help please regarding besit and housing benifit

catsonic

Hi

Daughters boyfriend got a bedsit about 6 weeks ago and put a claim into council for housing benifet.

The landlord knew at the time of giving him the bedsit that he was on the dole and it wasnt a problem.

He got the tenancy agreement last tuesday.

He got a phonecall this morning saying that if he doesnt pay the rent owing by 5pm tonight then he has to get out.

Thing is the council hasnt sorted out the rent yet so how can he pay it?


Is the landlord allowed to do that even though the council are still sorting out the claim? It would be backdated to when he moved in.

PasturesNew

It is not the council's responsibility to pay his rent. That is his responsibility.
Council's pay rent usually 4-weeks in arrears. Landlords want rent up front.

The landlord has the right to ask for what he is owed.

The Council now pay Local Housing Allowance, not Housing Benefit. So depending when he put his claim in will depend under which scheme he is paid.

It can take up to 2 months before the HB people sort out benefits and start getting the money through - and it will always be 4-weeks in arrears, never "up to date" from the Landlord's viewpoint that rent is payable in advance.

He needs to get the money from somewhere to pay it.

silvercar

The landlord may have accepted that he was claiming benefit, but did the landlord agree to accept rent as and when the council saw fit? or did the tenant sign a tenancy agreement, agreeing to pay the rent on time each month?

It was a bit risky the tenant signing an agreement with no means to pay.

Just because a landlord accepts tenants in receipt of HB or LHA doesn't meant they will accept the rent being paid in anything other than the schedule agreed in the tenancy. If the landlord has agreed to receive the rent direct from the council then he will have accepted this, but otherwise it is for the tenant to sort out his rent. (In fact the primary purpose of replacing HB with LHA was to empower tenants in this regard.)

Many tenants in receipt of benefit find problems finding landlords willing to accept them for this reason. A tenant expecting landlords to wait around, after signing an agreement to pay monthly in advance, just gives tenants a bad name and makes it more difficult for tenants on benefit to find landlords willing to accept them.

teeni

catsonic wrote: »

Hi

Daughters boyfriend got a bedsit about 6 weeks ago and put a claim into council for housing benifet.

The landlord knew at the time of giving him the bedsit that he was on the dole and it wasnt a problem.

He got the tenancy agreement last tuesday.

He got a phonecall this morning saying that if he doesnt pay the rent owing by 5pm tonight then he has to get out.

Thing is the council hasnt sorted out the rent yet so how can he pay it?


Is the landlord allowed to do that even though the council are still sorting out the claim? It would be backdated to when he moved in.[/quote]


No He is not allowed to just get him out, he has to issue notice 2 weeks or 2 months dependant on what type of notice he issues and on the expiry of the notice he can then apply to court for possession order.

If landlord tries to evict him without a possession order and balifffs warrant this is illegal eviction and opens up ll to prosecution, if ll tries to evict him tell young man to phone the police and then get legal advice asap. IT is a criminal and civil offence.

If landlord relies on rent arrears he can give 2 weeks notice but would need there to be 8 weeks arrears before he could besure the courts would grant possession back to him.

If landlord issues s21 notice could not take possession action until end of 6 month fixed term if that is the type of tenancy he has.

Young man should phone local housing allowance department to see why the delay it could be because they were waiting for the tenancy agreement if so he should advice the ll of the reason for the delay and when the benefit will be paid.

Ring Shelter on 08088004444 for further advice.

silvercar

Teeni's advice is accurate but I'm surprised there is no note of caution to the tenant, implying that his behavious is acceptable.

I presume from the OP that the tenant hasn't actually paid any rent yet, in which case, from the day the second month's rent was due, the tenant is 2 months in arrears and could be evicted under a section 8 notice.

If the tenant and landlord have not yet signed the contract and the landlord has not yet received any rent, I wonder whether the tenancy actually exists yet. If not, then the tenant is an illegal occupier and could be evicted easily. Of course the tenant could put this right by paying some rent.

zzzLazyDaisy

Exactly this happened to my sister. She had to take a loan and borrow from family to pay her rent until HB started paying. It took about four months to sort her benefits out (she was working and had to produce evidence of earnings, and answer loads of questions - it might be quicker if the claimant has no income?)

Anyway, the point is, she had to keep a roof over her and her daughter's head, and accepted that it was her responsibility to find the rent until her benefits were sorted out.

It is very difficult, but there is no reason why private landlords should provide free accommodation until the tenant gets his finances sorted out - especially as a percentage of tenants will pocket the HB backpay, and do a runner, leaving the landlord to whistle for the rent arrears.

catsonic

hi sorry had to go out.

Yes he has signed the tenancy agreement and that was what the council was waiting for. He rang up the ll and told him this but he still said he wanted the money by 5pm tonight or else hes out.

He took on the bedsit cause it was what the council gave him when he was made homeless. He had no choice as it was the only place to stay. Which is why i say the ll knew of his situation and knew he was awaiting hb and jsa. Its been a very hard few months for him and only this last few weeks has his jsa been sorted out.

He's looked at the tenancy agreement and it says 2 months notice must be given.

PasturesNew

What is the start date of the tenancy on the agreement?

catsonic

i know know yet what the start date was, its at his flat. I know he only signed it last tuesday.

catsonic

sorry "dont know"

silvercar

He's looked at the tenancy agreement and it says 2 months notice must be given.

Does it also say the tenant must pay the rent on time?

Seems to me the tenant has entered into an agreement without ensuring he has the means of complying with it.

2 months notice is fairly standard for the landlord to give notice to end the tenancy after the fixed term. In case of a breach of the agreement, different rules apply as teeni has outlined above, but note that the tenant is already 2 months in arrears, so the landlord could go to court now and get an eviction order.

The tenant really needs to get on the council and get them to process his HB quickly. In the mean time he should see if he can borrow from friends/ family etc to enable him to pay the landlord something.