How we pay Housing Benefit

Social housing

If you rent from a registered social landlord (for example Lincolnshire Housing Partnership) you can choose to have your payments made to you or your landlord.

Private renting

If you rent from a private landlord and we work out your claim under the local housing allowance (LHA) rules, we will usually pay your housing benefit direct to you, but there are some circumstances when we can pay directly to your landlord.

When payments are made

We pay housing benefit:

to tenants every two weeks in arrears (for the two weeks already passed)
to landlords, every four weeks in arrears (for the four weeks already passed)

How payments are made

Payments are always made by bank transfer (BACS), so we need to know the relevant bank or building society account name, sort code and account number. Each time a payment is made to a landlord we send them a schedule showing which tenant the payment is for, the amount and, the period it covers.

If you do not have a bank account, we may pay your housing benefit to your landlord for a short time until you have opened one.

For help and advice on opening a bank account visit the Money advice service .

Payment direct to landlords

Under local housing allowance (LHA) rules housing benefit will normally be paid to the tenant, but there may be circumstances where we can pay direct to the landlord.

Examples of when we can pay your landlord directly:

you have a learning disability
you have an addiction such as drugs, alcohol or gambling
you have severe debt problems or have been declared bankrupt
a landlord makes it a condition of your tenancy

These are only examples and we consider each situation based on your situation. If you think you will have problems paying your rent, please contact the benefits team immediately.

You can also have payments made direct to your landlord to get a tenancy or to keep a tenancy where:

your rent is set at, or reduced to, the LHA rate for your household or you can afford the rent (if it is higher than the LHA rate), then we may be able to make payments direct to your landlord
a landlord makes it a condition of your tenancy, the rent is set at the LHA rate for your household or you can afford the rent, we may be able to make payments direct to your landlord

For more information on direct payments to your landlord contact the benefits team.