Overpayments of benefit

What happens if my tenant is overpaid Housing Benefit?

Overpayments may occur if we are not told about a tenant's change of circumstances soon enough. If you become aware of any change that may affect your tenant's benefit please let us know straightaway. In particular, please inform us as soon as your tenant moves out of their home.

Most overpayments are recoverable and the law states that an overpayment can be recovered from either the person who caused the overpayment or the person to whom the overpayment was made. This may apply to you if you are receiving direct payments of benefit.

How will any overpayment be recovered?

There are a number of ways that we may recover an overpayment of benefit:

If your tenant is still entitled to benefit we may reduce their weekly payment by a set amount until the full overpayment has been recovered. This will apply even if the benefit payments are being paid directly to you.
If your tenant has moved and the payment was being made direct to you then the overpayment may be deducted from other payments made to you in respect of other tenants. We will advise you if we take this decision.
If your tenant is no longer receiving benefit we may issue an invoice to your tenant or to yourself.

If you receive a letter advising you that we intend to recover an overpayment from you and you want more information you should write to us straightaway. If you disagree with the decision you can ask us to reconsider our decision. You should write to us within 1 month of receiving the notice of our intention to recover the money from you. You may also appeal to the independent Tribunals Service. Refer to our article on Appeals for more information.