Tenants from the council/DWP not paying rent?
12:01 AM, 5th August 2026, 18 hours ago
3
Hello, I have two tenants who have been with me for over two years with the rent paid by the council or Universal Credit.
They were both were vetted by the council, and the rent paid.
Two months ago, the rent payment stopped.
Since then there has been no rent on both and no suggestion of when this can be resolved. They won’t talk to me or my agent, citing protection of privacy.
The tenants are living in my properties so do I have any legal route as this is nonsense to withhold information and rents.
Thank you,
Martyn
Tags:
council rent payments, direct rent payments, landlord legal rights, landlord rent arrears, tenant benefit payments, Universal Credit rent
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Member Since September 2023 - Comments: 28
11:36 AM, 5th August 2026, About 6 hours ago
Hi. I’ve had similar situations. Contact DWP / universal credit in writing declaring the rent arrears and asking for the rent to be paid directly to you, the tenants may have said they are paying you and have no arrears. Include all names on the agreement as the claim may have changed to a partner. Provide proof for them, showing arrears.
The local authority will not help you or cooperate with you as the tenant is their “client”, not you, but you can ask if you have a council tax liability at the property? If you do not, they are still registered as living there. We’ve had tenants who are moving and fancy a few months free overlap to get the new place ready. The council won’t tell you if your tenants have left, even if they are aware.
I would start a section eight as soon as you can, if you haven’t already, join a landlord organisation such as the NRLA. They will guide you through the process.
Sadly nobody is on your side and often officialdom acts only for tenants, not in any moral way.
Best of luck.
Member Since December 2018 - Comments: 11
12:02 PM, 5th August 2026, About 6 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Matthew Jude at 05/08/2026 – 11:36
I had a similar problem. O rent for 6 months. On contacting Universal Credit the reply was they would not send her rent direct as she , the tenant had means to pay herself.
Two section 8 s later no rent
18 months later after money wasted on a debt collector, she vanished taking the keys, leaving her stuff in the property.
I obtained a court order to evict her
She vanished never paid rent did not appear in court and I still had to issue a TORT to be able to dispose of her abandoned belongings, which I did again at my expense. She had trashed the property.
The whole lot set me back 15 k
Member Since January 2023 - Comments: 10
4:51 PM, 5th August 2026, About 53 minutes ago
Quite simple. Fill out a uc47 form and send it to universal credit. Within a month the payments will be sent to you direct. I have about 30 tenants on u/c. Works every time. Is a great business model, my arrears are always lower with that side of my business