can I report tenants to Hb for non payment of rent

[vergil01]

Hi, I have two tenants who are on housing benefit.they are constantly in arrears and I am getting a bit sick of chasing them for the money. they are clearly spending their housing benefit elsewere. my question is can I report them to Hb for not useing the benefit for its intended purpose.

[Snorkerz]

You can report them, but not using the housing benefit isn't fraud or anything like that. Bit like you can spend child benefit on fags - doesn't have to be spent on your children.

You need to control your tenants, not punish them.

Have you considered serving a section 8 notice under grounds 10 & 11 as a 'shot across the bows'?

[coolandr]

How long have they been in arrears for? Have you considered writing to the benefit office to get direct payments to you? Even if they are not 8 weeks or more in arrears you should consider this. What excuses did they find?

Direct payments carry some risks, e.g the council may try and claw back any overpayments , but usually if you know your tenants are eligible for the benefit you should be ok

I had some recent communication with the DWP regarding the relevant
Regulation:

''If the tenant builds up rent arrears of eight weeks or more, the local
authority is required to make direct payments to the landlord under HB
Reg 95 (1)(b) and HB(SPC) Reg 76(1)(b) unless it is in the overriding
interests of the tenant. Rent is in arrears once the payment date is passed regardless of this date being set in advance or arrears'.

Also how long have they got left in their AST? You should consider serving both section 8 and 21 notices without prejudice.

I am experiencing similar issues with HB tenants and like some people say it can be as tricky as 'extracting blood from a stone'

[thesaint]

Do you want to get the money direct from the housing benefit department or/and evict them?