What effect (if any) will the changes to housing benefit have on the rental market?

chequers10

Our tenant lost his job 6 months into a 12 month tenancy.
As he had sold his house for 555000 and was supposedly going to buy again later we originally sympathised that his money was supposedly in Jersey being looked after by his mother & the excuses went on & on.
He paid no rent for 4 months, & it is a nightmare to remove non paying tenants.
Even after serving them with the correct notice you still have to take them to court to regain possession.
He did eventually leave without leaving a forwarding address owing thousands of pounds to utility companies etc we found out he had been receiving housing benefit for the previous 6 months but the council refused to talk to us about it because of confidentiality.
After reading extensively about this it appears to be a growing problem that the rent never reaches the landlord.

terryw

chequers10 wrote: »

After reading extensively about this it appears to be a growing problem that the rent never reaches the landlotd.

This is no surprise. At the current levels of LHA this problem will only worsen.

Pobby

This, I fear, is one of the reasons why working in this country is not always worth doing. When I lived in the South East, I knew very few who didn`t work. Then again salaries, in general, made it worth doing so. One of the big shocks when i moved to the South West were the amount of people that did no work and in some cases had not worked for decades.

In general wages are not so good here yet housing is not cheap. It was the first time that I experienced benefits being a life style choice. Something that i have never really come to terms with.

treliac

This all makes depressing reading. What incentive is there for vast swathes of the population to fend for themselves?

Is this the real reason that Labour might get re-elected? And will they be forced to do something about it if they do get back in.... despite not wanting to admit to this at present?

ukcarper

I'm not sure it will make much difference to the election. It’s been happening since before 1997 and I don’t know what the solution is. But I if the Tories do get elected I can’t see them doing much more than labour to solve the problem.

vivatifosi

LJ, if you're still around and posting, can you go into a bit more detail as to what the rules are? Having lived next door to one family where five people lived in a one bedroom house and they made a rudimentary bed over the bath every night (thankfully the've managed to move to a bigger house), and know of several cases round here where children's bedrooms are actually their conservatories (with all of the privacy and safety elements that entails) I really want to understand why some are entitled, whereas others, because of home ownership and/or wages, are not. It does strike me as rather bonkers.

SingleSue

PrivatisetheNHSnow wrote: »

because they will spend it on booze and junk from argos and complain they can't find anywhere to live

that's why they're benefits claimants, not the waged

You're new here aren't you?

Not all benefits claimants are ne'er do wells.

Not all benefit claimants are out to get as much as they can.

Not all benefit claimants are a waste of space.

Not all benefit claimants are idle (I wish, I really wish I had some time to myself).

Not all benefit claimants have always been benefit claimants.

Right, that out the way, now to address the actual subject...

How much!! I had to read it twice (well maybe more than twice) until I realised it was actually a week they were talking about..it's a crazy amount of money.

With regards working and housing benefit/LHA...you can be working and still receive it, you don't have to be solely on benefits to meet the criteria. So a family on minimum wage with a couple of children would receive help with their housing costs if renting.

PrivatisetheNHSnow

SingleSue wrote: »

Not all benefit claimants are idle.

of course, but why do the government refuse to reform this crazy system properly? how much would you have to earn to live in a £1,100/week home? £150k/year before tax?

The article says that the average paid in housing benefit is £81/week - that is 13x the average - crazy. £81/week sounds reasonable, but why allow so much?

if you allow luxury within the benefits system, then people will abuse it. that is what the weak-minded leftists will never understand. it's as much the leftist designers of the system's fault than the people that live in £1,100 houses via mr. taxpayer.

SingleSue

I actually agree with you on the level of payments....it is a crazy amount (so much so I had to look several times to make sure it said a week and not a month).

My rent is £96 a week and yes I do receive housing benefit (not the new fangled LHA) with an applicable maximum rate of £136.93)

My point was in reply to your claims on what people who claim benefits are like and what they do with their received monies from tax payers.

kitschkitty

I can't comprehend these figures at all.