I have a tenant who IS receiving Housing Benifit and not paying the rent, can I ask the LA to stop paying them benefit altogther, after all if I'm not getting it why should they. ( I am talking about the rent here and not sex)

I love a problem me

Derek

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Yes. Advise them you are not being paid. They will stop payment to the tenant and investigate why they are not passing on to you. When this is resolved request direct payment to yourself.

Thanks for that Steve, I will speek to the tenant and tell him I know he is lieing and then get the LA to stop his benefit.

Derek

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You should call the relevant council asap and see if they will accept a fax of the circumstances and a rental statement. Some councils will accept a fax (email is for the next century!) whilst others insist on receiving it in writing via post (I kid you not!) Once you have sent a fax/letter then call council again and make sure they action it. I had once had Leicester council merrily stick my letter in an intray and pay the tenant again (you live and learn).... Finally start eviction proceedings asap so the tenant knows you are not gonna take any messing around... usa NLA not Landlord Action ..... I speak from previous experience ...

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Brendan

I've had a couple of recent experiences of LHA tenants not paying. Both were resolved surprisingly easily.

My advice would be to write to the council stating the situation. Unless you have written authority to discuss the tenant LHA details they won't give you the time of day unless you say that the tenant is eight weeks in arrears, then their ears prick up. Deliver the letter by hand and GET A RECEIPT. Councils are renowned for losing correspondense. Follow up the letter with a call.

At the same time, write a letter on behalf of the tenant stating that they wish for their rent to be paid directly to you and your account details. Take this round to the tenant and ask them to sign and sent it off. Better still, take them down to the council offices and wait for them while they deliver it and ask them to GET A RECEIPT.

Don't worry if getting the tenant to do this is a problem, the call and letter from your side should do the trick.

When I did it, the rent was almost immediately redirected to my account and we've all been living happily ever after.

Good luck

Rob West

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Here's a copy of an email I send to the council to get the rent paid to me in case someone else wants to use the wording for theirs.


Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Trump Tower

I write following on from my previous emails informing you that my tenant Ivana Trump of the above rental property address has not paid her rent for 1st May 2010 and hasn’t paid for 1st June 2010 either. She is therefore two months in arrears to date totalling £1250.00 plus interest and penalty costs.

She is aware of the rent arrears and has made no effort whatsoever to pay the same.


I therefore respectfully request that all future rent payments now be paid direct to me as this case is now eligible for the same without waiting for eight weeks to actually pass first.


In this respect I am relying upon Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Circular HB/CTB/ A26/2009, and in particular draw your attention to para 14 as follows:-

'In a recent appeal tribunal (Doncaster v Coventry City Council, First Tier Tribunal 032/09/00932, 5 October 2009) the Chairman expressed the view that ‘Rent is in arrears once the contractual date for payment has passed irrespective of whether rent is due in advance or in arrear’.

Here are my bank account details once again.


XXXXXXXXXXX


I await hearing from you regarding the above as soon as possible please.


Regards,

Donald Trump

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Thank you very much for that guys, very usefull posts. I have join the NLA today and issued a section 21 and hand delivered to the tenant. In the morning I will ring the LA and confirm where we stand, they should eather stop paying rent altogether or send it to me.

Thanks Derek

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I know allot of you guys out there will of had similar or worse experiances of tenants, but it's so anoying to stand in your own property and have to listen to people lie you and try to make you feel sorry for them when you just want to pook them in the eye with a big stick.

Also why do we have to give a bad tenant 2 months notice to move out?????? They have s--t in there nest (or should that be my nest)

Derek

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As hard as it Derek, you have to learn to switch off emotionally and focus on getting your toxic tenant out and finding a better tenant otherwise the anger and injustice of it all can cause you damage as well.

I am in exactly the same situation as you except I now have the rent paid to me direct with effect from this month. My toxic tenant promised me that she would clear her arrears in full last week and then when the time came, she changed her mind and said she'll pay what she can afford this week.

Yesterday I found out she is away on holiday. Obviously my rent money has paid for that as she owes me at least £1250.00. This is tax payers money the govt is encouraging them to go on a spending spree with.

I will have the last laugh though. I'm just biding my time.

My toxic tenant owns a house with her Guarantor so I'm going after that now.

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Im in that boat too.. tenant will be 2 months in arrears next week.

Not LHA though... so its a section 8 on the day he is 2 months in arrears...

Joining the NLA is definately worthwhile... the helpline people are very good and can walk you through the various processes of eviction step by step....

Paul

With HB tenants (actually, all tenants, but it's particularly relevant with HB) you have to a) look at the overall picture and b) do whatever you can to minimise your risks.
The important thing is that across your portfolio, you're getting an acceptable return, even allowing for the fact that some of them are causing you problems. You have to accept that it's unrealistic to get 100% of the rent 100% of the time.
There are lots of things you can do to minimise your risks. In particular, always get a home-owning guarantor with a good credit record. Then apply for direct payment - if you go about this the right way and get to know the people at the council then you should get it paid direct most times.
Also always get the tenant to sign a shared information authorisation form so the council can speak to you about the tenant's circumstances.
Finally, evicting a tenant in arrears isn't always the best course of action. If you get direct payment from tomorrow, and assuming you never get a penny of the arrears, you'll be better off than if you evict them and have the cost of a void and probably some refurbishment costs. My suggestion is to get direct payment and agree to let them stay if they pay off the arrears, even if its only £10 a month. Yes it probably goes against your principles, but put it down to experience, prevent it happening again, and make the most of the situation you've got.

Thanks guys, I am normally very calm and handle stress very well. I have a saying which is:- If it doesn't affect me or I can do nothing about the problem then I don't worry about it, and it works for me.

At least this episode has got me to join the NLA and look closly at my systems requarding tenants, also I'm now learning about evictions, Local authority clains and the right forms to us.

Thanks Derek

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NLA has been very helpful to me so far, had more than my £80 annual membership fee in phonecalls to the advice line!

Good luck with sorting this out Derek.

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Thanks for that Adam, I'm using it as a learning curve so I will be better in the long run.

Regards Derek

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Paul
One trick that may be pulled is paying off some of the arrears on the day of the court case to below two months rent. At this point the S8 will become void. Therefore if you wish for full payment or the property back issue S8 & S21 together. If the person pulls reducing arrears trick the S21 still applies.



Please confirm with NLA before you issue.