HB should be paid by the local authority in whose area the dwelling is situated. We’ve run up against this situation in the past in London, with various authorities refusing to pay for homeless families housed in their locality but nominated to u8s by other authorities, but as soon as you quote Section 134 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (specifically sub-section (1B) to them they cave in:
134. Arrangements for housing benefit.
(1) Housing benefit provided by virtue of a scheme under section 123 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (in this Part referred to as “the housing benefit scheme”) shall be funded and administered by the appropriate housing authority or local authority.
(1A) Housing benefit in respect of payments which the occupier of a dwelling is liable to make to a housing authority shall take the form of a rent rebate or, in prescribed cases, a rent allowance funded and administered by that authority.
The cases that may be so prescribed do not include any where the payment is in respect of property within the authority’s Housing Revenue Account.
(1B) In any other case housing benefit shall take the form of a rent allowance funded and administered by the local authority for the area in which the dwelling is situated or by such other local authority as is specified by an order made by the Secretary of State.
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