So confused re rent

[Dragonfliesdress]

Letting agents are saying I am in arrears due to the council not paying my Housing Benefit to them on the due date. I have spoken to the council and they have assured me that all rent has been paid it's just that isn't not paid exactly when the landlord has on their rental agreement, they have to adjust it to make the maths work and that this is a common issue they have with landlords. Letting agent keeps requesting "rental agreement should all be our guide please request arrears paid and all future payments paid in full on the due date" and it's like I can't do that!? I've spoken to the council and they have said they can't change the days its paid etc.
This was last year. I thought it was sorted. Didn't hear a peep from her for ages. Now suddenly she's coming back to me messaging me saying "they still haven't paid on the due date and therefore you're still in arrears". She sent me this email this morning saying I have until TOMORROW to pay the balance and get council to do as they say basically. Threatening court action.

Don't waste time at the council. Visit Shelter or Citizens Advice instead.

Former landlord here.

The baliffs can't just turn up. The eviction process takes time. You need to owe a full two month's rent before the landlord can take any formal action. Then they have to serve you a Section 8 notice, then give you 14 more days to pay. Only after all of that can they apply to go to court and it could be several weeks before a court appt is available. Assuming a court ruled in favour of the landlord you would still have a bit of time before you had to leave (maybe a couple of weeks - can't remember exactly). If you refused to go then they could ask the court to send a baliff, but this could take a few more weeks and you'd be told what day they were coming. If at any point in this process you paid what you owed (or the council paid it) then they'd have to stop asking you to leave.

Assuming the council keeps paying every four weeks, even if they pay later than the letting agent would like, I think it's unlikely you'll ever get to the point of owing two full months rent unless you circumstances change and your HB is withdrawn or reduced.

It's v common for councils to pay on a different date to the contract. The letting agent should know this and she should know that you're unlikely to end up in enough arrears for her to actually be able to start eviction procedures.

As a PP poster has said, I would involve Shelter or a local housing charity. They might be able to explain what I've just said better than me! And they might be able to talk to the Letting Agent directly and tell them to stop hassling you. The local housing charity where I live is brilliant with this sort of thing.

Thank you so much.
I will have a long wait time at the council tomorrow anyway, so I will try to ring Shelter or CAB while I wait and hopefully be able to get an appointment with them too.

To be honest, I think you're wasting your time going to the council until you have worked out how exactly the arrears have built up. I'll be amazed if they are willing go back through your account in detail if it says on their system that your payments are up to date. The onus will be on you to prove to them that they underpaid.

I would at least take a print out of the LA's email as it identifies when the shortfall happened and might give them something to go on.

Here are my rent statemrnts... Will print off and take to them but last time they said it was because basically when they paid the arrears as you can see they paid less than was expected, because the arrear payment was not to cover up until the date LA expected, it was to cover just below 2 weeks before this date, hence being around 2 weeks short. This is what had caused issue as she thinks that payment was supposed to cover more than that and so was short... Iyswim? This is what they mean when they say "we aren't paying for those rental periods"

This shows they haven't received payment for 4 weeks at one time?

I know but council say arrears have been paid it's a nightmare honestly going back and forth

Those 4 weeks were because they changed their bank details and council were processing it, then they were supposed to pay those arrears

Oh no sorry you meant something else

They say that when they paid the arrears the reason the LA had said it is short is because they are expecting a payment to cover up to a certain date, e.g. the next rental due date with all the arrears, but council told me the payment is less than expected because it wasn't covering up to as late as she thought it was

So the payment they made for the first arrears of £3100 something was not supposed to be 3800 something because it wasn't going up to the date that the 3800 would have been due on, it covered a shorter period so is less... Does that make sense?

Can you go to council and give permission for LA to speak about your account - then go to LA and tell them to phone council to sort this mess out.

There is no reason why they can’t accept you giving permissions for LA and in the future you can revoke the permission when it’s sorted

Can you view your housing benefit account online?

Going by what your uploading the letting agree has rent as calendar monthly not 4 weekly

I see what you mean. If you are 4 weeks in arrears, you should always have a deficit of 798.72 but no more. It is the other 256.73 that has gone astray somewhere.

Otherwise, dates need to be lined up by the council and LA so you can work out where the discrepancy has arisen. Both times that they have paid arrears, you should have been left with only the 4 weeks rent in debit, so it looks like they overpaid the first time when you had just moved (was part of this the debt they owed on the previous property?). However, I can't work out how that overpayment has been turned into an underpayment just with the figures and dates given.

You're right, which makes it even odder as the amount shown as paid is always the same as the amount debited, meaning the arrears have stayed at the same level when they should be creeping up. LA has messed up somewhere.

However, I do wonder if your landlord is distancing himself and using this LA because he's no longer happy to get the rent in arrears but doesn't want to deal with it himself.

Prior to the period where housing benefit was suspended/ not paid you were already in arrears by £256.73. This is the discrepancy between the fact housing benefit is paid in arrears and that it's a 4 weekly payment.

Can you show me your tenancy agreement that states it's 4 weekly rent? I think there might be errors on both sides.

Actually, no- if it was listed as calendar months, each date would be 19th of one month to 18th of the next. As it is, there are two dates in May on the final line.

I wish we could edit!!

From my workings out it is 4 weekly. Tbh I can’t make head nor tail of the figures.

I'm doing my own dates and calculations!

Op - I asked up thread when your HB claim started (usually the Monday after you submitted). As this may account for the £256 arrears. Your tenancy started on Weds 19th October, when did you submit your HB claim and can you check when your HB actually started...

Are they saying 3rd - 30th May the arrears period as the payment would be paid at the end of May? So at the moment it’s showing the £1055.45 and then the bottom line is left blank although that will be paid when your HB is paid?

Would be helpful if the LA had stated the date the first arrears was paid.

4 weekly dates.