Housing benefit & private renting

[ivykaty44]

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/29/low-income-tenants-face-heat-eat-or-pay-rent-choices-study

The combination of private LandLords and housing benefits not keeping up with sky high rents is going to put more and more people on the streets

In my area a council property 3 bedroom is £130 per week rental or s two bed house £87 per week

Private rents are rarely under £700 per week for s two bed house

There just aren’t enough social houses to rent and private ll charge massive rents, you can rarely rent unless two of you or earnings over £25k

What are people to do?

@ivykaty44 Most private LL or agencies will ask for proof of income.

@lastqueenofscotland and most people in work are paid after working a month in advance. How is that any different to a HB claimant?

HB can stop while being investigated you say, which is a rare anyway. If that rare occurrence does happen, they're likely to have their HB restored.

Someone not claiming HB can have their income changed at any time. People lose their jobs very often and very abruptly and have no income. With so many on zero hour contracts, especially.

Why is a HB claimant less dependable than someone not claiming it and working?

faggots just to be clear that wasn't a dig at people in Birmingham I just happen to know it's one of the councils that this sort of housing is being made available to and I know having moved from a city here for work decades ago it is a massive culture shock to suddenly find your nearest hospital is hours away and you can wait hours for an ambulance in an emergency, assuming they can find you at all.

I'm in a situation now where I am trapped in my very unsuitable home.

I use a wheelchair full time. I can't get into my daughter's bedroom at all, I'm living in an incredibly small space that I can't get my wheelchair around.

I'm on the council list, but adapted properties are like gold dust.

Private renting is nigh on impossible.
Even if I could afford to pay estate agent fees, a months rent in advance and a bond I'd say maybe 5% of landlords would rent to me in the first place because of HB.

Private rented properties aren't generally accessible, so they'd need to be willing to allow me to install a stairlift. How I'd afford that i have no idea.

I have no choice but to be at the mercy of social housing even if I earned a big wage.

It's a rubbish situation, Pepper. I read this article about similar recently

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/21/disabled-accessible-housing-shortage-young-millennials

We have one dwp office now in our county - that can be as much as two and a half hours each way if you live the other end of the county, driving. They expect you to be available at one hours notice for work/interviews there. For most that's physically impossible to do.

There are still delays with housing benefit sometimes. In all my years working that never happened with an employer. I didn't lie awake worried the payment I was expecting wouldn't hit my account and I'd be arrears and charged by the bank. Yes over the years I've found creative ways to sort it out, and I'm fortunate that my jobs were well paid enough that I had high limits on credit cards (for emergencies) but it shouldn't be necessary.

pepper im in a similar situation. I couldnt get my housing officer to understand that I couldn't just demand a landlord adapted a property to my needs and gave me a ten year tenancy (which was what they told me to do).

My landlord said to social services they'd adapt where I am now, telling me because they wanted it decorated for free, they wouldn't allow me more than a rolling tenancy and when it was updated they would be putting the rent up by almost £150 a month - it didn't get done because the OT once they heard my landlords name said they were on the banned list because they used them to update their properties for free and then put up the rent and evicted people.

The so called accessible properties I saw had steps outside, or in the case of the last one was on the first floor - I was told to pay for a carer to carry me upstairs.

HAs selling places off as holiday homes.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3304710-Dispatches-Getting-Rich-from-the-Housing-Crisis

speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/dear-polly/

"I often wonder with data protection how a private LL can know whether there tenants are claiming HB, surely the law protects the tenants privacy" have you not rented privately recently?

Landlords/letting agents make taking on a tenancy conditional on the tenant providing the proof of how they're going to pay the rent. If they've stated 'no dss' then they usually want to see several months wage slips and bank statements or at least contract of employment (if they've very recently moved a good distance). They have the right to ask that. The prospective tenant may not want to but that's the choice - "if you want to rent from us - a private business in a free market - these are the conditions."

It's another reason why they ask for deposit + up to 6 months rent in advance - people on benefits can't meet such conditions.

"Why is a HB claimant less dependable than someone not claiming it and working?"

• Because hb IS stopped more frequently than you seem to think (sometimes for the most ridiculous reasons!)
• because working people are by their nature ABLE to work, the majority of benefits claimants not working at all are not working due to ill health or caring responsibilities which cannot be easily reassigned, therefore even if they lose a job, theoretically at least they can get another one
• because working people are more likely to have savings or something worth selling that can cover the rent
• Because some people on hb are addicts or have other mh issues, or learning disabilities that mean their money handling isn't great (and I say that as someone who is mentally ill)
• Because some would argue people on benefits have less to lose than someone who needs to avoid eviction proceedings for fear of losing a job as well as a home
• Because there is prejudice against people on benefits generally, most of us are normal people just trying to get by day to day but the ones who wreck properties, get behind on the rent etc are splashed all over the papers, benefit porn telly etc

Personally I think at the very least we need a shit load of social housing built.

And I'll get flamed for this idea but I also think it should be possible to buy a house on hb. The amount of money paid by the govt to private lets is far more expensive than it would be to allow people on hb to get a mortgage which also has a time limit on when the payments end! No reason why a clause couldn't be written into law that upon selling the property the owner repays the hb payments to the govt. Most would prefer a home for life during which time the property would appreciate, the person on hb would have somewhere to live that's also an investment for the future (this profit could also be offset against benefit entitlements if they sell before they die) and where the govt probably within 20/30 years would get their money back! (Correct me if I'm wrong I think such schemes exist in other countries but I can't remember what they're called to google).

And tenants are now not the only ones who will be affected by regenaration.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/tony-bellews-mum-says-92-15081795

"She also said the company had closed another home, in the same complex, which has since been turned into luxury flats.

She added: "There is nothing I can do until I find a suitable home for my mum.

"But there are also all the other people now looking for a home too"

graphista I agree with the councils buying properties idea. Why on earth can't they use that HB payment to private landlords to pay mortgages with? I don't think it should be given to the tenants but there could be some sort of reverse shared ownership at least!

Yes dona - the argument against is 'why should benefits claimants be able to buy something so expensive and profitable using benefits' but the important thing surely is it would save the govt (taxpayer) money!

I also think it would reduce people wrecking properties as they would more likely take a pride in it.

Plus people would stay at the same addresses for longer, building communities which is shown to improve employment rates and reduce the occurrence of certain conditions - particularly mh conditions (because people have a support network).

Also reduces crime - people tend not to steal from/hurt someone that's as close to them as an aunt/uncle/grandparent, who's known them since they started primary school.

YY Graphista Here is another problem that needs tackling (its a post of mine copied and pasted from another thread)

We shoudnt have to explain it no but as you dont seem to understand it either Lulu here we go...................

When the children of parents who live in social housing go out to work their money is taken into consideration and they have to pay towards the rent , council tax etc In one case near me there is a mother and son who live in a flat. The mother is in poor health Her young son who is around 20 works full time and pays all the rent and everything else. He is unable to save for a deposit for a place of his own so he will likely need social housing later on. Im sure he would like the desire and belief you speak of Lulu but he cant afford it. His wages are taken into consideration so saving for a deposit is a pipe dream And many know this.

can you imagine the uproar though if children of parents who are ill were allowed to keep the wages they earn to save for a deposit?

And yet after paying for the flat for God knows how long the young lad i mentioned will probably get the boot from the HA when/if his mother dies.

Because its just social housing tenants innit. So you see maybe some feel trapped because they are.

Helena you amd I need to fix the world! (Or at least the country)

I have a theory about whats really behind this "social housing is just for the needy" schtick Turn estates into ghettos then when regeneration comes a calling and HAs want to knock places down and rebuild no public or media sympathy will ensue for those that live there. Quite clever really.

Ohhhh the capitalists ain't daft Helena!

Graphista

helena that's not just social housing, it's the same in private rental, the dc's income is taken into consideration for hb.

Worse in private usually because the rent is rarely within lha, so not only would they be paying the rent, they'd be paying the top up which their income hasn't been assessed on.

We're in this situation now. We're on the council list, but it doesn't look hopeful. The rent's £1000 a month. DH has lived here since 1972, when it was a slum area.

YY hog i agree There is no social mobility.

It was possible decades ago (70s/80s) for HB to be used to pay off mortgages.

Start a thread, see how popular it would be now. I remember well the disgust and disdain at the time, in my family and nationally and protests for it to end, and, as stupid as it may sound, that contributes greatly to the shame I feel being reliant on benefits.

Fgs don't start a thread! You'd be shredded!! I meant it sarcastically!!!

Round here HB is the same as LHA rate and money taken off the rate you're allowed for extra bedrooms for the so called bedroom tax. Sound illegal? It probably is, but as it's still called HB and there's no shelter or cab offices round here or legal aid they can get away with it and know it.

Most flats are two bedroom, if they aren't and have a separate lounge then they get classed as two bedroom so you get HB paid at the one bedroom LHA rate if on your own and, bedroom tax knocked off and then need to find money to pay the service charges as well.

Apparently this helps get people into private long term lets.

I've yet to find these private long term lets!

If you mean the payment/ benefit you receive is called hb, and it is capped at lha rates, that's how it works everywhere. Same for deductions for extra bedrooms, its capped at the number of bedrooms you need, rather than have.

Entirely legal and how the system is meant to work.

Morally fucking wrong, unless there are houses available that are within the lha cap, or with the required number of bedrooms and you're refusing to move. But legal.