universal credit

rachelw90

Hi everyone,
I saw tonight on the news that people that are claiming universal credit or looking to claim it that your rent you receive from housing benefit for your landlord is sent directly to them..I have stayed in my property for 3 years and my landlord is against housing benefit so if he knew I was receiving housing benefit then I would be told to leave. What happens? I have never been late etc with the rent in the whole 3 years. Thank you.

calcotti

I think you have misunderstood - or it was badly reported. At the moment UC pays the housing element to tenants who are responsible for paying the landlord. Only in exceptional circumstances are landlords paid direct. The announcement today is the government will look at introducing more flexibility to make it easier for landlords to be paid direct when appropriate. It is not intended that all landlords will be paid direct. The intention is to reduce the risk of tenants falling into arrears and losin* their homes if they have difficulty managing their finances.

“'People in the private rented sector already face a far higher risk of losing their tenancy, and I know from talking to claimants and landlords that the current system isn’t working for some of them.

So we need to make it easier for tenants in the private sector to find and keep a good home, by giving landlords greater certainty that their rent will be paid.

Therefore, I have asked the Department to build an online system for private landlords, so they can request (where necessary) for their tenant’s rent to be paid directly to them...

I am also looking at what more can be done to support those who find monthly payments hard to manage.

We need to go back to first principles: reviewing how we identify claimants who might struggle to manage on monthly payments, and ensuring work coaches are moving them onto more frequent payments where necessary.”

pmduk

It's actually a very positive move IMHO, yes, it will prevent some people having the rent money to 'play' with and juggle bills, but will prevent a great many evictions.

john539

rachelw90 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I saw tonight on the news that people that are claiming universal credit or looking to claim it that your rent you receive from housing benefit for your landlord is sent directly to them..I have stayed in my property for 3 years and my landlord is against housing benefit so if he knew I was receiving housing benefit then I would be told to leave. What happens? I have never been late etc with the rent in the whole 3 years. Thank you.

I assume you will decide if you want that or not, not the landlord, or exceptional circumstances.

Landlord's should not be taking control of rent money as it's your claim & responsibility.

mro

rachelw90 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I saw tonight on the news that people that are claiming universal credit or looking to claim it that your rent you receive from housing benefit for your landlord is sent directly to them..I have stayed in my property for 3 years and my landlord is against housing benefit so if he knew I was receiving housing benefit then I would be told to leave. What happens? I have never been late etc with the rent in the whole 3 years. Thank you.

Finally a Tory Minister has arrived who is making some sensible sympathetic changes to welfare to deal with real problems.

The general idea of changes has been announced by the Minister in a short press conference/press release, they still need to be implemented, detail decided & finetuned.