being paid via benefits. It would be worth checking your tenancy agreement. Does it require you to pay a month ahead but waive it if you’re on benefits? 

A landlord can start proceedings against a tenant if they are 2 months behind which realistically could happen if you miss one payment if you aren’t a month ahead. 

If you re struggling financially it might be worth asking but I don’t think you’d get much luck. It’d be worth keeping the one month buffer in case you had any changes with UC in the future. 

theartfullodger

powerspowers said:

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A landlord can start proceedings against a tenant if they are 2 months behind which realistically could happen if you miss one payment if you aren’t a month ahead. 

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Landlord can start proceedings if tenant is just 1p behind for just one day.  (G10….). Unlikely to succeed but legally possible.

GregoryH

@powerspowers @theartfullodger Thank you for your time, thoughts and advice. The vast majority (if not all) of their tenants would be on a low income (either part time workers or state benefit/pension claimants) as their purpose is to provide low rent accommodation for people with low incomes. They are lead by a not-for-profit organization and they are a registered charity. They also have a homeless persons initiative as that was why I got a flat with them. I doubt if I woud be evicted because of being a month in arrears. I'll have a chat with them on the phone and ask them for a hard copy of any decision they make so i'll know where I stand legally instead of a vague 'we would like our tenants to be etc.' when I got the nil esa award. If I can find my tenancy agreement, i'll look at that too. It is 23 years old though so some of their policies may have changed.

Thank you both once again.