LANDLORDS AND HOUSING BENEFIT

Housing Benefit is a scheme to help people pay their rent if they are on a limited income. Local Councils run the scheme using regulations set out by the Government.

Anyone who pays rent for the home they live in can apply but not everyone who pays rent will qualify.

Housing Benefit entitlement depends on the personal circumstances of the tenant as well as the level of rent, so landlords cannot apply on behalf of a tenant.
A claim for Housing or Council Tax Benefit must be made on an official claim form signed by the tenant. We also ask the tenant’s partner to sign the form and anyone who has completed the form on behalf of the claimant.

With the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance on 7 April 2008, if your tenant is making a new claim we will pay their housing benefit directly to them, preferably into a bank account fortnightly in arrears. It will be your tenant’s responsibility to pay their landlord the rent. There are very few times we will pay claimants benefit straight to their landlord under the Local Housing Allowance rules. This means that the claimant will need to open a bank account if they do not already have one. They can then arrange for their bank or building society to pay the rent to their landlord automatically by Direct Debit or standing order.

For further information on Local Housing Allowance and how it affects Landlords please click here

We believe landlords are important stakeholders in the service we provide and therefore it is our aim to work with landlords where we can.
However we can only give you limited information because we have to treat information provided by the claimant as confidential.
We can disclose information to landlords if the tenant by way of written authorisation has given us their consent or they have opted to have payments made directly to their landlord.

There are various things that could delay benefit from being paid for example:

Click on the dates below to see the latest Landlord information

If you would like more information or advice you can:

Write to us at:
Isle of Wight Council
Revenues Division
Council Offices
Broadway
Sandown
Isle of Wight
PO36 9EA

Telephone on – 01983 823950

Email – [email protected]

In Person – you can visit us at any of our local offices

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