Recovery of overpayments

How will overpayments be recovered?

The rules on the recovery of overpayments are not being changed. Currently:

• Benefit overpaid to a landlord can be recovered from either the landlord or the customer, as the local authority chooses; and
• Benefit overpaid to a customer can be recovered only from the customer.

As most customers will receive their benefit themselves under the LHA, most overpayments will, therefore, be recovered from the customer and not the landlord.

What if benefit payments were split?

Split liability for overpayments can already arise where an overpayment accrues over a period, and the payment was made to the landlord for part of that period and to the tenant for the rest of it. In these cases, the local authority can recover from either or both of the landlord and tenant. If the local authority decides to recover from the landlord, the overpayment can be recovered from future payments, by invoice or other appropriate means.