Landlord Section – Disclosing Information

What we can tell you?

The Council are legally constrained by the Data Protection Act and are strictly limited about the amount of information we are able to provide you about a tenant’s benefit claim.

If you are not receiving your tenant’s Housing Benefit payments we will be unable to divulge any information to you about your tenant unless they have given us written permission to do so.

If you are receiving your tenant’s Housing Benefit payments we will be able to provide limited information. The information we can provide are, confirmation about the amount of benefit being paid, and when payments were or are due to be made to you. We will also be able to discuss any overpayment that we are seeking recovery for from you.

What we expect you to tell us

You are required to advise the Council of any changes to your tenant’s circumstances that are likely to lead to a change or cessation in benefit. If you unsure whether the change has already been reported by the tenant or whether the change will have an effect upon their benefit award we would urge you to let us know immediately in order to minimise the risk of an overpayment occurring.

The information that we would definitely like to know are:

  • If your tenant moves out. The date they left and their forwarding address, if you have one
  • If any of your tenant’s household changes. This includes people moving in or out. We would be grateful of any dates and names you can provide
  • If your tenant’s income circumstances appear to have changed. Have they started work, won the lottery? When did this occur?
  • Have you changed their rent, service charges, or the terms of their tenancy? When did this happen?

My tenant is in arrears even though I know or suspect they are in receipt of Housing Benefit

If your tenant has fallen behind with their rent and you do not get paid Housing Benefit payments in respect of them, you can request the payment of their benefit direct to yourself but only if 8 weeks arrears have accrued. In order to receive your tenant’s Housing Benefit payments you will need to contact the Council with details of your tenant’s arrears. We will then contact the tenant and investigate the circumstances before deciding whether to pay you directly.

If we do choose to make the payments directly to you we will only continue to do so until the arrears have been cleared.

We would urge all landlords to contact the Benefits section before starting eviction proceedings as we maybe able to make benefit payments direct to you, and save you the cost and aggravation of legal proceedings.

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