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 you바카라 사이트™re using automation

You must tell us that you바카라 사이트™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 바카라 사이트˜Manage users바카라 사이트™ role can create a user account for automation in the usual way.

Automation user accounts must only be allocated the user role 바카라 사이트˜Complete to-do바카라 사이트™s바카라 사이트™. 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 바카라 사이트˜Provide tenancy details바카라 사이트™ to-do and a second account for the annual rent change 바카라 사이트˜Confirm tenant바카라 사이트™s housing costs바카라 사이트™ to-do.

Clearly identify each automation user account

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

For example:

• username: 바카라 사이트™(landlord_name) Automation 1바카라 사이트™
• email address: 바카라 사이트™example-automation-account@landlord.com바카라 사이트™Â 

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 you바카라 사이트™re agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

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

2. You바카라 사이트™ll use no more than 2 automation accounts at a time.

3. Accounts used for automation must be given the user role 바카라 사이트˜Complete to-dos바카라 사이트™.

4. You can only use automation to confirm your tenants바카라 사이트™ 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, we바카라 사이트™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 weeks바카라 사이트™ notice of any changes. We바카라 사이트™ll use the portal 바카라 사이트˜Updates바카라 사이트™ 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 landlord바카라 사이트™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