Housing Benefit Information for Landlords

Housing Benefit is paid by the Council to help people on low incomes with their rent. The information below details how this affects you as a landlord, or agent, if any of your tenants claim benefit to help with their rent.

Confidentiality

Housing Benefit is legally the tenant’s income, so details of any benefit claim they make is confidential. Unfortunately, if Housing Benefit is not being paid to you we cannot even tell you if a benefit claim has been made.

If Housing Benefit is payable to you, we will be able to tell you:

• The weekly entitlement
• When benefit starts and finishes
• When the entitlement changes

If you need any more information about your tenant’s entitlement we can only give this if we have their written authority to do so. Some landlords ask their tenants to sign an authority when they move in, or make it a condition of the tenancy agreement.

When will Housing Benefit start?

Generally a claim is payable from the Monday after we receive it, but if a claim is made in the first week of a tenancy it will normally be paid from the day moved in.

You should therefore encourage your tenant to claim straight away if they think they may be entitled.

Housing Benefit cannot normally be backdated. It is therefore very important that tenants make their claim as early as possible and supply all the information we ask them for. The tenant then has one calendar month to provide all the information otherwise the claim will not be paid. Claims can be made before the tenant moves in, but they must confirm that they have moved in when they have done so.

If you have any doubts about whether your tenant has made a claim it is important that you speak to them first about it and ask to see the receipt for their claim.

Rent Arrears

In certain circumstances, Housing Benefit can be paid to you even if your tenant has requested us not to. If there are more than 8 weeks’ arrears we must do this, and we may do so if we think it is in the tenant’s best interests.  

It is therefore important that you tell us about rent arrears if these are a concern.

The Benefits Department would especially like to hear from you if you are considering enforcement action (e.g. eviction or notice seeking possession) and you believe rent arrears are in part due to non-payment of Housing Benefit.

You must remember however that it is the tenant who is liable to pay rent, not the Council.

How is Housing Benefit worked out?

Housing Benefit is income-related. If the tenant is getting Income Support, Job-Seeker’s Allowance (Income Based), or a Guarantee Credit from the Pension Service they will normally be entitled to the maximum Housing Benefit. If their income is higher, their Housing Benefit will generally be lower.

Nearly all claims with private landlords are subject to a “maximum rent” set independently by the Rent Service which is the average rent for the area. The Rent Service will also take into account the amount of accommodation needed by the tenant and family.

Pre-Tenancy Determinations

By completing a Pre-Tenancy Determination form, which are available from all the Council’s offices, a prospective tenant can find out the ‘maximum rent’ figure from the Rent Service before they decide to take accommodation.  The Rent Service will inform the landlord, tenant and Council of the valuation within five days.

Payments on Account

Once we have all the information we need from the tenant, we aim to make a first payment within 14 days.

If we are awaiting the Rent Service decision, we will make an initial assessment. Payments on account are made using a figure likely to be lower than the Rent Service’s decision to avoid the risk of overpayments.  

Payments

Tenants can choose to have Housing Benefit paid either to themselves or to their landlord. We pay landlords by crossed cheque four-weekly in arrears. Tenants are normally paid fortnightly in arrears

When will Housing Benefit cease?

Benefit will end when your tenant leaves the address even if you still expect them to pay rent for the accommodation.

It may also end if the tenant has a change of circumstances, or does not provide information we have requested. We will notify you if benefit ends, but we cannot always tell you exactly why because of the rules about disclosing confidential information without the tenant’s consent.

Reporting Changes of Circumstances

You must report promptly to the Council any changes in your tenant’s circumstances that you can reasonably be expected to know about.

You may be asked to repay any overpaid Housing Benefit if you have not told the Council about changes in your tenant’s circumstances.

If you become aware of any of the following, you should tell us straight away:

• Tenant leaving the property (or intending to leave)
• Tenant being absent from the property (even on a temporary basis)
• Changes in the rent, or conditions of the tenancy
• Other people moving into or out of the tenant’s flat
• Tenant starting work, or starting to pay rent in full when you are still getting Housing Benefit for them

Appeal Rights

You can appeal against any decision to recover overpayments from you if we are asking you to repay them. You can also appeal against a decision to pay Housing Benefit direct to you (or to stop doing so in some cases).

You do not have any other rights of appeal.

If you wish to appeal it must be in writing and made within one month of the date the decision is made.