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Priority Rent Account

OUR RENT ASSURED SERVICE FOR LANDLORDS.

A hassle-free way to manage your rental income. The Priority Rent from 6Towns Credit Union is an easy way of managing rental payments from tenants in receipt of Universal Credit or Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

Unlike the old Housing Benefit, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is paid direct to tenants and Universal Credit includes any allowance for housing in the total lump sum tenants receive. Both of these situations can cause problems for landlords. With the 6Towns Priority Rent Account, we collect a tenant’s LHA, or separate out their rent from their Universal Credit payment, and then pay it directly to you.

This means that tenants can’t spend rent money on other things, and ensures you receive payments on time. We will usually send funds to landlords on the 14th and 28th of each month.
Most landlords chose to receive funds every fortnight when housing benefits are paid.

Benefits of scheme

Rent paid directly to Landlords
Rent is paid directly to you each fortnight or month you can choose your preferred frequency for your convenience. A remittance advice showing the amount sent helps you track payments and keep on top of any arrears accumulating.
Low cost service
We charge a small fee of £5.00 per tenant, per payment. These fees can usually be offset against tax as a business expense like any other banking charge.
Improved financial well-being for your tenant
When your tenant opens a Priority Rent AccountAccount with us, they know that their rent is ringfenced, This means once housing benefit comes in the tenant will not have access to these funds. This helps tenants budget for the rest of the month.

We also give tenants the facility to top up the housing benefit reducing the arrears.

They’ll also get access to all of our other services including a free savings account and the ability to apply for our affordable loans.

Smoother tenancy relationship
We will let you know with an email notification if a tenant has informed us of a change in their tenancy e.g. they want to change the amount paid, or they want to cancel their payments. This gives you a chance to talk to tenants as quickly as possible about theirsituation.
Being proactive
Tenants have to give 14 days’ notice to make changes so you’re often able to sort out any potential problems before they occur. Some of our landlords even make it a condition of tenancy that tenants receiving LHA or Universal Credit use our Priority Rent Account service.

How to register for the Priority Rent Scheme

To get started, request a Landlord Registration Form from [email protected]

Then follow the steps below:

Complete the Landlord Registration Form

We will aim to set up your Landlord Account within 48 hours. You can then start encouraging your tenants to open the Priority Rent Account. Your tenant will need to become a member of 6Towns Credit Union first, which they can do online or in branch.

Tenants opens a Priority Rent Account

When a tenant opens a Priority Rent Account they will need your Landlord membership number, and your tenant will also need to sign a form to agree to sending payments to you.

LHA or Universal Credit payment

As soon as we receive a tenant’s LHA or Universal Credit payment, we will commence payment of the agreed rent amount directly to you (minus our transaction fee). We will automatically send all the funds directly to your nominated external account, or may choose to hold the funds in your credit union savings account. You will receive an email notification of payments sent.