Can L make Council pay LHA/HB direct on account of rent?

[WarwickGrad]

Hi,

I have a situation which i could really do with some advice with...

I have tenant whose accommodation has been paid for by a local council.
The booking letter confirms the rate that we are to paid and form what date.

I have just received a cancellation notice from the council as they wish to re-house the tenant in more permanent premises, but he is unwilling to leave...

What are my rights as a landlord in this instance? And when it come to physically getting him out are there any guidelines that i should follow or should i just wait until he's out and then change the locks?

Thanks in advance!!!

[jeffrey]

Letting is to T, not to Council (even if they pay his rent). Has T entered into a formal AST with you, duly signed/dated?

[WarwickGrad]

No.

We deal with the council regurarly and never sign AST's becase all such bookings are from the various temporary accomodation departments.

The persons length of stay with us is dictated by the council.

[jeffrey]

OK- so it's not an AST.
1. What manner of letting is it?
2. Under which legislation do you let?
3. Does occupant actually sign some sort of Letting Agreement?

[WarwickGrad]

The council are paying for Bed and Breakfast accomodation for this person.

Furthermore the booking letter states that the council will be repsonisible for paying the charges from a certain date.

Thanks again

[jjrideon]

getting council to pay HB direct to L?

so i'm waiting for bailiffs to evict my non paying tenant in a couple of weeks time.

T is 4 month's in arrears - as i didn't know T was claiming i didn't know to go to the council to get the HB paid directly to me!

how long does it take to get the council to pay the landlord directly and how do i prove i haven't been paid (T paid monthly by cash when they bothered to pay)?

obviously two weeks HB is better than nothing, but if it takes that long to get processed then there is no point...

and you wouldn't believe how much the T is getting in HB - single person, £260 a week! what's the point in actually getting a job these days - it's enough to turn you into a daily mail reader...

[PaulF]

Is it under LHA rather than HB as it won't be paid to anybody other than the tenant under normal circumstances. Did you not have a guarantor in place?

[jax2503]

If the tenant is more that 8weeks in arrears the LHA rules state that the rent should be paid directly to the landlord.

If you call into the council and ask them to put a hold on the claim pending further information being supplied to them. Send them a copy of the rent statement that you have and proof of ownership of the property. Then they should process that within a few days. Then they will send out cheque to you. They pay the tenant 2weeks in arrears. So he may be due a cheque any day now. If a cheque was issued in the past 2 or 3 days the council can cancel the cheque and re-issue in your name. You need to get onto them straight away.

There is no point in the tenant stealing extra money from you.

Jax

Is it under LHA rather than HB as it won't be paid to anybody other than the tenant under normal circumstances. Did you not have a guarantor in place?

[johnboy]

The council still have to pay the L/L if the T is 2 months in arrears.
So what you can do is to make the rent payable every 2 months. The tenant pays 2months rent to move in and will be automaticly be 2 months in arrears at the beginning of month 3 so you apply to the council for the payment direct.

The only down side is it may be more differcault to serve s21.

[jax2503]

I realise that the local authority sometimes make mistakes, who am I kidding, okay so they make alot of mistakes. If you can prove that the letter was recieved by them prior to them issueing payment to tenant than. The council have a legal obligation to pay you directly and reclaim it off the tenant. I have been here before.

As for which local authority it is, this is mandatory, that if the tenant is 8weeks in arrears then the rent will be paid directly to the landlord, If the council pay the tenant directly then they are intentionally making the tenant homeless in which case they have no duty of care to the tenant.

Speak with your local authority, you will find that they will help you with legislation and any advice you require.

Jax

It depends which your local council is.

[foxdog]

I evicted my tenants last week, after being in same position as you. Tenants were telling me they were not receiving housing benefits, council would not tell me if they were or not. After several visits to the council I contacted Chief Executive and Councillor for Housing committee. This made someone jump and I received some benefit for September/October rent. Tenants had been claiming from beginning of May aks they were employed when I took them on, I had no idea they were on benefit so did not go to council earlier. There is no incentive for these people to work again.

[jax2503]

Hi Wickerman,

Providing you can prove that you asked them to suspend benefit, then the council is at fault speak directly to the benefits manager explain that their error has cost you money and push them to repay you, I'm sure it must be legislation because whenever I have asked for it they always pay me it.

The only thing to note here, is that if the tenant takes the hump at you doing that, they can just stop the claim and then no more money will be paid to you as they have stopped their claim. Also beware if you are issueing notice under S8 as this may bring them less than 8 weeks in arrears.

Jax

It shows on their system as received several weeks before the next payment (to the T) was made.

Do you think the LA will pay the LL the rent they paid in error?

[WarwickGrad]

HB paying current rent but what about arrears b/f?

Hi

I have a tenant owing me £3,500 rent.

He's housing benefit and was sent to me from the council via their private rent scheme. Housing benefit now pay us directly. But he stills owes the previous months.

What can i do in this instance to get the outstanding balance? S.8 or proceed with bankruptcy proceedings? How do i get a CCJ against him?

Thanks in advance

[Paul Gibbs]

You can proceed under section 8, however, that will lead to the tenants eviction if that is what you want.

You can bring a part 7 civil claim against him (meaning you are not seeking possession as well)

Contact the local authority - they might have paid the deposit to you and if they are aware it is under threat can spell out the consequences to the tenant (i.e. he may be at risk of being found intentionally homeless).

You can try to threaten bankruptcy but in my view it will have little effect. It sounds like he has little assets or income and bankruptcy proceedings are likely to just result in you throwing good money after bad.

[socrates]

Can L make Council pay LHA/HB direct on account of rent?

Someone put an interesting question to me. If a tenant who was on HB was receiving HB directly then went 8 weeks into arrears at that point the LL could ask for the HB to be paid to them directly. The HB was then paid to the LL directly.

Subsequently the LL with the same tenant switched this tenant over to LHA - with a weeks gap in between. Basically stop their claim and restart it a week later.

The Local Authority then decides to pay the LHA to the tenant directly.

Would the fact that the tenant had never cleared up the 8 weeks arrears - meet the criteria that the LHA should be paid to the LL directly. Or, because the tenant has stopped and started a new claim, thus the previous arrears are not relevant to this claim?