Information for Landlords
LHA affects any landlord who enters into a deregulated private tenancy agreement with a person awarded Housing Benefit. By deregulated we mean entered into since 1989 and not covered by one of the exceptions listed below.
Who is not affected by LHA?
LHA does not affect:
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local authority landlords who let to council tenants;
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tenancies with registered social landlords;
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protected cases, such as supported housing provided by certain local authorities, social landlords, charities and voluntary organisations;
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tenancies which are excluded from current rent restrictions;
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tenancies in caravans, houseboats and hostels;
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tenancies where the rent officer decides that a substantial part of the rent is for board and attendance, such as hotel accommodation.
How does LHA affect landlords?
The only change for most landlords is that LHA will be paid to the tenant. The tenant will be responsible for paying their rent to the landlord. In recognition of the risk that some tenants may struggle with the responsibility of paying their rent, safeguards will be put in place. Benefit can still be paid directly to the landlord if the council considers the tenant is vulnerable and likely to have difficulty managing their own affairs.
Examples of this could include:
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tenants with a learning, drug or alcohol problem that would mean they may have problems managing a budget;
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if the council considers there are grounds to believe the tenant is unlikely to use their LHA to pay their rent.This could be if we know that the tenant has consistently failed to pay their rent in the past;
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if the landlord is able to demonstrate the tenant has accrued rent arrears of eight or more weeks rent;
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if the tenant had built up rent arrears of eight weeks or more (under current Housing Benefit regulations) and payment direct to the landlord has been implemented, the council can decide to continue making payments direct to the landlord after the arrears have fallen below eight weeks;
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if the tenant is having deductions from their Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance to pay off rent arrears.
This list is not exhaustive and any decision as to who payment will be made will remain with the Council.
To implement any of these safeguards, we must have documented evidence. We are currently drawing up guidance and proformas to help with this process.
When will LHA affect my tenants?
All new private tenants claims will be treated as claims for LHA from April 7th 2008. Existing claimants will only have their claims transferred to LHA when they either have a break in their claim, or change address.