Money advice for tenants

Local Housing Allowance is usually paid directly to the tenant.  In most cases payment will be made into the tenant's bank or building society account, if they have one or by cheque.  Tenants cannot choose to have payment made to their landlords but in some cases the local authority may decide it is in the tenant's best interests to do so. 

The tenant will need to make arrangements to pay their landlord themselves.  The easiest way to do this is to set up a direct debit or standing order from their account to their landlord. 

Tenants who do not already have a bank or building society account should consider opening one.

Opening a bank or building society account

If you don't have a bank or building society account, now may be a good time to think about opening one. You should be able to open an account at a bank, building society or at the Oxford Credit Union. Please contact the bank of your choice for more information.

Alternatively, you can get advice about opening and running a bank account from any bank or building society.

If you have already tried to open an account and have not been able to there are many organisations that can help you.  Some are listed below.

Help with managing your money and debt

If you are concerned about managing your money or you have debts, try not to worry, but do not ignore your problem - it won't go away. If you cannot pay your rent because of money problems you may be evicted from your home. You must ask for help. There are many organisations that can give you advice about debt and money problems.  Some are listed below:

What will happen if I don't use my benefit to pay my rent?

As a tenant you are responsible for paying your rent to your landlord. This is the same as for tenants who do not get benefit. If you do not pay your rent your landlord may apply to us to have your benefit paid to them. Or they may take other action to recover their money, including evicting your from your home.

Eviction means that:

• You will lose your home.
• Your benefit may not be paid to you in the future.
• You may have difficulty finding new accommodation, as your landlord is unlikely to give you a reference.
• You will still have to pay the landlord the money you owe and possibly extra money to cover any court costs.
• An application for re-housing could be affected as you may be considered to have made yourself intentionally homeless.

How can I pay my rent?

The easiest way to pay your rent is if you have your benefit paid into a bank or building society account. That way you can arrange to pay the rent to your landlord automatically. This is called a standing order. As long as you have enough money in your account, you won't have to worry about remembering to pay your rent and your landlord will know the rent will be paid automatically.

Where to get more help

If you are struggling to live on the money you have or are experiencing problems with debt, you may want to think about whether you are getting all the benefits or tax credits that you are entitled to.

For more information and advice you can visit the Managing Money section of the Directgov website. This also has a wide range of public service information and links to other organisations which you may find useful if you are looking for help or advice.

Page last reviewed 12 October 2011