Guidance

Landlord Portal: using automation to confirm housing costs

Social rented sector landlords with Landlord Portal access can use automation, known as 'bots', to confirm their Universal Credit tenants' housing costs.

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published
6 March 2024

The Universal Credit Landlord Portal allows social rented sector (SRS) landlords to verify rent, support tenants and manage payments online.

Choose your automation software

You can use automation that your organisation develops as well as commercially available software and tools.

We cannot recommend a supplier, as buying automation is a commercial decision for individual landlords.

How to use automation

Step 1: Tell us you’re using automation

You must tell us that you’ll be using automation, by contacting your Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) partnership manager.

Step 2: Create automation user accounts

Your automation will need its own user account. Anyone with a ‘Manage users’ role can create a user account for automation in the usual way.

Automation user accounts must only be allocated the user role ‘Complete to-do’s’. You must not allocate extra permissions to automation accounts.

Use no more than 2 automation user accounts at a time

You could use one account for completing the ‘Provide tenancy details’ to-do and a second account for the annual rent change ‘Confirm tenant’s housing costs’ to-do.

Clearly identify each automation user account

Use a clearly identifiable username and email address for each automation user account.

For example:

  • username: ’(landlord_name) Automation 1’
  • email address: ’example-automation-account@landlord.com’ 

Automation user accounts must have 2-factor authentication enabled

You must provide the SMS code to the automation software manually, daily, rather than as a separated automated process.

Step 3: Test your automation

We do not have a separate environment for you to test your automation.

You should test your automation in the Landlord Portal by automating all steps up to, but not including, submitting the verification. You will then know that your automation correctly inputs data.

When to use automation

You can only run automation from Monday to Friday, between 8am and 6pm.

Maintenance could be happening outside these times, therefore the portal may not be available.

Between 1 April and 15 May you can use automation at all times, to manage your annual rent change verifications. This includes weekends and bank holidays.

Terms and conditions

When you use automation on the Landlord Portal you’re agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

  1. You’ll use automation at your own risk as a landlord. We cannot give any technical support or advice about automation.

  2. You’ll use no more than 2 automation accounts at a time.

  3. Accounts used for automation must be given the user role ‘Complete to-dos’.

  4. You can only use automation to confirm your tenants’ housing costs.

  5. You must not use automation for other portal functions such as requesting alternative payment arrangements (APAs).

  6. We need to ensure the security and stability of the service. So we may need to deactivate an automation account, or ask you to pause automation, if we notice any unusual activity associated with it, or it disrupts the service. If this happens, we’ll work with you to resolve any issues caused by automation.

  7. If you find issues that may have led to incorrect data being input to the portal, you should tell your partnership manager as soon as possible.

  8. We reserve the right to make changes to the portal that may affect the way automation runs. For example, we may add fields or change the order of questions. We will aim to provide at least 2 weeks’ notice of any changes. We’ll use the portal ‘Updates’ tab to tell you about changes that affect automation.

  9. We will not change our existing portal service to accommodate automation, beyond providing a user role for automation.

  10. The use of automation does not alter a landlord’s responsibility to ensure that the data they provide to Universal Credit remains accurate.

  11. You have responsibilities as a data controller under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation.

Published 6 March 2024
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