To think that private sector landlords should not be allowed to charge exhorbitant rents to those on benefits

[therehastobemore]

Just watching the news about benefit caps and i have to voice this.

The cost of private rental in this area is astronomical. FWIW we don't rent we own our house but we are struggling and have considered selling up and renting but couldn't afford the rental. I am not talking about our situation here.

My husband is a builder and the other week went to price a job for a landlord, he wanted his house "toshed over" and brought up to standard as cheaply as possible. His long term tennant was moving out. Single mother with six children, she was on benefits (this is not an assumption, my husband chatted to her). DP said the place was in a poor state or repair and that no way would he want to pay the £900, yes, £900 a month that this woman was being charged. This woman said she struggled to get the landlord to make repairs. I have been in that situation years back and the rental is always over and above what woudl be charged otherwise.

The point being that no way could this land lord have rented this out to folk who were paying out of their own pockets, but because this woman was on benefits and needed somewhere to live he could pretty much charge what he liked so long as a minimum standard is met.

This is a massive drain on the tax payer. Inscrupulous landlords charging maximum rents for properties and the tax payer is paying for it. Never mind that people on benefits through no fault of their own are having to live in substandard conditions.

Just how much is being payed out in housing benefits where the properties are not worth the rent that is being paid???

How about exorbitant rent should not be expected from anyone, let alone if they are on benefits!!

How about it being fair rent for all?

If i'm not mistaken social housing benefits are capped.

And anyway, so, so many landlords are barred from taking housing benefit as it compromises their mortgage/insurance and they are not covered

*private,

It's wine night .....AGAIN :)

Gypsy - i totally agree, but my point is that people who aren't on benefits and can afford that sort of money would not chose to rent those properties because they are not worth what is being charged.

foglike, did i make a typo? i cant find it - i probably did :D

payed??? Payed?? FFS !!!

That explains why the long term tenant is moving foglike. I have a pal who claims housing benefit, when she spoke to the landlord about it they said they would do some work on the house (nothing's been done since she moved in 10 years ago) then they would put the rent up! Some landlords see the housing benefit and just exploit it, charging the maximum price they can get for very little work. It's benefit fraud on their part IMO as the tenants often have little choice.

Local authorities paying housing benefit should pay a standard amount for a certain size of property, no more. This should be set by area and should reflect the maximum amount payable in housing benefit for such properties. Genuine landlords with scruples will take it for the security of income, and one would hope it would come with some guarantees from the local authority about the state of the property on its return to the landlord. Those wanting to make a quick buck will soon realise they can't and sell up.

Couple of questions:

Did the rules change in the last 20 years regarding the amount that could be paid in HB to landlord?

Is there any system in place for councils to check that a house is within normal market rates of rent being asked (e.g. what's to stop a rogue LL asking £1500pcm for a flat that would normally get £800pcm)?

therehastobemore I made a typo and it wont be the first tonight :)

I despise (Don't often use that word) the social amateur landlords who bought houses and installed DSS tenants who claimed lots of money and paid these vultures mortgages off for them.

It would have been more ethical to get the mortgage sorted for the family/people/person on DSS.

exactly *lady. And the old tennant was given a council property with enough bedrooms for her children, which will be costing the tax payer alot less than her shark of a landlord. My DP declined to do the work for this guy because he wanted to cut so many corners we just got the feeling we would struggle with him for payment. I can't help but feeling that these vultures should not be allowed to take advantage of other peoples misfortune. There should be more affordable social housing for everyone, not just those on benefits, as gypsy pointed out.

I realise that this is possibly what the Govt is aiming for, but they are going about it totally the wrong way. For a start it should apply only to new tenancy properties - no making people forcibly homeless because they have a greedy landlord.

new tenancy agreements

Yes that's a good point OP. YANBU

There was plenty of social houses. Mrs Thatcher sold them all off so now these houses are being let out by the owners for more then the council charges

Iwantmyhatback When i rented 20 years ago, i got housing benefits and i remember the fair rent officer coming around. I am not sure that there is anything in place, or isnt to be fair. The properties in that road would fetch £900 a month fairly easily when in a GOOD state of repair but this particular property was pretty much a wreck according to DP. I think fair rent is decided on amount of bedrooms etc.

yes i agree, my sis came to my house and was shocked with the standard and price and was saying for that price i could get a better standard, but the better standard properties dont take hb. no paying tenant would pay over 900 for the standard of my house, but we do. (we pay top up on lha rate)

I remember back in the day a thing called local rent tribunals.

Did Thatcher put the mockers on those too, for the sake of The Market?

I'm not sure how this works nationally, and if it varies for the size of house, but the maximum HB that can be claimed for the 2 bed house I rent out is £125 per week.

I'm in the North East, that is a 2 bed house between the hospital and university and just under 10 min walk to the city centre. Has a metro station at the end of the road.

I charge £100 per week, as that is a fair amount IMO.

Hm - it is very odd though.

My understanding of housing benefit is that there is already a maximum amount that councils will pay for certain sizes of families. So for example, my family of 5 are eligible for 3 rooms, and the local council allowance for a 3 bed house is £100. So If I wanted a house which cost more than that in rent I would have to find any extra funds. Obviously this amount would be higher for families who need more bedrooms, or in more expensive areas.

Also - many private landlords DON'T want DSS tenants because if the tenant claims fraudulently then the council can claim the money back from the landlord. Obviously the landlord has no real way of knowing if the tenant is claiming fairly or not, and so many refuse to rent to DSS. Or again, that is what I have been told.

So generally - I find it hard to believe that the woman referred to in the OP was paying a vast amount more than the going rate in her area and was getting it all paid for by housing benefit....

Around 2002/3 this sort of thing suddenly became very very popular. I know of families where the mother has remarried and put their own child and her family into an ex council property she bought under the right to buy for 40% discount, about £20,000. Then charges the daughter £500 a month in rent for the house which is paid by HB.
The mortgage was paid off within a matter of years and then the property sold for £120,000. This is all after having had the rent paid by the council before it was bought in the first place for 10 years. You couldn't make it up.

It is simply outrageous and I wonder just how much of the national housing benefit bill is made up of money that landlords are creaming off of benefit claimants.

YABU. It is the private sector, thus really hard to argue for regulation in this capitalist society.

As another poster has remarked, we need more council housing. Selling off the housing stock/right to buy was shortsighted, stupid and is the reason there is very little reasonably priced rental housing with secure tenancies.

I'm not normally a fan of the private sector providing public services, but in the case of private landlords of HB tenants that is exactly what is happening and it should be treated as such. The landlord should effectively be treated as providing a service to the local authority and should be paid for that service accordingly on the LA's terms.