How will your benefit be paid?
Housing Benefit
PrivateTenants
If you are a:
- Local authority tenants.
- Tenants of registered social landlords (housing associations).
- Tenants who have a registered or 'fair' rent.
- Tenancies which commenced before January 1989.
- Protected cases such as supported housing provided by social landlords, charities or voluntary organisations.
- Tenancies in caravans, houseboats or hostels.
- Claimants with a continuous claim from before the 7th April 2008. (Until there is a break in their claim)
and you are entitled to claim Housing Benefit you may request that your housing benefit payment goes direct to your landlord, landlord’s agent or to yourself.Housing benefit payments are made by Bank Credit Transfer (BACS) and can be paid 2 weekly or 4 weekly in arrears. Please note that Housing Benefit paid direct to your landlord or your landlord’s agent will be paid 4 weeks in arrears.
If you are a Private Tenant and your claim is subject to the Local Housing Allowance rules in most cases we will pay your housing benefit directly to you. You cannot choose to have your housing benefit paid direct to your landlord. We will pay your housing benefit by Bank Credit Transfer (BACS) as this is a more secure way to pay benefit and it can be paid 2 weekly or 4 weekly in arrears.
If you have a bank account you can arrange for your bank to pay your rent direct to your landlord. If you don’t have an account you may want to open one.
In some exceptional cases we may be able to pay your housing benefit where your claim is subject to the Local Housing Allowance rules directly to your landlord. For more information about this please refer to our 'Safeguard Procedure'.
Payment schedule
Once your benefit claim has been processed for payment you will receive notification of how much housing benefit you will receive and the frequency of the payment. Please check the schedule to find out when your next payment will be sent.
Council Tax Benefit
Council Tax Benefit entitlement is paid direct to your council tax account. Once your benefit claim has been processed for payment you will receive notification of how much Council Tax Benefit you are entitled to receive and you will also receive a Council Tax bill detailing payments required if applicable.