Housing benefit paid direct moving to UC

thebeeches

A have a long term tenant migrating on to Universal Credit. Has been a tenant for over 10 years, due to initial persistent rent arrears, the rent has been paid directly to me for the last 10+ years. This is an agreement I made with the council many years ago - if they paid direct I would keep the tenant. The rent has been paid 4 weekly in arrears. The small top up has been sporadic but generally paid.

Occasionally the council have made a discretionary payment, after they have messed up the claim, so it’s kept everything going. I’ve kept the rent unchanged for a couple of years now and is around LHA level. 

Tenant has informed me they are migrating to UC. How does this affect the rent?

1. will it still be paid 4 weekly in arrears?
2. Will it still be paid direct?

Many thanks for any advice. I don’t want to evict the tenant from what has been her home for many years, but I do need the rent paid. 

TimeLord1

When they start the claim, they should be able to tick and enter your details and councils. Universal Credit should eventually contact the council to confirm your agreement with the tenant and you.

It will be bacs paid in arrears, as that is how they do it to stop overpayment and errors. 

Or you can also contact UC to get the rent payments directly. But the council should be aware of your previous rent arrears and having payments sent directly to you.

thebeeches

Is it monthly or 4-weekly?

KxMx

UC is paid monthly (30 days). 

Spoonie_Turtle

It is monthly but the first payment is 1 month+1 week after the claim date; it works on calendar monthly dates but there's some slight variation for when the date falls on a weekend.

That said, there is a 2-week run-on of Housing Benefit when migrating, so the first UC payment will in effect be a month's payment for 3 weeks in rent arrears if I've understood correctly.

Newcad

In UC it is called a "Managed Payment To Landlord" or MPTL.

It's a type of UC "Alternative Payment Arrangement" or APA.

If the person migrating to UC already has their Housing Benefit paid direct to landlord then they can request that continues from UC.

You will be asked to comfirm the rent. NOTE that they will often say the claimant needs to show them a "recent" Tenancy Agreenent - that is not true at all (but it makes their job easier). A simple letter saying XXX is my tenant and the rent is currently £YYY is sufficent.

You may find this about MPTLs  of general use:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-landlord-request-for-a-managed-payment-or-rent-arrears-deduction

8dayweek

This sounds like PRS housing - so at no point will the council be contacted about prior arrangements (even if they were contacted, GDPR would almost certainly prevent them sharing a random private landlord’s bank details!)

In order for the Housing Element to be paid to the the landlord either the tenant needs to request this AND supply UC all the relevant info to set this up (landlord’s contact details, including an email address, tenancy reference and landlord’s bank details) OR the landlord can request this via the application for direct rent payments via gov.uk website. 

https://directpayment.universal-credit.service.gov.uk/