Overpayment of housing benefit - advice for landlords
If your tenant has an existing overpayment
If your tenant has an overpayment of Housing Benefit that they have to repay, then we will recover the overpayment from their ongoing Housing Benefit payments.
If benefit is paid directly to you then we will tell you how much will be deducted from the benefit that we send to you on your payment schedules. Your tenant will have to provide the additional rent to you themselves.
The current rate of recovery is £11.25 per week, £45.00 per four weekly benefit payment. If the overpayment is a result of substantiated fraud then the recovery rate will be increased to £18.75 per week, £75 per four weekly benefit payment.
If you receive Housing Benefit directly and an overpayment occurs
If you receive Housing Benefit directly in respect of your tenant then you will both be notified of any overpayments that occur as they may be legally recoverable from either of you.
After one calendar month we will decide whom to recover the overpayment from
If you have been overpaid
If you have been overpaid, for example if you fail to tell us that your tenant has moved out, then we will notify you of the overpayment and your appeal rights.
If you still receive Housing Benefit for other tenants then we will recover the money owed from the payments we make to you.
This is recovery from you as a landlord and cannot be classed as rent arrears owing by those tenants whose benefits have been reduced.
If you think our decision is wrong
A landlord can appeal only against a decision:
- Whether or not to pay them direct
- The reason for overpaid Housing Benefit
- Whether the overpayment is legally recoverable from them
You cannot appeal if we decide to recover any overpayment from you if we can legally recover it, however if you think that we should recover an overpayment from your tenant instead you can write to us giving your reasons why and we will review our decision from whom to recover.
You can write to us at:
City of Lincoln and North Kesteven District Council Shared Services
Revenues & Benefits Office
PO Box 1257
Lincoln
LN5 5PQ.