Local Housing Allowance Vulnerability Policy

Under Local Housing Allowance (LHA) a tenant cannot simply request that their payments are made to their landlord.  

We can pay Local Housing Allowance to the landlord if we decide a tenant is vulnerable.

What do we mean by vulnerable?

By vulnerable we mean someone who may have difficulty managing their money. We do not mean someone who does not want to pay their rent.

How do we protect vulnerable tenants?

To protect vulnerable tenants the council will apply a discretion to pay the landlord.  This policy sets out the guidelines by which officers will make decisions.  

Aims and Objectives

• to provide a safeguard for the most vulnerable tenants and reassure them that their benefit and rent will be paid
• to help prevent rent arrears and tenants being put at risk of eviction
• to help sustain tenancies for vulnerable tenants
• to reassure landlords that their rent will be paid if they have vulnerable tenants or are approached by vulnerable tenants
• to ensure council officers make reasonable, fair and consistent decisions
• to promote a transparent and simple process that is widely understood
• to treat each case individually and to avoid making assumptions about people's situations

The policy is not designed to:

• supersede support that is being received by tenants and helping them to be responsible for their own income and expenditure
• be a blanket policy for agencies providing support to private tenants
• be used by landlords to circumvent the aims of LHA

Procedure

1. Alerting the council of potential vulnerability

The tenant or their representative makes the council aware that they would prefer their LHA to be paid to the landlord.  The request needs to be supported with written evidence from a third party, but initially can be by:

• a letter / email
• a phone call
• the application form

2. Gathering information and evidence

Officers will consider the information that has been received and whether there is enough evidence to make an appropriate decisions.  Evidence can be from:

• Social Services
• GP
• support or advisory services like the CAB
• a tenant's family or friends

Evidence from a landlord cannot be accepted alone

3. Making a decision

One of two decisions will be recommended and approved by a Senior Officer

1. the tenant is vulnerable and payment of LHA will be made to the landlord
2. the tenant is not vulnerable and payment of LHA will be made to the tenant

4.Notifying affected parties

The tenant and/or their representative will be written to and advised of the following:

• the decision
• The reason for the decision
• If and when this decision will be reviewed
• appeal rights
• advice agencies, voluntary or statutory organisations that may help them

The landlord will also be written to and advised:

• if their tenant has been found vulnerable and the council will pay them LHA up to the contractual rent
• if and when the decision will be reviewed
• request bank details if not previously received
• if their tenant has been found not to be vulnerable, the landlords appeal rights against this decision

Examples of Vulnerability

Reasons that we might pay the landlord instead of the tenant might be because the tenant:

• has a medical condition (affecting their mental or physical health)
• has a learning disability or a physical disability
• does not speak English as their first language
• is going through some changes that means the tenant needs some extra support
• is dealing with an addiction (to alcohol or drugs)     
• has severe debt problems e.g. CCJs, bankruptcy, or a bad credit rating preventing them from a bank account

Related Documents

Application for direct payments  (72.89 KB)