i work for a housing association. generally if our lettings team notify an applicant that they will be offered a property, they get them to submit a HB claim form, if it seems they will have HB entitlement

one of our HB offices are asking us not to do this.

my general understanding is that a new tenant could enter a claim for benefit up to four weeks in advance. unfortunately at the mo i only have chris smith's 'guide to housing managers'at hand and i cant find reference to this matter in there

it seems the HB office are a bit nervous that they may take time to process the claim and then the applicant may not move in, in which case theyve wasted their time. however, the percentage of prospective tenants thad drop out is very very low, so we dont consider this a genuine concern

i appreciate that as always in the world of benefits there are often many 'buts' and 'what ifs etc to complicate matters, but we're just looking for the general rule

thanks in advance

Its regulation 83(10) of the HB Regs 2006 and its 13 weeks not 4.

...and 17 weeks in advance for pensioners.

great. many thanks for your help

Two observations, one of which is useful, the other not such good news.

1) I don't understand why the Council is worried about the PI. The date of claim is when the clmt moves in.

2) HBR 83(1) is discretionary. The Council is within its rights to refuse such a claim - obviously subject to the usual fettering arguments.

Regards