Who is responsible for and where to send rent overpayments?

Are you sure there is an overpayment - usually the rent is divided into 4 week segments overall so the final figure is the same as traditional 12 monthly payments.
Just another irritating part of universal credit, oh and if they leave part way through a period you won't get paid for that time either!

13 four weekly payments covers 12 months so this may be right.

Your agent ought to reconcile rent due against rent received. This is pretty basic. Do they not send you monthly statements when they pay the rent over? Very odd of they don't as that's part of the job.

I'd get the agent to sort it out.

Where rent is paid 4 weekly. there will be 13 payments a year. 52 weeks divided by 4. = 13 n

As Paul suggests, there doesn’t appear to have been any overpayments. If it was Housing Benefit (as opposed to Universal Credit) that was being paid, the Council simply takes the monthly contractual rent and converts to a weekly charge. The award, as paid under PRS rules, is paid 4 weekly x 13 per annum.
In contrast, Universal Credit is calculated and paid on the basis of a calendar monthly charge.
Bill

The Local Authority will be chasing you should there have been an overpayment.

13 payments every 4 weeks equates to 12 monthly annual payments.

Should have noted in the TA that whilst rent required is pm if payments are 4 weekly as paid by LA then tenant will not be in arrears monthly! Or some such wording as until the yearly 13th payment is made the tenant is technically in arrears on a 1 year AST

Unless the monthly rent is the same as the 4-weeekly HB payment, there has been no overpayment.

AST agreements should state the rent due in both monthly and weekly terms.

The formula is…
Weekly rent = monthly rent x 12 divided by 52

OR

Monthly rent = weekly rent x 52 divided by 12

It is important that landlords understand this.

Christina,

This instance has shown you need a new agent. Your HB is paid in arrears & always 4 weekly. The agent should know this & that the rent is in arrears most of the year. As has been say above. HB never go by the AST monthly requirement. You have no overpayment to give back. Clearly, the agency is not monitoring your rents efficiently as they should know the HB querk and be able to explain it to you to put your mind at ease.

This may be time to do an audit of what they have been doing for you to take your business elsewhere. Ensure you have all tenant's applications, ID docs, references etc. Check deposits held corrected, ask for proof of documents served on tenants at the start of tenancy etc.

Interview other agents on the service they can offer you at a competitive price.

Best of luck

Kat

Reply to the comment left by Kat Scott at 18/07/2024 - 12:32
Housing Benefit is indeed usually paid 4-weekly and in arrears. However, the housing element of Universal Credit is paid with the UC on a monthly basis.

The rent statement should show if there has been any over or under payments.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 18/07/2024 - 09:37
Thanks for the response. The LA send us an alert and monthly receipt of payment, we don’t get any statements. I was concerned when I questioned this & they sent me sure of ledgers.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 18/07/2024 - 09:37
Thanks. No monthly or annual statements, just payment receipts. We pay them a lot to fully manage everything but no it would seem like they haven’t reconciled anything at any point. They say they have no records pre July 2020 when they changed their system. I’m going to speak to Bill Irvine next week. Thanks again