Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to pay housing benefit to the complainant who is a landlord. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council will not pay him housing benefit for a tenant who has rent arrears. Mr X wants the Council to pay him £10,500.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing benefit

4. Tenants can claim housing benefit to help them pay their rent. Councils usually pay the benefit to the tenant but must pay it to the landlord if the landlord has provided evidence the tenant has rent arrears of at least eight weeks. A council can only pay housing benefit to the landlord if there is a benefit claim in payment.
5. A tenant can claim housing benefit for their main home. It is the responsibility of the tenant to start or end a claim or to claim benefit for a different home. It is the responsibility of the tenant to pay the rent, regardless of whether they receive housing benefit.

What happened

6. Mr X is a landlord. He rented a property to a tenant. The tenant received housing benefit. In January 2020 Mr X asked the Council to pay the housing benefit to him because the tenant had rent arrears. In response the Council said the tenant had claimed housing benefit for a new address from December 2019 and she was not entitled to housing benefit for Mr X’s property from December. The Council said there was no housing benefit it could pay to Mr X.
7. Mr X said the tenant remained in the property until March. He provided the end of tenancy document and said visits had been done which showed the tenant was still in his property. In response the Council explained it had visited the tenant in her new home, and received other evidence confirming she had moved. The Council accepted the tenant had access to Mr X’s property until March but said it can only pay housing benefit for a main home and the tenant was claiming housing benefit for her new home as her main residence. The Council said it could not pay any money to Mr X and the rent arrears were a matter between Mr X and the tenant. The Council said Mr X could contact the Department for Work and Pensions if he thought there had been benefit fraud.
8. Mr X says the Council should pay the rent arrears because the tenant was in the property until March and he had told the Council she had rent arrears.

Assessment

9. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. It was for the tenant to decide whether she wanted to treat Mr X’s property, or the new property, as her main residence and it was for the tenant to decide to switch her housing benefit to the new property. Although the tenant had rent arrears the Council could only have paid the benefit to Mr X if there was a claim in payment for his property. The tenant did not have a benefit claim in payment, for Mr X’s property, from December so there was no benefit the Council could pay to Mr X. The fact that her tenancy continued until March, and she had access to the property until March, does not mean the Council can pay money to Mr X. Mr X would need to seek the arrears from the tenant.
10. Mr X says the Council delayed responding to him after he made contact in January. However, in January and February the Council carried out checks to make sure the tenant was living in the new home. Even if there was some delay it did not affect the housing benefit because, by then, there was no housing benefit the Council could pay to Mr X.
11. Mr X also complains the Council has not commented on the £2000 he returned to the tenant. This, however, is a matter between him and the tenant and is nothing to do with the Council.
12. Mr X says the Council paid housing benefit to the tenant but, after October, she did not use it to pay her rent. This is unfortunate but it was the tenant’s responsibility to pay the rent and a council cannot force a tenant to use the housing benefit for the correct purpose. And, as has already been explained, the Council could not change the payment to Mr X in January because the tenant was not eligible for housing benefit for that property after December.

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Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman