To be a bit shocked at the landlord who is evicting 200 families because they are on housing benefit

[wetaugust]

Heard this and 'Wow' - I was shocked.

He's being interviewed on C4 News.

He'd rather rent them to Eatern Europeans who are working.

He said that if house prices go up then rents should go up.

He said he's not the only landlord doing this.

Wow!

So some local authority will have to find new housing for all these people.

Where will this end?

I am stunned.

[PinkandGreenStripes]

I understand that the LL stated that the some of his tenants on benefits were in arrears.

I can see both points of view. If I'm running a business, I don't want people owing money. On the other hand, it's not the fault of the tenants if their benefits have been cut (bedroom tax).

I'm not sure how this will be resolved. The local councils do not have an endless supply of low cost housing. Where are people on benefits supposed to live?

[specialsubject]

according to the report I saw, he says that he has large numbers of his HB tenants in arrears and so can no longer afford this. He is running a business.

he can charge what rent he likes - but if it is too high, people won't rent there.

the reasons why landlords can't always rent to HB tenants have been repeated many times here. Some of these reasons could be changed by intelligent government.

[jacks365]

The majority of ll will not rent to tenants on housing benefit at all this is nothing new.

[RandyRudolf]

the reasons why landlords can't always rent to HB tenants have been repeated many times here. Some of these reasons could be changed by intelligent government

Absolutely.

[holidaysarenice]

I completely understand his predicament, like him I want the tenant who will pay their rent.

Other than that I don't give to flying cares where they come from. As long as they pay the rent and don't damage the place.

Tenants want a business like landlord. He is acting like a business and I'm sure tenants would complain if he was acting like 'my mate jimmy' as a landlord!

[wetaugust]

Where are people on benefits supposed to live?

I have no idea.

I just found the whole thing pretty shocking and scary.

[Birdsgottafly]

Immigration is changing things and making life tougher for people who cannot find work that pays enough, in the UK.

It is also impacting on services.

I have had numerous friends who used to rely on cleaning jobs, mainly chalet cleaning in Butlins in Southport/Blackpool. A coach used to pick everyone up. Those than ran the agency had buy to let houses, evicted all HB tenants, priced working tenants out of them and filled them with migrants. Then they paid them less than min wage, because of the loop hole.

Large employers were/are paid a premium for employing migrants.

Houses and jobs were lost, to migrants.

The LL's are scum, worse than benefit frauders.

So are the exploitative employers.

It isn't racist to want the ability of migrant workers to enter the UK to be questioned.

"They do the jobs we won't do" may apply in London, but doesn't up North, we don't have a housing crisis, but jobs are few and far between.

[tallulah]

I used to live where this LL operates and this doesn't surprise me at all. What really makes me angry is that he buys up all the lower priced new properties as they are built (off plan) before ordinary people can buy them so he really has the monopoly on housing in the area.

Panorama did a feature on him a few years ago for keeping tenants deposits.

[RightInTheKisser]

He's a business not a charity. Quite frankly it's not his problem.

IIRC the council used to pay the private landlords directly but now pay the benefits to the tenant who pays the landlord hence the arrears.

[wetaugust]

I agree he's running a business. I don't ahve an issue with that as it's obviously a business-driven decision, but I'm more interested in the social effect this is going to have.

I'd always thought that HB tenants would be protected by the fact that there were not hordes of potential renters waiting to take their places over. It appears I was wrong and it is in fact very easy for a landlord to find an latentaive tenant to the HB tenant.

So surely the Govt needs to rethink this whole right of people from other EU countries to reside and work in the UK if they then totally displace the habitual UK population in terms of jobs and housing?

I'm worried because situations like this are usually the precursor for bad things happening.

[ParenthoodJourney]

It's a shame that the minority ruin it for the majority. Housing benefits should be seen as guaranteed income as there shouldn't be an excuse for a HB tenant to not pay their rent. Yet some people including my sister, unfortunately believe that there are more Important things than rent like cigarettes, nights out, etc and then end up in arrears and giving HB tenants a bad name.

When i was younger and on my own I used to receive HB and my rent was always paid that money the government paid into my account was not mine, it was my landlords. I can fully understand why a landlord would want to evict tenants who weren't paying their rent when they are being given the money to do exactly that

[Plateofcrumbs]

I don't really blame the landlords for this - they are running a business not a charity.

I blame government cuts to Housing Benefit so it is no longer keeping pace with rising rents, an inefficient system that means that people whose circumstances change (get a job or lose one for instance) can find themselves without HB and in arrears through no fault of their own. A long-term failure to build enough homes. Not enough jobs and those that are being poorly paid so people have no option but to get support from Housing Benefit.

[Joysmum]

My mortgages precludes me from renting to those on HB.

My first but to let years ago was rented to a lovely family who ended up on housing benefit (weren't when the tenancy began) and there was a difference between the HB and rent that the tenant was supposed to pay, in those days the HB was paid directly to LL's. They never did and I never chased it as they were a nice family fallen on hard times and saw the house as their home. I was a soft touch and the margins in the house meant I could afford to take the loss of income.

Things have changed dramatically now. I can't afford to take a hit as I know don't work and have a family of my own, it's my income, rules have changed too. Having said that, I choose my tenants based on my feeling for who they are and have accepted a bankrupt couple who were upfront about their plight and just needed a break. My mortgage doesn't preclude against bankrupts and my other properties were ticking along so I took a change and have never regretted it as they are fab.

If things were as there were back in those days then I'd prefer HB as I'd know the rent was coming from the council and that has advantages.

[JumpingJackSprat]

I think a large proportion of the problem is people like him buying up all the cheap housing so it makes it harder for low-middle earners to buy their own property. I don't have a problem with landlords I have a problem with them owning 20-30 or more properties. In this guy's case I'm assuming he owns hundreds. That's just wrong imo.

[soldasseen]

I do not allow tenants that are on benefits.

[PresidentServalan]

My landlord rents to HB tenants but he finds it a pita because he has to chase the tenants for it all the time, plus they aren't too quick about paying the Topup. He has had several sets of tenants doing a runner owing lots of money (all from the same property, weirdly!).

[woodlandwanderwoman]

It raises an interesting point, the outcome actually smacks of govt objectives to get more people off benefits and back into work... I just don't think even Dave and Nick could have planned this one!

Ultimately the LL has a business to run, it sounds like he has chosen tenants who are more reliable in paying their rent but potentially more transient over unreliable tenants who are there for the long term. This is no easy decision for any landlord to make, you have to choose what's right for your business. He has no moral duty not to make the right decision for himself.

[TheGreatHunt]

This illustrates the need for social housing. Landlords are in it for the money. However housing is a basic necessity. Those in arrears are most likely so because they're struggling, not, as the DM would have you believe, buying fags and booze.

[SaucyJack]

I'm not shocked in the slightest. Just very depressed that owning 1000 rental properties is even legal- let alone evicting 200 odd "single mothers"

He's a cunt. The only thing that could possibly improve him or his policies would be a noose around his neck.

[wetaugust]

Woodland - I'm not suggesting he has any moral duty. It is interesting that most landlords with this amount of housing stock would normally be actual housing associations, that would have to operate under a completely different set of rules.

As I said upthread, it's the social effect that interests me. I cannot see the habitually UK resident putting up with losing their home and being housed in a B&B while Eastern Europeans now occupy what they once had. It's a recipe for social discontent on a large scale and that is a very scary thought.

[mollypup]

Saucyjack, seriously?! What a disgusting statement! At the end of the day he is a business owner not a charity. Who in the right mind would prefer renting to DSS tenants if it meant arrears and unnecessary problems.

[lljkk]

I heard the LL interviewed on radio; there was a housing charity spokesperson who agreed with his points, about how the govt have created this mess. I wouldn't vilify the LL, he's not running a charity.

[SaucyJack]

Who gives a shit how he'd prefer to rake in his hundreds of thousands of pounds a month off of the backs of other people's misfortune and/or hard word? All for doing fuck-all? Boo fucking hoo if can't put the prices up every year for absolutely no reason other than sheer greed

If I had my way, private landlording would not be a legal business. There is no benefit to society in it whatsoever. It's lower than the lowest of the very lowest ways to make money.

I do apologize unreservedly for calling him a cunt tho. It's an insult to vaginas. He's just scum.

[stilldazed]

I think the big issue for many landlords is that the government (i think it was labour but not sure) decided to pay the rent directly to tenants where as before it went to landlords.

when it went to landlords I had no problem with housing benefit tenants like holidaysarenice says...it's business all the same to me. but since this change every time I have had a hb tenant they don't pay the rent and it's very costly. If the government went back to paying hb directly to landlords I'd be happy to have hb tenants.

[Rissolesfortea]

Many of the EE's who he will now be renting to will be single men or men who have left their families behind, therefore there will be 3/4 or more working people renting these houses instead of maybe a family or single mums with only one wage coming in.

I know the LL is not a charity but to make so many people homeless is IMO disgusting.