Do we need a new tenancyagreement??

[emdavis]

Looking for some advice please as fairly new to letting a property.

Our tenants (after being late on a few months rental payments) have finally told us that they are now receiving HB. Due to this we are making arrangements for them to have the HB paid directly to us and this also means that rent will now be paid 4 weeks in arrears as opposed to a month in advance.

This is all generally fine and we can work through it (I hope), but I want to know if we need to draw up a new tenancy agreement as the payment amount and frequency is changing? Or is this completely the wrong way of doing things in the first place??

[SPEEDTWIN]

1 you dont need another contract

2 as payment coming direct to you the council can ask you to repay it if there is a overpayment

3 You will recieved 13 payments (in arrears) per year so if council not paying in full to work out s/fall, times payment by 13 then divide by 12 will then give you pcm figure.

4 If you trust the tenant get them to recieve payment (the council cant come back to you then) but still tell tenant that the rent is due on original agreed date.

5 I would serve a section 21/8 if possible and tell them verberly it will be inforced if rent not brought up to date (harsh i know but if if they have been late before they will do it again)

As a rule i will accept HB direct if tenant cercenstanes are not likely to change (single parent good example) but if the tenant partners move in/out or starting new job the HB payment will keep starting and stopping and changing amount which you will then have to keep working out. You dont want or need that, let them work it out and all you need ask for is full rent on set due day.

If you do decide to have payment direct to you get the tenant to sign a letter that they are happy for HB dept to disscuss all aspects of the claim with you (the landlord). Tenants always say it is HB dept fault payment hasnt come thro when normally is is because they have not sent off some form or another and you can phone HB dept and ask.

If the payment goes direct to the tenant and they still dont pay as soon as they are 2 months in arrears (= 1 month and 1 day) inform council in writing and payment will come to you.

hope this helps

dave

[Simon Dewsberry]

Also to add to the dave's thoughts:

Get a fully referenced Guarantor in place as HB is VERY likely to stop for no apparent reason (like T working and not declaring , moving partner in and not informing) and HB just being completely incompetant ......sure others will concur !!

Simon

[emdavis]

Thank you both for your replies.

1. We already have guarantors on the tenancy agreement so should be OK there.

2. Wanted to go down the route of HB being paid directly to us due to the fact that within the past 18 months since tenants moved in there have been numerous occasions when they have been late with the rent or only paid part and part during a month, so cannot trust them to pay on time or the full amount and thought this route would be better for all (though starting to wonder based on comments made here)

3. Thank you for clarifying about the calculating the remainder of rent into 12 monthly payments as had read something like this on here and did wonder if that is what we should be doing as opposed to asking the tenant to pay any remainder 4-weekly.

4. I cannot see their circumstances changing so this seems to be the best route (couple living together with 2 young children) as it appears that despite them saying that both had got jobs when they moved to the area last year, it seems that only the man now has a job, hence them being late on payments and now claiming HB (though they only told me this in the past month or so).

Again thank you, it has clarified a lot of things for me.