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Landlords

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Landlords' Self Service - View account

Adur landlords

Due to technical issues, we are unable to offer Self Service to our Adur landlords at this time.

The Council is committed to offering a seamless digital experience and is working to provide Self Service by late Spring 2018.

In the meantime please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

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Worthing landlords

In order to use Worthing Self Service you must be a Worthing landlord, and register with us first so that we can send you a PIN. Once you have received your PIN, you will be asked to enter it the next time you to log on to Self Service but after that you will only need your user name and password.

Please follow the registration guide:

Register for a Worthing self service account

Once you have registered you can then:

View your Worthing self service account

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

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I'm concerned that my tenant won't pay the rent

LHA was piloted in 18 Councils for two years prior to April 2008, and The Department for Work & Pensions has commissioned independent research that has found that there has not been a significant increase in the level of rent arrears as the result of the introduction of LHA.

There are safeguards in place to identify tenants who are unlikely to pay the rent, so that enquiries can be made before Housing Benefit payments are issued. Please remember that under the terms of the Data Protection Act, we are unable to release any details about a Housing Benefit claim to you (even to confirm whether or not a claim has been made) unless we have your tenant's written authority to do so.

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My tenant is already in arrears - what can I do?

If a Housing Benefit claim is in payment and:

  • There are eight weeks or more arrears; or
  • The tenant is having deductions made from their Income Support, Job Seeker's Allowance or Employment & Support Allowance by The Department for Work & Pensions

We can consider issuing future payments to the landlord. In the first instance you should confirm the situation in writing so that we can make further enquiries.

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Can my tenant choose to have their Housing Benefit payments sent to me?

No. Under the LHA scheme, there is no element of choice. However, we will endeavour to ensure that tenants are safeguarded when their circumstances mean that they are unlikely to pay the rent. Factors that may be considered include tenants who:

  • Have learning difficulties
  • Have medical or mental health conditions that impair the tenant's ability to manage their own financial affairs
  • Have difficulty with reading, writing or language
  • Have drug, alcohol or gambling addictions or dependencies
  • Are prison leavers or who are fleeing domestic violence
  • Have severe debt problems or who are undischarged bankrupts
  • Have previously claimed Housing Benefit and our records indicate that they have a history of rent arrears

This list in not exhaustive, and each case will be considered on its own merits.

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If I do receive payments, how often will I receive them?

Assuming that the Housing Benefit claim remains in payment, you will receive a payment every four weeks, in respect of the previous four-week period.

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My tenant's Housing Benefit award is more than their rent liability. Will I receive all the money?

If the LHA rate that's applied to the Housing Benefit calculation is more than the contractual rent, the rent that is used in the assessment is capped to the contractual rent plus £15.00 per week.

Generally, the payments sent to you will be a maximum of the contractual rent liability, and any additional Housing Benefit will be paid to the tenant.

However, if the tenant also has rent arrears, we can consider paying the excess to you towards the arrears. Once the arrears have been cleared, payment of the excess will revert to the tenant.

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Do I have any appeal rights?

Generally you do not have the right to appeal about your tenant's Housing Benefit award, including the LHA rate that has been used in the calculation. However, you can appeal about decisions regarding who should receive the Housing Benefit payments.

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If there is an overpayment, will I have to repay the money I have received?

This depends on the cause of the overpayment. If you receive Housing Benefit payments, you have a duty to notify the Council about any changes in the tenant's circumstances that you become aware of (for example, they vacate the accommodation).

You are only likely to be asked to repay an overpayment if we consider that you could reasonably have been expected to know about the change in circumstances that caused the overpayment, or if we consider that you contributed towards a fraudulent benefit claim.

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National Landlords Association (NLA) / Landlord's forum

As a service to our landlords, we have partnered with the National Landlords Association (NLA) to provide you with free information when you register with the NLA Landlord Associate Scheme.

As an associate you will be entitled to:

  • Unlimited free downloads of tenancy agreements and a wide range of other essential forms and documents (many of which are editable online) and maintain your own personal tenancy agreement repository online
  • Receive invitations and free entry to landlord meetings
  • Receive a fortnightly e-newsletter to help you keep pace with developments in the private rented sector
  • Access to selected digitised pages from the NLA's member magazine 'UK Landlord'
  • Participate in NLA landlord surveys
  • Register your landlord accreditation on the National Register of Accredited Landlords, and gain national recognition for your work

If you are not already a member or associate of the NLA, to register as an associate all you need to do is click on the following link and enter your contact details:

Register as a Landlord Associate with the National Landlords Association and Adur and Worthing Borough Council - on the NLA website

We recommend that all landlords take this opportunity to keep up to date with ever changing rules and regulation, and to use reliable forms and letters, drafted by the industry’s largest landlord association.

NLA events in the South East region:

Please see the NLA website for details of upcoming events in the South East region that may be of interest to you:

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Authority to disclose form

The form below was requested as a stand-alone document (it is already incorporated as part of the Council's benefit claim form) to enable landlords to obtain their tenant's written permission for the Benefit Section to disclose information about a benefit claim.

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