Housing benefit?

Ask Alex "Im on benifits" Heney

It's usually paid to you, but it can also be paid directly to the landlord with your consent. The landlord can also ask the council to pay it direct if your rent is 8 weeks or more in arrears

james

It's paid by your council. Check your local council web site.

uk.gov.social-security is a good place to ask if you still have questions.

As a Landlord, you can ask the tenant to get the council to pay direct. The snag with this is that if the tenant does a runner, claims fraudently etc, the council can demand the money back off you.

In message , Nowt writes

From a landlords perspective - "IT F£C%^&G DOESN'T!!!"

they might try but unless you were party to the fraud the council are unable to enforce this action.

They bloody are! When you agree to accept the rent direct from the council there is a clause which you have to sign saying something along the lines of 'if you are overpaid/paid in error/etc, we can have the money back.' One of my tenants left the flat without telling me or the council, and I didn't find out for 8-10 weeks after he left. I continued getting rent direct thru these weeks, and it was in fact the council writing to me demanding 8 weeks rent back that alerted me to the fact tenant had gone. Had to pay the buggers too!

Not all councils have this policy and I suspect you could have faught this in court if you wished.

Doubt it very much. The other thing you can get stung with is that the tenant can choose at anytime to have the rent paid directly to them instead, and the council doesn't bother telling the landlord that things have altered. So all of a sudden, monthly rent cheque stops, by the time you catch hold of the tenant, six weeks has gone by and so has the rent he received, then he skips as well, leaving you weeks out of pocket.

HB is nothing to do with the DWP. It is paid by the local authority to anyone renting whose income is below a certain level. Quite possible to be working full time and claiming HB. Choice of whether it is paid direct to landlord or tenant is a decision made by both parties since there are benefits and risks to both.

Well this could ahppen with any tenant !

In message , Zoe Brown writes

No it couldnt - most landlords with HB tenants have an assumption that a rental payment missed is due to the benefit office cocking up paperwork, so usually give it a bit longer than with a non HB tenant.

In fact, some tenants have it diverted to themselves, but tell the landlord that the HB is delayed - then do the bunk, or worse they stay and dont pay, thus requiring 2/3 months of no rent during the eviction process.

With working tenants who pay their own rent from their own pocket, a missed payment is a missed payment, and action can commence immediately.

your a landlord ?

you deserve to be stung then , no sympathy taxing the poor for a roof over their heads

"zjustice" wrote

Would you rather that there were no landlords? And then "the poor" wouldn't even have a roof over their heads?

I believe councils have a figure for what they reckon is a fair rent, and will pay HB up to this amount. How do you find out what level this is?

TIA

Ask your local council for an assessment.

In message , Einstein writes

A pre tenancy determination, (or something like that).

Duh, they aren't taxed, they get their rent paid by the state. But when this doesn't work properly, and landlords get screwed, what then happens?

You get pages upon pages of ads for places to rent in the papers which say "No DSS". So despite having a housing benefit system where anyone without sufficient income can get their rent paid by the state, many of the poor still can't find anywhere to live. So you screw landlords who take HB tenants, you screw the poor.