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.

Fletas post isn't besides the point.

The OP is about a landlord withdrawing from renting to people on housing benefit. As was Fletas. Totally the point of the OP.

The underlying problem is not the behavior of landlords, it is our badly regulated and dysfunctional rental market.

Surely any fool can see that, Bowler?

A couple of things occur to me;

80% of people who claim HB work in low paid jobs
By public ally stating that he is evicting all tenants on HB Mr Wilson is effectively saying that he is making them homeless not because of an act or omission they have committed (even if they are in arrears) but because of a blanket reason. This means that if they are in priority need, eg have resident children, or significant health needs those households can present to their local authority as homeless and as long as they have a connection to the area (minimum 6 months of last 12 months residency) the local authority will have to house them.

In my area we have such limited social housing (15,000 households waiting 750 let's a year) that we have to lease properties from landlords to use for homeless families, this is at a greater cost than HB levels and is subsidised by central government ie the taxpayer. I wonder if Mr Wilson is aware of this and hoping to bleed more money from the public purse?

ah but those tenants that are in arrears could ( it could be argued by the council) have made themselves intentionally homeless and therefore ineligible to be housed by the council

'Prole', eh? Lovely.

im a lefty

but recognise landlords must operate on a business level - they are not in it for a heart warming feeling

just as a banker doesn't or a shop worker

Would just like to point out to all those that think a return to the above is the answer, that most landlords hated this system because, if it turned out that HB had be overpaid (ie your tennant had lied/made a mistake about income, cohabiting etc) it was the responsibility of the land lord to repay it. So you could be hit with a big bill with no warning.

The 'pay direct to tenants' provision was put in place, in part, to make HB recipients more desirable tennants by getting rid of this problem.

If they are in arrears then he should get rid of them. Good for him

often arrears occur thorugh HB fuck ups rather than an unwillingness to pay

Thing is, landlords often don't operate in a business-like way. We've seen it on this thread - people who are too emotionally invested in the properties they own, clinging wretchedly to self-belief and self-worth in terms of the work they do. They see it as a personal slight and affront if the tenant doesn't leave the property looking like a newly-cleaned hospital ward. If the tenant can't pay their rent, they bleat about their own financial well-being etc. I think the problem with all of this is that anybody can call themselves a landlord in this country. It is hard to think of any other money-generating exercise that is so loosely regulated. It is not a 'profession'. In other countries where renting is better regulated, the kind of small-time shysters make up the majority of landlords in the UK just do not exist - landlording is done by big-time investors, is properly regulated including rent controls and giving tenants proper security of tenure. You just don't get the whole 'woe is me' bullshit because the scale of the business means that the people running things don't take setbacks personally or see what they do as an extension of who they are.

Custardo; my point is that those applicants can't be found intentional even if they are in arrears because Mr Wilson has public ally stated that the arrears are not his motivation for eviction. I work in homelessness and the arrears are irrelevant if they are not the motivating factor.

Hear hear Wallison!

You just don't get the whole 'woe is me' bullshit because the scale of the business means that the people running things don't take setbacks personally or see what they do as an extension of who they are

I don't see anyone being woe-is-me on here, just people defending themselves against the accusation of all being 'greedy' 'cunts'.

Without small 'emotionally invested' landlords, you wouldn't have HB tenants in my situation where my HB tenant is consistently in arrears so I'm charging her below market rent. Even though I currently have no income I'm subsidising my tenant to the tune of £1200-£1500 a year.

it depends where you read Mr Wilson told The Guardian: "The gap is such that I have taken the decision to withdraw from taking tenants on housing benefit. From what I can gather just about all other landlords have done the same. Our situation is that not one of our working tenants is in arrears - all those in arrears are on housing benefit."

and the fastidiousness of the housing options department. In reality, I suspect you are right (I hope).

The rental market needs to be regulated, rents need to be controlled not just left to the 'invisible hand of the market'

The invisible hand will inevitably seek to line it's own pockets, housing is a basic human need it should not be at the mercy of market forces.

At the moment if housing was left to the mercy of market forces it would be an improvement - as things stand the government are preventing enough houses from being built to even keep up with population growth, and are artificially increasing house prices not only with low interest rate policy but with 'help to buy', ie big government backed loans to give buyers more scope to outbid each other and push up the price of housing. If there was a supply of reasonably priced housing to buy rents would have to fall.

It says a lot though that buy-to-let is a favourite sideline of MPs.

yellowknife How is the government preventing enough houses from being built?

Probably already been said, but this will only get worse when universal credit comes in and people getting housing benefit will have to be responsible for their own finances.

In theory, I think people should have to be able to manage their finances, it's a skill and a responsibility and it makes evident the value of money. But I can see a lot of people skipping paying their rent, a few people I know included.

But housing has and always will be controlled by market forces.
When house prices are high, renting is high.
There are many LL who can't afford to lose money, lower their prices due to having to pay a mortgage on the property.
Also, there are very few EA who would touch you if you wanted to sell/rent under the current market price.
We tried this on the sale of our parents home, we'd had enough and just wanted out. there is no way the agents would let us lower the price to less than they suggested as it would change the market locally.

I know I sound like a broken record but I don't get how a family receiving hb are more likely to default paying their rent.
If the alternative is nowhere to go, they will surely prioritise rent over everything else.
You would have to be pretty dim to make your family homeless, rather than keep up rent payments.

if you receive HB you can presume that that person does not have a good income and could be very poor

a quick google will show you how being poor costs more than if you are not.

morethan Your point is exactly right, they would have to be stupid wouldn't they. But like I said, there's quite a few people I know personally who are stupid enough to do it and most definitely will.

It's not just families, it's young people, and it's people who have alcohol and drug problems. Some people just aren't responsible with money, and for those with addiction problems it's even harder to make the right decision.

And this is not to say it's just people on benefits, people who aren't do it too. But some landlords may find security in the fact they know they'll get the money off their tenant because it's paid direct - and now that will stop it's a worry.

Surely someone in the business of letting houses would want a % return on their investment, so if the value of the house goes up they will want an increased rent? I don't see that as being odd.

Someone mentioned how the European immigrants share rooms and work long hours before going home and aren't bothered about having a dining room. If the young people here who have not got jobs were prepared to work for say, 5 years, in this way then they would have the deposit for their own home. Speaking as someone who has difficulty finding any staff to work 4- 11pm on Fridays or weekend with wages between £9.50 and £10.30 per hour I don't really understand this total moaning about other people coming here who are prepared to work hard, save up and don't expect a palace to live in.