Tenant has left property, council have emailed me asking for rent overpayment for 2015, I was paid direct and this is the first time I have been made aware of this, amount paid by council did drop but tenant topped up. She told me her son had left education. where do I stand?, I have opened a dispute with authority
Question
Housing Benefit and Universal Credit (England) | Preventing Controlling and Recovering Rent Arrears (England)
Council claiming rent arrears
Answer
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2 Comments
The local authority can only reclaim housing benefit from the person who failed to disclose a material fact causing the overpayment. It is possible for a landlord to owe the money back but only if the landlord could reasonably have known it was an overpayment (for example if you knew a tenant had vacated but still carried on receiving the housing benefit). Otherwise, it would normally be the tenant who must pay back the money.
Please see here for full details.
Thank you for this information very helpful