The question is - do you and the landlord have a tenancy agreement? Or any kind of written statement setting out that you agree to rent this accommodation for X period for Y amount of money?
If the answer to the above is 'yes', then what does the tenancy agreement say in relation to payment methods? Does it explicity forbid the acceptance of rent supplement?
If your tenancy agreement explicity forbids the acceptance of rent supplement then the landlord is probably within their rights to not accept your rent supplement.
If however your tenancy agreement says nothing about rent supplement but simply says the rent paid is x amount per month, then I think the landlord may be breaching the terms of your tenancy agreement and you could make a complaint to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Contact them at Tel: 1 8882834 (for information about disputes), Fax: +353 1 888 2819
E-mail:[email protected]
However, if it is a case that you and the landlord have no tenancy agreement or other written agreement stating you will rent this property, this landlord is most likely refusing your rent supplement as they probably don't want to highlight they are a landlord and are obtaining rental income. It's also probably likely that they are not registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board and are not paying tax on their rental income.
No landlord is obliged to accept a tenant in receipt of rent supplement but the key here, is whether or not the tenancy agreement will protect you
and whether or not you had notified the landlord that you would be applying for rent supplment.
I contacted Threshold regarding this matter this afternoon. They said that if you had notified the landlord you were applying for rent supplement in advance then you may have some redress. Contact them at Telephone
01 678 6096 Fax
01 677 2407 Email
[email protected]
I hope this has been of some help.
CMCR