Uc and housing costs

[Ucconfused12]

Me again with another silly question as I try to get my head around uc and how it works.

So I normally pay my landlord for a month ahead on 17th of each month. I recently found out I was actually entitled to uc help with housing so this month they are going to pay my landlord £500 towards rent to cover the period 18th feb- 18th March. However I've already paid the rent in full in February so does this mean my landlord is going to get £500 that really should be coming to me? I paid in full in February as I wasn't sure what the entitlements would be and didn't want to be in arrears. Uc contacted the landlord directly and he chose direct payments to him even though I had asked uc to pay me so then I'd know what I'd need to pay the landlord to top up the rent each month to keep myself right, but apparently I don't get to choose.

Can anyone clarify how this works and if there will be an overpayment and how I get this back? Sorry I'm still getting my head around it all and find it very confusing. I did ask uc but I just get very short responses on my journal and its not clear.

Why not just have the housing allowance paid to you and continue to pay the rent yourself?

You need to challenge UC on this. Default is for Housing Costs to go to tenant. It can be paid directly to the landlord etc if there are arrears. They also allow it to people who move from legacy Housing Benefit who are long accustomed to money going to Landlord.

Cannot understand why they approached the LL at all.

They don't normally pay the landlord directly unless you are in rent arrears??? Also you should get the housing allowance as part of your universal credit payment then you pay the landlord. That's how mine has always worked but its been a while since I set up the claim and it might have changed since

Yes I found this really strange as well because surely its my claim as opposed to the landlords claim so thereforemy responsibility to manage. I totally get there are people on uc who might struggle to manage their money and would get in arrears but I've never missed a rent payment in my life. I have however had issues with uc not paying at Christmas and then when I changed job and my salary pay date changed so my worry is looking unreliable to my landlord whereas if I just pay directly then at least I know exactly what's been paid and that I'm up to date.

I did challenge them on it and said I'd prefer to be paid directly but they said that it's the landlords choice not the tenants choice and the landlord said he wanted all payments to go directly to him. Which means he'll be overpaid for February and I'll need to either get him to agree to a rent reduction for a few months or I'll need to chase him to reimburse me. I didn't know they were going to contact my landlord at all, surely its none of his business if I'm claiming uc or not. I'm in Northern Ireland so maybe rules are different here but I know years ago it was up to the claimant to choose.

@Ucconfused12 ahhh. I'd assumed GB.

NI is a different proposition.

Is the landlord a housing association or Local authority?

I suggest making a request for a mandatory reconsideration and see what happens

If they don't change then go to appeal

No it's a private landlord. They said they won't review it and obviously I don't want a back and forth with the landlord if they're going to go back to him again.

@Ucconfused12 housing element is automatically paid to landlord in Northern Ireland. But the guidence does say you can ask for it to be paid to you if you meet criteria

What is your total rent? You landlord will need to credit or refund you for any difference

Ask for a rent statement and go from there with them