How will we recover the overpayment
Recovery from the Housing Benefit we pay out
If you are receiving Housing Benefit we will recover any overpayment by reducing the amount we pay to you. If we are paying your landlord you will need to increase the amount you pay them. If you do not pay more to your landlord, you will be in rent arrears and will risk losing your home. The amount by which we reduce your benefit depends upon whether or not you are working. If the amount of the deduction causes you hardship you should contact us on 020 8359 2250
Landlords
If we are asking you, the landlord, to repay the overpayment we can deduct the amount owed from Housing Benefit paid to you for your other tenants. You must then treat the other tenants' Housing Benefit as being received in full.
Recovery from other Benefits
If you are not receiving Housing Benefit we can recover the overpayment from other benefits that you receive. We can do this by asking the Department of Work and Pensions to make deductions from the benefit or allowance that you are paid.
By sending you an bill
We can also ask you to repay the amount you owe by sending you a bill. If you cannot pay the debt in one go, you can arrange to pay by a short series of instalments. To arrange to pay by instalments you should contact the overpayments team on 020 8359 2250.
Housing Benefit Overpayments and the Courts
If you do not repay the money you owe or do not keep to an instalment plan we have agreed with you, we will take you to court. We can do this in two ways:
- we can sue you in the County Courts who will, after a hearing, order you to repay the debt
- we can ask the court to enforce our decision that you owe a Housing Benefit debt to the council. We have to prove the debt to the court and the court will grant the order without a hearing
In either case you will be charged costs and once the court has granted us an order we can then:
- instruct bailiffs to seize your goods
- ask the court to require your employer to deduct the amount owed from your wages
- ask the court to place a charging order on your assets or bank accounts
- as a last resort make you bankrupt
If we use the powers of the court to recover the debt you will be charged additional costs. Your credit rating will also be affected because you will have a county court judgement (c.c.j) against you.
For further information please see our leaflet on Housing Benefit Overpayments and the courts 
(PDF 153 KB)
See our Overpayments code of conduct
