Landlords cannot make claims against the job center if a basic income recipient owes them rent. This was recently decided by the Lower Saxony-Bremen Regional Social Court (LSG). In the case in question, an owner rented out apartments to recipients of basic security benefits and, as a precaution, had them give their consent to the direct payment of rent by the job center.
After a recipient of basic welfare benefits owed the landlord the service charges for 2018 and 2019, he demanded payment of the arrears from the Goslar Job Center. However, the job center refused to make a direct transfer because the landlord had no claims of his own under Social Code Book II. The landlord did not want to put up with this, especially since rent debts had also accrued in the meantime, and filed a lawsuit.
However, not he, but the job center of the LGS got right. The reason for this is that the direct payment serves to secure the accommodation benefits. It does not serve the purpose of enforcing rent claims against the job center. The collection of debts is the responsibility of the landlord - who, incidentally, must now also bear the costs of the proceedings.
Source: Judgment of February 3, 2022/L 11 AS 578/20/landessozialgericht.niedersachsen.de
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