Sanctions imposed on Job Seeker Allowance and Employment Support Allowance claimants are unfairly leaving private landlords with mounting rent arrears, claims the Residential Landlords Association.
The RLA says the problem is caused by the Department of Work and Pensions misinforming councils on the status of JSA/ESA claims, which then prompts suspensions and cancellations of Housing Benefit/Local Housing Allowance claims when in reality this should not happen.
The RLA says this problem is getting worse despite growing awareness of it within the DWP and some local councils.
Landlords, already reeling from some of the worst effects of welfare reform, are also experiencing mounting rent arrears, caused by this same issue, which needs to be addressed by both councils and DWP urgently says the RLA.
Recently the association's Housing Benefits Advisor, Bill Irvine, has handled several cases involving around £15,000 in rent arrears.
In all cases, the private landlords have been reluctant to pursue recovery action, believing the problem would resolve itself. The landlords are now trying to have the lost benefits restored and avoid the need for legal proceedings to recover debt and evict tenants.
The RLA describes the number of sanctions being applied against benefit claimants as staggering.
During the year to March 2014, more than one million tenants were penalised this way, prompting a sharp rise in the number of councils suspending and sometimes cancelling Housing Benefit/LHA.
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Comments
Stonehenge I agree with your comment entirely. We manage over 900 properties and do not accept anyone on HB due to the risks.
Sensible landlords will have had a guarantor in place and should be approaching them to temporarily fund any rent due. I have no sympathies with tenants in this position as I always tell them I will treat them the same as any other tenant, and do not want to hear of problems with benefit payments, otherwise I don't offer them a tenancy in the first place.
This is a poor state of affairs and could only serve to drive more Landlords away from the housing benefit sector. We already had a mass exodus when LHA replaced housing benefit and was paid directly to the Tenant.