Housing Benefit information for landlords

When we make a decision on a claim for Housing Benefit, we will tell everyone who our decision applies to. This is called a decision notice.

We send a decision notice when payments start or end, or when we have been told about a change of circumstances.

Each decision notice tells the tenant how much Housing Benefit they will get, when their benefit starts or changes, and how we assessed it. The letter also tells the tenant about their responsibility to report changes in their circumstances and what they can do if they are not happy with the assessment.

If we are going to make Housing Benefit payments direct to you, we will send you a separate decision notice.

Rent arrears and eviction proceedings

If your tenant has rent arrears and is waiting on a Housing Benefit claim please contact us before starting eviction proceedings.

We are aware that landlords can incur unwelcome costs when seeking possession of a property and we will do our best to make a prompt decision, providing we have all the information needed to assess the claim. If we are unable to make a final decision we may be able to make a payment on the account. 

Appeals

Only a person affected by a decision about Housing Benefit can appeal.

The claimant will always be a 'person affected'. A landlord can also be a 'person affected' in the following circumstances:

• we have made a decision to make direct payments to you
• we have made a decision not to make payments direct to you
• when we plan to take back money we overpaid you.

More information about appeals is available on our Housing Benefit page.

Overpayments

When we pay Housing Benefit direct to a landlord and their tenant's entitlement to Housing Benefit changes we may ask the landlord to repay the money which has been overpaid.

Each case is decided on its own merits. If we decide that it is appropriate to recover the money form the landlord we will invoice them. The invoice will show the period in which the overpayment occurred, the name of the tenant and the amount of overpayment.

For more information please visit our Housing Benefit overpayments page.