Can HAP rent arrears come off a tenants deposit?

L

landlord

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I have a tenant on the homeless HAP scheme. All of the rent comes from HAP at the moment and the tenant pays me nothing directly. I am receiving the max allowed under the homeless HAP scheme. I did not increase the rent last year to avoid the tenant having to pay me anything out of his own pocket. This year due to increasing costs I want to put up the rent by just 2%. The tenant has said they can’t afford to pay anything out of their own pocket, which is fine, I don’t want to evict them. However I do want to RTB “register” the increased rent to avoid falling behind in future potential rent and property value.
I initially secured a double deposit for this property (the tenant did not pay any of this). Can the rent arrears come off this deposit when they move out? Thanks.
 
Shouldn't the tenant be paying you part of the HAP? I was under the impression that when the tenant stops paying their portion, then payment stops.
 
noproblem said:
Shouldn't the tenant be paying you part of the HAP? I was under the impression that when the tenant stops paying their portion, then payment stops.
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No, the tenant pays their contribution to the local authority.

How Does HAP Work? | Housing Assistance Payment

hap.ie hap.ie
  • The local authority will make a monthly payment to the landlord. This payment is made on the last Wednesday of each month. The payment is subject to terms and conditions including rent limits, and that the HAP tenant pays their rent contribution to the local authority.
  • The HAP tenant pays their rent contribution to the local authority. Rent contributions will generally be made through An Post’s Household Budget Scheme. If the HAP tenant does not pay this rent contribution, HAP payments to their landlord will be suspended and eventually stopped. The HAP tenant is then responsible for paying the full rent themselves.
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noproblem said:
Well ok, but my point was, if the tenant stops paying then the Landlord gets nothing and cannot evict the person living free in his house.
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if no rent is received surely you can being steps for eviction. Contact is between landlord and tenant not HAP.
 
landlord said:
I did not increase the rent last year to avoid the tenant having to pay me anything out of his own pocket.
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That is not allowed under HAP as far as I know.
The tenant pays their contribution to the Local Authority.
Not to the landlord.
 
The tenant informs HAP of the increase. Copy given to the council. HAP decide what the tenant should pay Based on their income or benefit.
If the rent is over the amount allowed based on their family dynampics they the tenant pay the top up themselves to the landlord.
As the tenant was on homeless HAP the council may pay the extra amount towards the rent.
Do the rent increase notice by the book and used the templates on RTB.
Your tenant needs to be proactive. If the tenant ignores your notice the council will not help your tenant.
 
ClubMan said:
That is not allowed under HAP as far as I know.
The tenant pays their contribution to the Local Authority.
Not to the landlord.
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Tenant pays their share to the council but if the rent is over their limit they pay extra to the landlord directly but they need to inform the council that pays HAP for them. There are allowances where the council can increase payment based in the rent charged. They tenant may not need to pay extra As they were on homeless HAP.
 
Sconeandjam said:
Tenant pays their share to the council but if the rent is over their limit they pay extra to the landlord directly but they need to inform the council that pays HAP for them. There are allowances where the council can increase payment based in the rent charged. They tenant may not need to pay extra As they were on homeless HAP.
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The HAP site says that the tenant doesn't pay the landlord directly.
 
I am now in direct talks via email and phone call with a housing support officer in Dublin City council.

A.
As others have already said on here, the tenant pays HAP their portion of the maximum allowed rent that HAP can provide.

B.
Any extra that the landlord requests within the limits of the RPZ restrictions are paid directly to the landlord. This is a top up.

If payment A above is not paid for a period of time then HAP stop paying the landlord anything. (This is completely insane and discussed in another thread).

If B. Is not paid then HAP continue paying the landlord the normal rent. This top up is a private payment between landlord and tenant and nothing to do with HAP

I got confirmation from the housing officer that if this top up (B) is not paid. The arrears can come off the tenants deposit.
 
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