DSS Tenant Payments

[davey]

I heard on the radio trhis morning that 'Local Housing Allowance' for DSS tenants will not be paid to us from April, but direct to the tenant instead.

How does this affect us and what are other people doing about it? I'm worried that my tenant whose no good with moiney may not pay me.

I'm in Salisbury if it makes any difference?

Thanks,

Davey

[Mark T]

Davey

Not heard that and I hope its not true.

I only have two tenants on housing benefit and I am glad both are paid to me as I think that it’s the safest way to ensure the rent gets paid.

Like you, I would be concerned that the rent may get side tracked if it went to them

[davey]

My local council doesnt have a lot to say http://www.salisbury.gov.uk/housing/benefit/local-housing-allowance.htm but I found this in Oxford http://www.oxford.gov.uk/taxbenefits/lha.cfm

Changes to Housing Benefit from April 2008
Local Housing Allowance will be introduced from April 2008 and will be changing the way that Housing Benefit is calculated.

Who is the Local Housing Allowance for?
It is for Private Tenants only, that is anyone entering into a tenancy agreement with a private landlord and does not include tenancies with the Council or Housing Associations.

Local Housing Allowance will be introduced for all new applications from April 2008.

Anybody who is already receiving Housing Benefit will only start getting Local Housing Allowance when they move house.

From March 2008 the room rates will be avaliable.

What will it do?
It will give tenants more choice of where they want to live.

Each month the Rent Officer will set the amount of Local Housing Allowance for each size of property, based on the number bedrooms. These will be published locally.

The amount of Local Housing Allowance payable to an individual will depend on how many bedrooms are needed to accommodate the household, not the amount of the rent. So any one thinking about moving home or making a new claim for benefit will be able to see how much Local Housing Allowance they are likely to receive.

You can choose to find somewhere where the rent is the same as the amount of Local Housing Allowance. Or to find somewhere cheaper and keep the difference up to a maximum of £15 per week. Or to find somewhere more expensive and make up the rest of the rent yourself.

It is fairer. People living in the same circumstances will receive the same amount.

If the number of people living in the household changes the Local Housing Allowance will change.

How is it paid?
Payment will be made directly to tenants, who will then be responsible for paying their landlord.

In some circumstances we may consider paying the landlord. Please contact us to discuss it further.

We are currently working on implementing the scheme and more information will be released between now and April 2008 to help tenants, landlords and voluntary groups.

It looks as though quite a lot will be changing, not just who it gets paid to

The only good thing is that it doesnt seem to apply until people move house.

Thanks,

Davey

[Summit Properties]

There's another post on the forum on this subject at viewtopic.php?f=48&t=80

It refers you to http://www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/lha, which continues by saying:


Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is a new way of working out Housing Benefit for private tenants. LHA is currently in operation in 18 pilot local authorities and will be introduced nationally on 7 April 2008. For details on why the Department is introducing LHA and how it works see Background to Local Housing Allowance.

This site contains detailed information about LHA for local authorities, landlords, advisers and intermediaries. An introduction to LHA for tenants is on the Directgov website.

The LHA rate is based on the number and mix of occupiers, and the area in which the tenant lives. Payment will normally be to the tenant, who will then pay the landlord.

We have tested LHA in a number of pilot authorities. The rules for LHA for national roll-out and in the pilot authoirites are slightly different.

Read the information supporting the LHA pilot authorities on separate pages of this site.
Any queries regarding Local Housing Allowance can be sent to the DWP email address LHAadviceline@dwp.gsi.gov.uk


It also contains a number of useful links, so if you are likely to be affected by this it would be worth taking a look.

[hb01]

The local housing allowance is now across all councils, I am unsure to the reasons behind it I assume that it is some form of cost savings for the council as they do not have to deal with the landlords or letting agents directly, and if any disputes come up then it is the tenants that will be held responsible.

I think even if you are renting privately or council tenants there will always be an element that will not pay their rent no matter who you rent too, this is just the nature of the beast. It is best to play it case by case basis and if you are renting to a dss tenant (LHA tenant) then I think it is wise to get guarantors or references.

[Andrew]

Welcome to the forum, hb01.

I think it is wise to get guarantors or references.

I think it's always wise to get references

[pram-rmproperties]

Hey my name is Pram from RM Properties and i was wondering if you have any deal for residential or commercial deals or portfolio deals

We are in a position to deal with all sale becuase we have 3000 residential property buyers and a handful of cash rich investors to buy from £1m up to over £1bn.

[jeanpaul]

I thought this board stated "No unsolicited promotion."?

[Summit]

I thought this board stated "No unsolicited promotion."?

Don't worry, he's gone, permanently. A simple report was all it took, thanks.

[sawyeresbitt]

I’m blessed this hasn’t happened earlier to me, but one of my Commercial Tenants missed his rent payment last month. I want to lecture you on allowing tenants to do the repairs themselves, let alone deducting it from the rent. But I will refrain from doing so and answer your question.