Housing benefit information for landlords

Housing benefit is a means tested benefit for help towards payments of rent. For more information about housing benefit see:

Housing benefits

When an application is made the applicant is asked whether information can be shared with their landlord. If they sign to agree we may be able to tell you how much they are being awarded to help with rent payments.

If your tenant is behind with their rent payments

In some circumstances it is possible to have payments made directly to the landlord. We are required to pay direct to landlords if the tenant:

has built up eight weeks or more in rent arrears
is having deductions taken from their IS/JSA to pay rent arrears.

If your tenant has missed rent payments, you do not need to wait until eight weeks arrears have built up, you should contact us immediately, contact details below.

As a council we also have the discretion to pay direct to the landlord if we consider:

the tenant is likely to have difficulty managing their affairs i.e. customer has a learning disorder or drug/alcohol problems
it is improbable the customer will pay their rent i.e. we are aware the tenant has failed to pay their rent in the past without good reason.

For more information about when we will pay directly to Landlords please read our safeguard policy.

Benefits decision notices

Our decision notices are generated automatically by our computer system when certain changes happen to your benefit entitlement and when we receive an application.

The letters tend to contain a lot of information which can be confusing. You can get an explanation of the letter you have been sent by visiting our Housing benefits decision notices page.