I have tenants, refused to pay some rent since December, refusing to pay all rent for past three months. I have twice a week, over the past two months, applied for Direct Payments from Universal Credit. I received three E messages from UC, stating a raft of reasons refusal could be given. Tenants are keeping the rent paid by UC. I have made at least six more attempts with UC online, and received no reply. I have applied for Court (£355) beginning of May. Have not heard from them at all. We have accumulated more than £4000 of arrears including court fees. How long is this torture … and is there any prospect of UC paying the arrears? By the way, the tenant is demanding a new contract.
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Dont give them a new contract.
Speak to Bill Irvine at UC Advocacy. He is the expert on all things UC.
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Scumbag tenants again Give no paperwork… UC are scumbags as well you will get no advice or help from them. tke David advice
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That is an option. Advice is subject to a membership of £80, but the web site fronted by Bill Irvine does give advice about all things UC.
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Alternatively, you can get advice from Bill on the NRLA forum if you join as a member.
I am an NRLA member so will do the above. Meanwhile I have made a complaint to DWP as the Gov site says Universal Credit must resolve arrears in a timely manner. Permitting 6 months arrears is not timely, and I doubt it can ever be recovered in a timely manner now.
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you will never get help from the LA . another reason not to rent to those dependant on UC . sadly LA are mostly rubbish and only interested in a one sided game
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Post a question in the UC forum at NRLA and Bill usually answers after a while.
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Agreed: looks like i am going to have to wait for the Court case - hope i get that in the near future, then wait for the bailiffs… then suck up the losses. Meanwhile the tenants have managed to suck up the rent - with no claw back. Awesome. If UC overpay me they demand the overpayment returned. Meanwhile, I am renovating another property for tenants, and have £7000 electrician bill to pay for, kitchen and bathroom refurb, and my bank account drained by UC folk. Lesson learned.
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The LA is as scumbag as your tenant You cannot trust the Local Authority at all
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I’m in exactly the same position. Arrears & when applied for Direct Payment, tenant “disputed it” and kept all the rent. Arrears now £6,000. Have tried local authority…rubbish. Have tried DWP…rubbish. All hide behind ‘data protection’. My tenant was working but as soon as Covid hit, decided to milk that gravy train. Have just completed 'mediation 
’ and will now proceed to eviction & CCJ.
Will never see any of the arrears and there will be considerable repairs as interim inspection has confirmed. I WILL obtain a CCJ to prevent him doing this to another private landlord. The LA can have him & if a private landlord takes him with a CCJ, more fool him/her!
So; any landlord even if their tenant is working with references, can find themselves in this position if the tenant stops working and claims & withholds benefits.
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Thank you for your reply - looks like you are a little ahead of me (in terms of time and loss of rent). The tenant is disputing the rent, is asking to mediate, by that, agree to no rent and to give them a new contract. They have talked themselves into believing they do not need to pay rent, and nothing i say will change that. DWP has just emailed me, and asked me to supply my original email to them (which of course I don’t have because I used their online form that does not record for my use my input). I have heard nothing back yet from UC or DWP. I am still awaiting to hear from the court. How is this allowed to happen? So much for NRLA who are busy bringing in rafts of legislation for landlords to adhere to. Why isn’t NRLA bringing in Direct Landlord Payments as a priority?
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yes benefit tenants have figured this out now (how to keep rent paid by taxpayers/Universal Credit).
Exact same issue for me. Its a new normal and shared between benenfit tenants.
If you try to evict rent arrears they can settle under the 2 month threshold right up until the moment the judge sits down. Cost you a fortune in legal fees (and stress)… rinse repeat…
The Govt/Shelter solution is to abolish S21 and add more red tape for Landlords which somehow they think makes LL more warm and receptive to taking on benefit tenants.
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serve section 21 now - You are made to wait
The conclusion is simple: don’t rent to UC. Rent to hard-working people with proven record of employment going back a few years uninterrupted. The only exception for me are disabled people.
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Sound advice here - Even if the UC tenants pay they will never leave! They will fight you until the end because they know that there is no other place for them.
I am in process of evicting a tenant from a three bed house - He is on UC - Always paid on time but below market rent - Am quite sure he is subletting but I turned a blind eye - Told him last December needed house back when fixed term finished - He keeps telling me he is looking
Filed Section 21 but he put in a defence saying EPC not served : )
So I reserved the EPC and sent a section 21 and will issue another posession claim - Waste of court fee and time but I am determined to get rid of him and wont let to UC again
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This is what makes it harder for good UC applicants. One bad UC puts you off for life. Since the Gov changed the rules to pay the Housing part tp tenant and not landlord I will not take UC No use anyone saying “you Can get it payed direct to you” , as the claiment can put a stop to this any time they wish
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I had a tenant on UC move into my house. She defaulted on the first two months payments. I put the application in off the goverment website for direct UC payments and did not receive any confirmation of the application. I called to chase and mostly the call handlers hung up when I said I was the landlord. My tenant had not changed her address on her journal and one call handle accused me directly of fraud say that I was attempted to claim rent for a property where no UC claimant lived and that I would be prosecuted! There is no way of contacting UC if you are a Landlord not by phone or email. They do not want to speak directly to us. Rather insulting really when we provide housing for the goverment and take all the risks!
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I see posts like this and it upsets me greatly being someone who is on UC (and Carers Allowance) the behaviour of SOME benefits claimants is the reason why SOME LL are reluctant to let to us
I appreciate not all of the people on UC or any other benefit entitlements are the same but as is so often in life the minority spoil ot for the majority
And as someone who within the foreseeable future will have to look for new accommodation (may have to rely on LA to rehouse and could end up 30+ miles away) it bothers me greatly that these “scroungers” are spoiling and tarnishing the image of the majority of the people on benefits that are decent
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Any tenant, regardless of whether or not they receive DSS, has the potential to be disruptive and cost you a lot of time, effort, energy and money. There really are no guarantees as it ultimately comes down to an individuals character
The fact that people receive DSS does not mean that they all share the same character traits. The same applies for people not receiving DSS. Not all of those people are trustworthy, organised, reliable or kind, regardless of how they earn their money. Every case is individual.
Having a working tenant you aren’t actually protecting yourself as much as you think you are, as you are always going to be vulnerable to your tenant’s personal character, regardless of how they receive their income. And this is someone who due to disability is on UC.