HAP payment was not paid to landlord

gral6

Hi all,
Any advise welcome, very strange situation.
Our HAP payment was not paid to landlord last month despite the fact that our contributions to the HAP are up to date.
I have contacted HAP office in Limerick, they said that the problem with not-payment on the landlords side and asked me to ask him to give them a ring and they will sort it out. I have said it to landlord, he refused to contact HAP in Limerick and issued us with 14 day notice saying that we will have to pay within 2 weeks otherwise we will face termination of leasing agreement.
What should we do now?
I hate being caught between a rock and a hard place, moreover it is not our fault.
Thanks, regards

davo10

As the tenant you are responsible for payment of rent, HAP is just a subsidy for you. If the LL hasn't changed his details/bank acc, then it is up to you as the tenant to get this sorted. Non payment of rent is a valid reason for eviction so you had better call the HAP centre again and find out exactly what the problem is.

It's not your fault, but you owe the rent.

ted1

You should endure your rent is paid or get ready to move out.

doglover5565

Hi your landlord needs to supply hap with an upto daye tax clearance cert...thays why the payment didnt go through

gral6

doglover5565 wrote: »

Hi your landlord needs to supply hap with an upto daye tax clearance cert...thays why the payment didnt go through

Thanks, good point. Any ideas how to make him supply this certificate to hap? He is not returning my calls or e-mails?

ED E

gral6 wrote: »

Thanks, good point. Any ideas how to make him supply this certificate to hap? He is not returning my calls or e-mails?

A cynic might say he's not in the green with Revenue and thus isn't going to.

gral6

ED E wrote: »

A cynic might say he's not in the green with Revenue and thus isn't going to.

It is a big property company so I suppose they would have been shut down by now if there were problems with Revenue. They just don't care...

garhjw

gral6 wrote: »

It is a big property company so I suppose they would have been shut down by now if there were problems with Revenue. They just don't care...

As another poster said it is your responsibility to ensure rent is paid on time. It’s an unfortunate situation

doglover5565

gral6 wrote: »

Thanks, good point. Any ideas how to make him supply this certificate to hap? He is not returning my calls or e-mails?

All landlords receive notice about this if they are reacing €10000..or its been 12 mths and it need to be updated... if he wants his money he'll ring HAP..the only reason he wont be able to supply his TCC is if he has tax issues with revenue! If he srill wont ring and is giving you notice get in touch with your local authority and RTB...best of luck..u have rights also

garhjw

doglover5565 wrote: »

All landlords receive notice about this if they are reacing €10000..or its been 12 mths and it need to be updated... if he wants his money he'll ring HAP..the only reason he wont be able to supply his TCC is if he has tax issues with revenue! If he srill wont ring and is giving you notice get in touch with your local authority and RTB...best of luck..u have rights also

How do you know this has anything to do with a TCC? What can the RTB do if the tenant hasn’t paid their rent?

The_Conductor

doglover5565 wrote: »

All landlords receive notice about this if they are reacing €10000..or its been 12 mths and it need to be updated... if he wants his money he'll ring HAP..the only reason he wont be able to supply his TCC is if he has tax issues with revenue! If he srill wont ring and is giving you notice get in touch with your local authority and RTB...best of luck..u have rights also

Loads of landlords don't have a tax clearance cert- it is patently false to assert that someone who doesn't have a cert has Revenue Issues.

Over 60% of all rental properties are owned by landlords with 3 or fewer properties- the vast majority of whom Revenue state are PAYE employees who correctly declare their rental income in an annual tax return. These people do not have tax clearance certificates- and while they can request one- it can take weeks for one to issue.

As for the OP- kindly read their post and subsequent clarifications- before jumping to wild assertions. The OP is renting from a large company- not a private landlord. It is *you* who stated the defective paperwork was non-submission of a tax clearance cert- and then went down a rabbit hole hypothesising that the landlord was not tax compliant.

All landlords are legally obliged to accept HAP as a means of payment.
If a tenant is eligible for HAP- it is up to the tenant to ensure that the paperwork associated with their rent subsidy (and it is a subsidy for the tenant- its a pain in the arse for the landlord filling out paperwork)- is completed and submitted to the local authority- and the random HAP questionaires completed as required.

If the tenant does not pay their rent- they are automatically in arrears and liable to be served with a valid notice of termination of tenancy.

There are a list of reasons longer than my arm why a HAP payment might not go through- one of the reasons is non-submission of a C2 tax clearance form- its only one of the reasons though- I can think of over 20 other possible reasons without thinking particularly hard. It is up to the tenant to ensure if they are claiming HAP (or any other subsidy) that the paperwork associated with their claim is submitted.

You can suggest the landlord is somehow non-compliant until the cows come home- it doesn't make it so- and given the information volunteered by the OP- is as likely to send them off in a totally incorrect direction where they are making wholly spurious and odious claims about the landlords tax affairs- without any basis in fact.

If someone came up to me and suggested I was fiddling my taxes- I'd block them on my phone and send all their e-mails into a spam folder for automatic deletion. I know I'm not fiddling my taxes- and I'd be highly offended by the suggestion that I was. If someone on the internet named me and suggested this- I'd see them in court.

The_Conductor

gral6 wrote: »

It is a big property company so I suppose they would have been shut down by now if there were problems with Revenue. They just don't care...

You need to ring the local authority.
Find out why the HAP payment has not gone through.
Get copies of all the paperwork that have to be completed.
Visit the landlord's office (by appointment) and have them completed again.
Go and get copies of *everything*.
Personally hand the documents over at the local authority.
Ensure they are fully aware that you have been served with 14 days notice of arrears- and talk to the housing officer and confirm that he/she is aware of the situation.

The number 1 reason in all local authorities for non-payment of HAP- particularly in new tenancies- is loss of the paperwork. One unfortunate poster in this forum had their paperwork lost 6 times by Dublin City Council- before it was fully processed- and they only kept a roof over their heads because their landlord agreed to allow them pay off the arrears when the HAP payment came through (which eventually wasn't even paid in arrears and they needed an emergency payment to 'normalise' their situation).

You *need* to find out what the issue is- and you need to fix it.
A landlord is obliged to accept HAP.
He/she is not however expected to camp out in a local authority office filling out paperwork to ensure the payment goes through- thats your job.........

At the end of the day- HAP is a rental subsidy for tenants. If there is an issue- it is up to the tenant to try and resolve the issue. It is not acceptable to expect the landlord liaise with the local authority to solve whatever the issue is. If the local authority decide to yank this payment- the tenant goes into rent arrears. No tenant should sit back and imagine the landlord and the local authority are going to sort these problems for them- they need to apply pressure to both the local authority and the landlord to resolve it.

By the way- the local authority will happily sit back and say- 'sure let the landlord contact us and sort it out- its only something minor'.
Perhaps it is- perhaps it isn't. Its not something minor for you- if you loose your home.
It suits the local authority down to the ground to tell the tenant to get the landlord to contact them- and if notice of arrears is served- to blame the landlord- they do this the whole sodding time.

Local authorities are adept at this- the next step will be letting the 14 days notice of arrears expire- and the issue of a formal notice on the grounds of non-payment of rent. You'll visit the local authority- they'll blame the landlord- they'll tell you not to leave even after the expiration of the notice. The notice expires- and the landlord will bring a formal case against you. The local authority continues to tell you not to vacate the premises- with the added advice- they now have no-where else to accommodate you. It gets fast-tracked by the RTB and the initial hearing is within 6 weeks. You end up in a case- at which the local authority don't bother turning up- and its you versus the landlord- and you are in rent arrears.........

This actually suits the local authority- and the whole way through all this- they'll point at the landlord and tell you how unreasonable the landlord is being- and under no circumstance are you to vacate the property- regardless of what happens............

You are innocent in this- as is the landlord- yet- you're both going to be in a case against one another- and the guilty party- the local authority- are going to be off- because they only do a 9-5 and they've lost the paperwork, once again.............

murphaph

^^ and in this case you have 2 faceless bureaucracies and you are the one who will end up homeless because of clerical error.

You need to take this into your own hands and find out exactly what the problem is as far as Limerick are concerned.

Mrs OBumble

Hey The Conductor ... you forgot to add the bit about the LA not being willing to even tell the tenant what the problem is, due to their renewed focus on data privacy and GDPR.

OP - your only realistic option is to figure out a way to pay your rent without HAP.