Housing Benefit awarded to a tenant may be directly paid to their landlord. Any landlord who receives benefit payments on behalf of a tenant must help to ensure that the award granted is correct.

Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance limits the circumstances under which benefit is paid direct to landlords.

The rules only affect new claims or tenancies.

If you have a tenant who has had their Housing Benefit paid direct to you from before 7 April 2008, it will continue to be paid direct until the tenant either stops claiming or changes address.

The landlord's responsibility

As a landlord, you are under a duty to tell the housing benefits office if your tenant's circumstances change and it is reasonable for you to know about the change.

These include:

• changes to the amount of rent charged
• changes in services included within the rent
• changes to the number of people living in the property. This includes the number of people who have moved into the property as well as those who have moved out
• changes in circumstance or income of people living at the property, if known
• if your tenant is eight or more weeks in arrears with their rent
• any circumstance resulting in rent payments being withheld.

Download our Local Housing Allowance: Information for Private Landlords leaflet