UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

My landlord made me sign a covering letter to be sent off for housing benefit (along with the form to start my claim) on the day I moved in back in august, it said I was already 8 weeks in arrears. I'm no expert in these matters, but that seems ridiculous and impossible, have they taken money that isn't theirs? More info can be provided if needed.

Kind regards,

Nick.

You're questioning this 9 months on?

By signing that letter it allows the LL to receive the rent money directly, instead of via yourself.  I don't know if this means they would have been paid the arrears.

This sounds to me like the Landlord getting a "deposit" by another name, paid for by us tax payers.

Now the tenant sniffs a claim, or bargaining tool to have a "draw"

I wish someone would pay my mortgage every 4 weeks for me.

This landlord probably had a lot of trouble with previous tenants and so is trying to protect himself against you in case of non payment
however its not often done like this, most of the time you have to be two months in arrears before the landlord get the rent paid directly to him
I would call your local council and find out exactly what's going on if he has been paid the full arrears you need to know about it sooner rather than later as these bills can mount up especially as the method for payment is on a week by week payment not a monthly payment. within a year you can lose a whole months rent but this is caught up in august when they make two payments within the same month.

So call your council housing dept quote your reference number and ask for a written letter confirming your award and dates of payments  past and present.

Regards

Richie