Information for landlords

This page is for landlords that have tenants that receive housing benefit from us.

Ebilling

As a Landlord, you can log in online to view bills and documents associated with accounts that you are liable for.

Report a change in tenancy

If you are a landlord, you must let us know if a tenant moves in or out of a property that you own. They will usually be liable to pay council tax unless you have made other arrangements with them.

Housing

Housing benefit entitlement

The amount that your tenant will receive depends on their personal circumstances and the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for the area.

Find out about LHA rates

If your tenant is moving

You will need to let us know. They also have a duty to tell us what date they left and any forwarding address details.

Making payments

In most cases, we pay housing benefit directly to tenants. Payments are made into your tenant's bank account every two weeks in arrears. They are responsible for passing this money over to you.

Direct payments to landlords

We may be able to pay housing benefit to you directly if:

• your tenant is more than eight weeks in arrears
• your tenant can't deal with his / her own finances

If you're already receiving direct payments from a tenant and need to change your bank account details please use the form below. You can also use this form to let us know which bank account to use for any new claims.

Changes in circumstance

If you're tenant has any change to their circumstances that you know about, you must let us know. This includes changing jobs, having a child, or having someone move in with them. Your tenant can report changes to us using the online change of circumstances form.

We sometimes suspend benefit claims following a change until we know exactly what changed when. If you receive direct payments and this happens, we'll let you know.

Sharing information with you

Your tenant needs to give us permission to discuss their claim with you.

If they have given permission, we can tell you:

• they have claimed Housing Benefit
• they have renewed their claim for Housing Benefit
• we have made a decision on the claim 
• we need more information to make a decision on the claim and what information we need

We can't discuss:

• their personal information
• their household circumstances
• their financial circumstances

Your tenant can withdraw this permission at any time. It will not affect their claim if they do not give us permission to discuss their claim with you.

In order to share information with you, your tenant will need to complete a consent form.

Call B4 You Serve

The local authority is committed to homelessness prevention at the earliest opportunity and in partnership has commissioned a Call B4 You Serve service specifically to support landlords. The dedicated service is available to help and assist landlords to resolve difficulties they may experience with tenants so they do not need to serve a notice.

Call B4 you serve leaflet (PDF, 2 MB)