Hi all, my housing officer has said the deposit and first months rent for a property will be paid for me, but the landlord doesn’t want to wait 15 days. If I pay it now, will I be refunded from DSS / housing benefit?
As far as I know if the deposit is paid by the council, it’s usually paid directly to the landlord in to their bank account. I think your best bet would be to contact the council to see if they will reimburse you. But be warned that if you can find the means to pay it yourself they could refuse to pay it back as you’ll have shown them that you have the means to cover it. Good luck.
payment in 15 days seems quick to me . sounds like a greedy landlord There are a lot of them around
Agreed, it’s not greed though, it’s fear. A government promise of money, is almost as good as money. If the landlord has money troubles, then they should speak to their bank, who would be more than willing to accept the promise of money from the UK Gov. as the basis for a covering loan.
As for you, there are relatively recent law changes regarding standard charges for late payments. So don’t be intimidated by threats, with interest rates so low, the maximum the landlord can expect for compensation is around 4% APR (it depends on the BoE bank rate).