§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on progress of the consultations with local authority associations on the recovery of overpaid housing benefit from landlords further to paragraph 38 of the response by the DSS to the Social Security Committee report on housing benefit Cm4869. [30629]
§ Malcolm WicksFollowing consultation with the local authority associations, we amended housing benefit regulations to change the rule that overpaid benefit was in all cases recoverable from the person to whom it was paid. From 1 October 2001 where the landlord has been responsible for alerting the local authority in writing to the suspected overpayment, there appears to have been a fraud, and there is no evidence of landlord collusion, any resulting overpayment will not be recoverable from the landlord.
Landlords have an important role in preventing fraud. Those receiving direct payments of benefit already had a statutory responsibility to report changes in their tenant's circumstances, which they could have reasonably been expected to know. This measure encourages landlords to be vigilant and report their suspicions of fraud without fear of financial disincentive.