Anyone used these guys before

[shabba 10]

yes its from the council.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

they are getting housing benefit and not passing it onto the landlord

The two items are, in law, disconnected. It ought to be a legal requirement that T [tenant] who claims/receives benefits towards housing costs must use them for that very purpose (but it's not!; L [landord] will have problems in trying to insist on benefits being paid direct) The law instead sees the receipt of benefits as akin to a salary- which T might or might not use in paying rent to L.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Jeffrey Shaw

[kaymarie 10]

Oh my goodness - why cant people give straight forward advice on here? Tell the landlord to WRITE RECORDED DELIVERY to housing benefit immediately, state the tenants details, state the amount of arrears, state you are claiming mandatory payments of LHA to the landlord as the tenant is over 8 weeks in arrears. Request an immediate suspension on the tenants claim and have HB (LHA) redirected to landlord.

 

The landlord can also request a "direct deduction" of £3:40 per week towards the arrears if he/she writes to the jobcentre, this will then be taken straight from the tenants benefit claim providing they are on a passported benefit (ie ESA, JSA, IS, PC).

 

At least then the arrears are gradually reducing and rental payment should be covered (assuming LHA covers all of rent and there is no shortfall). It think it would be somewhat irresponsible of a landlord to knowingly take a tenant on HB/LHA and not know rates etc.

 

Serve notice on tenant, section 21 (assuming this is shorthold tenancy) - landlord will need to provide details of the tenancy type on forum (ie fixed/periodic). On expiry of notice period, use accelerated possession procedure. Hopefully a possession claim wont be needed once youve served a notice and done all of the above as tenant will realise he/she/they need to come to a compromise with landlord and take responsibility to the arrears etc etc.

Edited October 2, 2011 by kaymarie

[kaymarie 10]

The two items are, in law, disconnected. It ought to be a legal requirement that T [tenant] who claims/receives benefits towards housing costs must use them for that very purpose (but it's not!; L [landord] will have problems in trying to insist on benefits being paid direct) The law instead sees the receipt of benefits as akin to a salary- which T might or might not use in paying rent to L.

 

Why would a landlord have a problem convincing HB to pay LHA direct when it can be evidenced 8 weeks plus arrears? This exisits purely to help sustain tenancies for this very reason.

[kaymarie 10]

http://sheffield.legal4landlords.com/residental-eviction/

 

trying to help a mate get rid of his dodgy non paying tenants and the council is still paying them dss even after being in rent arrears for over 4 months!

 

Shabba, have you not had all this advice previously? I do realise your current thread asks about a specific company/site. Are you saying they are still having HB direct? Are these your tenants or someone elses or are you referring to a completely different scenario and youre not the landlord this time?

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=751338

 

Did this landlord not write to housing benefit before and take all this advice?

Edited October 2, 2011 by kaymarie

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Why would a landlord have a problem convincing HB to pay LHA direct when it can be evidenced 8 weeks plus arrears? This exisits purely to help sustain tenancies for this very reason.

Simple. L needs to make out a case (which T can defend) in order to convince the Council.

It's not automatic, you know.

[shabba 10]

kay marie, this is a friend of mine with the same problem, he was getting the housing paid directly from the council because they were 8 weeks in arrears, but now the housing as stopped after further investigation the council are saying they are awaiting information from the tenant, which they are not getting so they can not pay the housing benefit. The tenant will not provide them with this information as she doesnt want the landlord getting the money....... should he serve her a section 21 and get the property back as the contracts ends in 3/4 months time as i was told the section 8 route is very expensive is this right???

 

thanks for the advice

[kaymarie 10]

kay marie, this is a friend of mine with the same problem, he was getting the housing paid directly from the council because they were 8 weeks in arrears, but now the housing as stopped after further investigation the council are saying they are awaiting information from the tenant, which they are not getting so they can not pay the housing benefit. The tenant will not provide them with this information as she doesnt want the landlord getting the money....... should he serve her a section 21 and get the property back as the contracts ends in 3/4 months time as i was told the section 8 route is very expensive is this right???

 

thanks for the advice

 

It sounds like the claim is suspended for some reason and the tenant is failing to provide information. However, at the moment, housing benefit are well behind with claims. My best advice would be to serve a S21 notice now to take effect when the tenancy ends. This may jolt the tenant into providing the info for the claim. The landlord needs to give at least 2 months notice. A S21 claim will normally be a "non oral hearing" claim, and unless the tenant defends, will be a case of a judge examining the paperwork (make sure the S21 is correct!) and he/she will award a possession date. A claim under ground 8 will need to be a section 8 notice and at the time of serving and at the hearing the arrears will need to be over 8 weeks - if proven the judge should give a possession date but you can also claim for a money judgement for the arrears but you will need to attend an actual hearing, whereas with a S21 claim you cant but youre pretty much guaranteed possession provided the paperwork is correct and wouldnt need to go to court.

 

You can find S21 and S8 notices on the net quite easily and if you want you can serve at same time for max effect. Personally, id rely on the S21 as what the chances of getting the arrears anyway when youre at that stage? Even if you get a money judgement, you'd have to escalate it if they dont pay and thats costly. Hopefully theres a deposit that could be utilised and paid a month in advance to ease the pain!

 

Please tell me that if a deposit was taken, it was protected correctly?

 

What dates etc are on the tenancy agreement?

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

For a very wide range of s.8/s.21 information, look at the Residential Lettings Forum on http://www.landlordzone.co.uk.

[shabba 10]

cheers guys will see wot we can do, i heard the section 21 is the best cause of action as the section 8 can be a pain, is that right??

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

cheers guys will see wot we can do, i heard the section 21 is the best cause of action as the section 8 can be a pain, is that right?

Not exactly. Each procedure has advantages and disadvantages.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Not exactly. Each procedure has advantages and disadvantages.

Right. Here's a brief summary.

Advantages/disadvantages:

 

SECTION 8: can obtain possession even during fixed term; only 2-wk. wait (from service of Notice to beginning of proceedings); L need not have protected deposit.

But only discretionary ground 10 Notice can be used (assuming the problem is non-payment) unless the rent has now been unpaid for 2 mths. or more.

 

SECTION 21: mandatory possession entitlement.

But cannot obtain possession during fixed term; 2-mth. wait or more; L must have protected any protectable deposit.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Jeffrey Shaw