UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi there,

Against my better judgement - but with a rent guarantor:  I have taken on a tenant that is in receipt of housing benefit.  The Council have confirmed how much I will get paid (directly from them), but this payment is every 4 weeks, and I rent on a calendar month basis.

It seems to me that I would have to ask for a different amount every month, which would mean that a S.O. each month would be impossible to set up;  OR do I take a whole year and divide it into number or weeks to work out what 4 weeks rent is?   if so then it would mess up all my records of rent received (I rent out 3 other houses and have spreadsheets etc. to record rental income each calendar month).

I would appreciate any replies, as this surely must be a common problem.  Thank you for your time.

Just another reason as to why people should not let to LHA Tenants. Plus... of course... you'll be being paid in arrears from now on.

You need to annualise your figures; that should make it simpler for you.

So - your monthly rent (say £500) equates an annual rent of £6,000.
So - your Tenant's LHA will be £420 per 4 weeks - so that's £5,460.
That leaves you with an annual top-up requirement of £6,000 - £5,460 = £540.

You can then divide this amount as you wish to... either by 12 (giving a monthly top-up of £45), or by 13 (giving a 4 weekly top-up of £41.50) I suppose.

Then your totals will add up to the rent you require...

(13 x £420 = £5,460) + (13 x £41.50 = £539.50) = £5,999.50.

Or close enough...

Hi Hippogriff,

Thank you for your reply.  I'm very impressed you took the trouble to do the maths as well.