Delight at rent arrears appeal ruling.

A DECISION by a Housing Benefit Tribunal in Coventry earlier this month, upholding an appeal that a tenant's rental arrears begin as soon as the due date has passed has been welcomed by the National Landlords Association.

According to housing benefit regulations, a landlord can apply to their local authority for direct payment of rent when eight weeks or more of arrears have accrued. Currently, some local authorities refuse direct payment within this period citing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance which states that "a person cannot be in rent arrears in respect of a period that has not yet been served".

In his judgment (I Doncaster v Coventry City Council), the chairman of the Coventry Appeal Tribunal categorically disagreed with the DWP view, saying that rent is in arrears once the contractual date for payment has passed irrespective of whether rent is due in advance or in arrears.

The decision, which neither sets a legal precedent nor is binding on future decisions, may in the meantime, however, be used by landlords in a similar position to Mr Doncaster, when negotiating with local councils over local housing allowance rent arrears.

Richard Price, the National Landlords Association's director of operations, said: "It is quite clear that the normal rules of renting should apply to local housing allowance."