1. Home
  2. Benefits & Welfare
  3. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction
  4. Housing Benefit information for landlords

Housing Benefit information for landlords

Connect

If payments are made to you, the Connect service can help you keep track of them.

You can check payments, overpayments and receive electronic correspondence. 

!

Before you setup an account

You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself 10 minutes to fill in the form.

You will need:

  • Your creditor number
  • Details of the last payment sent to you

Register for Connect

Payment of Housing Benefit

For private landlords, Housing Benefit payments are made every four weeks. We can only make payment to you if certain criteria is fulfilled.

Find out about Housing Benefit payment to landlords: Payment of benefit

To request payment directly to you, please download, complete and return the following Direct Payment to Landlord form.

Download a Direct Payment to Landlord form

What to do if your tenant is in arrears

If your tenant is in arrears of eight weeks or more you can apply to have payments sent directly to you.

To do this you must contact us as soon as possible and supply proof of the arrears. Proof can be any or a combination of the following: rent book, bank statements, rent account statements, communication between you and your tenant, or a Notice of Seeking Possession.

Proof can be emailed to Benefit Services.

Talking to us about your tenants claim - Authority to Discuss (ATD)

ATD is where permission has been given by the tenant to let a third party discuss their claim.

If you have been given ATD, we can discuss their claim with you. 

If you are paid directly but have no ATD, we can only talk to you about payments.

If you are not paid directly and have no ATD, we are unable to disclose any information to you. 

To get ATD your tenant will need to provide: signed permission from themselves, including your details and their relationship to you. Alternatively they can download, complete and return the following Authority to Discuss form.

Download an Authority to Discuss form

What to do if you disagree with a decision we have made - Appealing

As a landlord you can only appeal against the following:

  • A decision not to pay benefit to you

  • The decision to recover an overpayment from you.

If we have asked you to pay back an overpayment of your tenant’s Housing Benefit entitlement, appeals must be made in writing and within one calendar month of our notification letter to you.

Find out more about how to appeal: What if I disagree with a decision?

Find out more about overpayments: Overpayments

Council Tax information for landlords

If you are a landlord renting out a property the responsibility for paying the Council Tax bill depends on what sort of letting arrangement you have.

Find out more about Council Tax for landlords: Council Tax

 

Information on Local housing allowance