Something I always thought I knew - am I right?

I had a conversation today with someone who works for Housing Benefit about a tenant whose tenancy ended mid week.  We were discussing when Housing Benefit should have ended.

Was I right when I said that Housing Benefit at the end of a tenancy should end on the same date as the rent liability or were they right when they said it should be paid to the end of that week?

Mairi

Hi

If they are moving outside the local authority area HB ends the Sunday following the tenancy end date.

If they are moving within the LA area its just a supersession.

Thanks

Allan

Thanks Allan,

I still don’t understand why Housing Benefit would be paid for a period when there’s no rental liability.  In the case I was discussing the tenant moved to somewhere she had no rent liability.

Free money seems an unusual concept in these days of austerity - but that’s exactly what the tenant would have as there would be a small credit on her rent account as a result.

Anyone else any views?  Regulations?

Mairi

Yeah, I often thought the same.

It’s regulation 79.

P.S as the reg applies to all other changes which end entitlement (income, applicable amount, household etc) it could just be a beneficial technicality (I think!).

Thanks again Allan.

I’ve got no issue with benefit ending or changing at the end of the week if the tenant has had a change in circumstances and still has rent liability - I just had something in my head which said that if the rent liability ends no Housing Benefit should be paid for that property for any period after that date.

It’s an unusual case anyway - normally we wouldn’t notice because the Housing Benefit would be eaten up by pre-existing rent arrears but this tenant had a clear rent account and the credit caught my eye!

Mairi

If it is a daily charge then HB would pay up to last day. If weekly would pay to full week even if tenant moved out mid week. If tenant has an unavoidable period of notice, benefit can cover up to four weeks but landlord should have opportunity to relet earlier. In your case if rent liability ended so should housing benefit.

I think the vague intention behind this surprising loophole was originally based around the idea that people usually have to wait until the start of the next week before their HB starts, so if the end of their award runs on to the next week as well they will get a week of HB for each week in which their circumstances support it.  But people who claim HB from the start of their tenancy normally get HB from the start as well, so there is a small windfall there.

The Regulations providing for this are among the most complex in the whole scheme - various different paragraphs of Regs 79 and 80 are engaged, it’s a combination of the effective date of the change of circs plus the amount of eligible rent in the final week of the award. The result, after you carefully analyse it all, is:

- daily liability ends: HB ends on same day with eligible rent for final week based on number of days’ actual liability
- weekly or monthly liability ends (on any day of the week) and tenant remains in occupation during that week: HB ends from the following week with a full week’s eligible rent, even if the real life liability did not cover the whole week
- tenancy ends in a week after the claimant has moved out, but the claimant is still treated as occupying the dwelling under HB Reg 7: HB ends from the last day allowed under Reg 7 with eligible rent based on a part week if the Reg 7 period ends mid-week.

If you are sharp-eyed you will notice that Reg 7 only deals in “benefit weeks”, which are invariably Monday to Sunday for HB.  There is a conflict between that and the assumption in Regs 79 and 80 that a four-week overlap/notice period can begin and end on any day of the week.  I think the sensible view is that Reg 7 should apply to a period of four calendar weeks starting on any day, otherwise Reg 79 and 80 just completely unravel.