what are the implications of a tenant claiming HB?

[maxiewaxie]

My tenant says he has lost his job and will need to claim Housing Benefit. i've never had a tenant on HB before but I know many landlords aren't keen so I was wondering what the implications are.
many thanks

[kags]

The first issue is that payment of the benefit can sometimes take a long time - a couple of years ago I had to wait nearly 3 months for a tenant's benefit to come through.
In addition to this, the local authority may not pay the full rent you are currently charging.
On the plus side, the authority will pay the rent directly to you, so no rent collecting!
The other issue, and this is the reason why a lot of landlords do not like taking tenants on Housing benefit, is that a minority of these tenants have less regard for the property as it is not their own money they are paying over.
This is down to the individual tenant and how much you can screen them beforehand.

[maxiewaxie]

Thanks for that. the situation is that we own the whole house and pay council tax and water rates as 1 dwelling as when we moved in my daughter lived downstairs. now we let it out I have kept it as 1 dwelling and wouldn't want to change this. Presumably if someone claims HB the local authority will aslo look into the council tax issue. The flat is self contained but would easily convert back to 1 house as there is only a petition wall to remove. Any more help on this would be greatly appreciated.
many thanks

[kags]

You can still claim HB if you are a lodger in someone else's house. You would need to consider what declarations you have made on electoral roll forms etc to decide whether you can truthfully claim this to be the case, and also what declariaitons the tenant has made.

[kags]

"declarations" even!

[maxiewaxie]

Thanks very much for your help