UK Landlord Forum / Life

My HB tenant is supposed to be living on her own (with her son).  She tells me that her boyfriend only stays occasionally, but calls in each evening to put her son to bed.  I have been told that he has his own flat, which he shares with a friend.

If she is lying to me - can I get into trouble with the council?  or is it just her that comes unstuck??

Hi,

It's not your responsibility to ensure the tenant is telling the truth to the council.

The tenant could get into trouble if she is lying about her living arrangements, which may consequently impact her benefits and have a knock-on effect to you. But I can't imagine why you'd be in trouble with the council...

I am always wary of what Councils can do.

I am not going to research this right now... I haven't got the time... but the OP really should, because I think there's some kind of unspoken responsibility here, it's like Tenants in receipt of LHA are considered pets of Landlords sometimes, and I firmly believe that if the Tenant has their LHA stopped... and any investigation finds out that they've been incorrectly claiming for a period of time, then the Council can actually start to claw that back from the Landlord.

I would not want to be alarmist, but I think what the OP is touching on as some kind of fear is justified (when you're dealing with Councils). I would probably phone them up and try to do it anonymously if it's possible. I wouldn't ignore it and hope for the best, like an ostrich, just in case.

Hippogriff is not being alarmist at all if the council is paying the rent directly to the Landlord.

Section 75(3) of the Social Security Act 1992 (as amended by Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000  s. 71) provides an overpayment shall be recoverable from the person to whom it was paid.
Regulation 101(2)(a)(i) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 will mean that if the Rent is being paid to the Landlord then and there are grounds for it not to have been paid the council can come knocking for it.

I would however suggest on the information provided that it is difficult to see how case can be made for 'Overpayment' of benefits but I would definitely do as Hippo has suggested and ANONYMOUSLY check it out.

Some councils receive a 40% “subsidy incentive” on all Overpayment recoveries from the DWP, and this is likely to influence council’s attitude towards who should repay the LHA overpayment - little Landlord unlikely to fight big council.

Best of luck

Thanks to: Propertyfag, theangrylandlord, & Hippogriff for your replies - I think I may make an anonymous call to the Council!