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Home Grounds to consider a vulnerable tenant - LHA

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Payments and benefits

Below is a list of different circumstances where we may pay your landlord the local housing allowance instead of you.

Under Local Housing Allowance (LHA) payments will be made to the claimant unless they are considered vulnerable. Claimants will not have the choice to request direct payments to their landlord.

The guidance states that a Local Authority may feel it is appropriate to make payments direct to a landlord when the tenant is unlikely to pay their rent because:

we think that you are likely to have difficulty managing your own affairs
we think that you are unlikely to use your Local Housing Allowance to pay your rent
you have built up eight weeks or more rent arrears
you are having deductions made from your Income Support, Jobseekers’ Allowance or Guarantee Credit to pay off rent arrears; or
you qualify for backdated Local Housing Allowance or there has been a delay in processing your claim and a large amount of benefit is to be paid. In these cases we can decide to make the first payment of LHA by cheque payable to your landlord, although it would be sent to you.

How do we assess whether or not you or your landlord is paid?

Below is further details as to whether or not we pay you or your landlord

Grounds for paying your landlord	Evidence required to support the application
Grounds for long term payments	Evidence required
Tenant has a learning disability that prevents them from managing their finances.	Care/Support Worker Social Worker DWP - (evidence of benefits) GP
Tenant suffers from a Medical Condition that makes it hard for them to cope with routine tasks E.G. schizophrenia, dementia, terminal illness.	Care/Support Worker GP Social Worker Hospital
Tenant has a physical disability that means that they are often housebound making it difficult for them to manage their affairs.	Care/Support Worker GP Social Worker Hospital
Grounds for temporary/short term payments	Evidence required
Tenant has experienced recent changes that has meant they need additional support in managing their affairs. E.G. bereavement; relationship breakdown; period in hospital; leaving prison, leaving care.	Care/Support Workers GP Social Worker Hospital Probation Officers Family/Friends
Tenant speaks English only as a second language, presenting obstacles to them in opening and running bank accounts; reading and dealing with invoices and bills.	Written Evidence from Support Organisations that arrears/debts have occurred as a result of not understanding correspondence
Tenant is dealing with (or has a history of) addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling and a substantial monetary payment to them would present a risk of relapsing.	Support Organisations Advisory services GP Social Worker Hospital Care/Support Workers Supporting People Special Needs Unit
Tenant has a history of homelessness and / or rough sleeping and is receiving help to sustain a tenancy in the private sector.	Housing Advice Advice/Welfare Agencies Homelessness Teams
Grounds for financial issues	Evidence required
Tenant has severe debt problems E.G. CCJs; bad credit rating that prevents opening bank accounts; undischarged bankruptcy.	Creditors letters Court orders Solicitors Bankruptcy/petition order CAB DWP JobCentre Plus are paying benefit directly to Utility company