We are pleased to tell you that the landlord portal – the online system which lets landlords access information about Housing Benefit payments is up and running again.
It’s a brand new version with improvements over the old portal which was discontinued some time ago and we’ve already had positive feedback from the landlord who has helped with testing it. If you are a landlord receiving direct payments of Housing Benefit, we really would encourage you to sign up as a user.
The portal shows records of all payments we’ve made directly to you as a landlord of both Housing Benefit and Discretionary Housing Payments. You can view information about an individual tenant; the amounts of their payments and their different levels of entitlement. Or, you can view the bulk payments made to you which cover more than one tenant; with a breakdown of how a payment was made up, e.g. who it covered, how much each tenant was paid and the relevant dates. You can then export the information onto a spread-sheet with a single click and store or organise the information as required. Claim status is also shown – whether an application is still being processed, is in payment, or has been cancelled or suspended (but not the reason why).
As the portal is online – information is accessible 24/7 via any PC, laptop, Android or Apple device.
To register to use the portal, please go to http://www.sandwell.gov.uk/landlordportal
Just a few things about registration: Please don’t be put off if this looks a little long-winded. It’s actually a fairly easy process and of course, you only need to complete the process once, after which accessing the portal is quick and simple.
If you haven’t done so already, you’ll first need to open a ‘MySandwell’ account. MySandwell is our online facility for contacting Revenues and Benefits. It allows you to access various council services including anything to do with Housing Benefit or Council Tax. Setting up a MySandwell account is very quick, but please remember if you are setting up the account for work purposes and you are an employee within a landlord company or organisation, you should enter your work details (office phone number, office address and work email account) rather than personal details. If you are a small private landlord – not a company, you should enter your personal details as normal. Once you have a MySandwell account you can then go on to completing the Landlord Portal registration form.
Even if you were a user of the old version of the portal, you will need to complete a new registration. This is to allow us to make sure our records are completely up to date. Any password you might have been issued for the older version of the portal will not work on the new version.
Types of portal users.
We have slightly different requirements for registering different types of landlords. However, all registrations should be made using the same form, (linked to above) which will guide you appropriately.
If you are a sole-trader or private individual acting as a landlord you only need to give details for yourself. For organisations and companies such as housing associations or lettings or estate agents, it’s slightly different.
You need to nominate a ‘lead officer’ (and the form will ask you whether you wish to complete it as lead officer). It’s up to your company / organisation to decide who the lead officer will be, but it is normally a proprietor, manager or supervisor on the rents/income team. The lead officer accepts responsibility for the organisation’s compliance with all rules about portal use. They will complete their own personal registration but then can also nominate staff or colleagues to be given separate portal access. These staff should then complete their own portal registration forms. Lead officers should complete their own form before allowing staff to submit theirs. This is because the lead officer needs to be in place to approve the applications of their staff members. When a staff member completes a portal registration form, the lead officer receives an automatic email asking them to confirm that person is permitted to access the portal on the organisation’s behalf.
IMPORTANT: If you or your organisation has not previously received direct Housing Benefit payments from us, please don’t attempt to register for the portal until after you have received your first benefit payment.
Data protection and GDPR.
Any information shown on the portal is confidential. If you register for the portal you need to confirm that you accept your obligation to comply with all relevant Data Protection legislation and the council’s own requirements. Any failure could be a breach of the law and you may be personally liable for substantial penalties or even criminal prosecution. The log-in details (the user ID and password) we provide you with are strictly confidential and must not be shared with any other person. They are for your personal, exclusive use only. Should another person need their own access to the portal, they must complete their own application to register as a user.
We really hope that you find the portal easy to use. Please let us know your feedback.
Oliver
The Sandwell Landlords Blog 