Government hopes to make Universal Credit payments easier for Landlords

We still know this will be hard work.
Secure form non secure form.
Non secure email.
By post. Who sends by Royal mail in 2017 when there is quicker ways?
UC has gone back 20 years. They should go see Housing Benefit managers and Landlords to see what is quickest and best way.
We'd save taxpayer a fortune in wasted time.

looks like the landlords walking away from benefit claimants is starting to have an effect then!!
Guess those councils are starting to pay the price in their budgets.....

We didn't see this coming did we ?

Too little too late. Might be helpful if the odd decent working tenant genuinely falls on hard times. If landlords are in a position to avoid benefit recipients then they should do so - good business sense and part of the campaign to make the results of landlord persecution be seen in facts and figures - only then will the govt realise the pathetic shambles they are creating with UC, s24 et al. Will be a shame that some genuine claimants suffer in the process but landlords are in business not charity and the majority of benefit recipients we have dealt with create their own misery.

Having no been involved with Housing Benefit for years, can I just ask three questions of those in the know please?.

Is it still the case that if the landlord is paid rent direct by DWP that they have to pay it back if it subsequently transpires the claim was fraudulent?

Does the tenant have to give permission for the rent to be paid direct by the DWP to a landlord

How can a landlord asked for arrears to be paid if presumably the monthly benefit amount is only equal to the rent due?

Many thanks in anticipation

I've loved HB tenants for 20 years.
Consider myself a specialist in it.
And I've had enough of it.
And there's not a lot of us in Nottingham who take loads of HB tenants. And my HB mates too have had enough and are trying to avoid benefit cap and UC tenants. So who's gonna house em?

And then S24 some Landlords are selling.
What a stupid ridiculously ignorant not got a clue Tory Govt.

Landlord if has no knowledge of fraudulent, doesn't normally have to pay HB back-In Nottingham anyway.

Tenant can ask to pay Landlord direct. But that's not straight forward for novice HB Landlord.

With UC (and Sherrelle will answer this better) Landlord can ask DWP to pay about £3 pw out claimants non HB money ie. their normal food etc. money.

Landlords have the right to apply for Universal Credit Housing Costs to be paid directly to them however it is discretionary, when landlords make this request using the UC47 non secure form they sign a declaration that if in any event they have been overpaid they will have to pay back.
This is the same conditions that landlords adhere to when they received Housing Benefit payments directly, I guess that landlords will be giving the option to appeal overpayments in event that DWP wish to claw back payments.
The tenant does not have to give the landlord permission to receive direct payments however it does help the application.
Landlords can apply for 3rd Party Deductions if their tenant are in arrears. This deduction will be taken from the claimant’s personal allowance. The maximum that can be deducted for rent arrears is 10%, 15% or 20% with the lower figure guaranteed.

The problem is there is disparity between what is said and what actually happens. I raised this at a recent property meeting with a representative of DWP and they were not sympathetic.
I rented to an ex army guy via a lettings agent in October 2015 and he paid no rent even though the letting agent had filled out forms for direct payment.
I was paid no money and after two months applied for direct payment by phone e mail and letter and my letting agent did the same. Nothing happened so I contacted DWP who refused to discuss it with me and still no payment. I went to court and gained possession and then evicted the tenant - total costs £3800. I had raised a formal complaint with DWP and they did not even acknowledge it. I always thought that there was a set procedure for formal complaints but I was told they weren't responding to them - possible because there were so many?

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Grant" at "27/04/2017 - 13:46":

Dear Robert,

You should have contacted me, for a small fee I would have ensured you received direct payments alomg with issuing a formal complaint to DWP.
Bill Irvine and myself in some cases have secured compensation for the landlord in caases like this.

Hi Sherrelle
This would have been very useful and I would have been more than happy to hand it over - part of the problem was my perception that DWP simply would not discuss it with anyone and cited data protection as the reason.
Do you just deal with Universal Credit or do you sort out problems of non payment when on benefits. The ones I manage myself I never have any problems with but the five I have in Leeds seem to be dogged by non or late payment - overall they are a good investment as I bought them for a song off the receiver or at auction and have gone up by 50 percent plus in three years and the benefits rent roll is good. The letting agent is OK but when a problem arises doesn't seem to able to resolve it. There always seems to be some paperwork that isn't right and is needed to get the council to make a payment. Eight months in arears on one.