Has anyone actually been affected by the cuts to housing benefit in the private rented sector?

[Orwellian]

I've read a few articles in the Guardian about people having to move out of Central London because their Local Housing Allowance has been reduced but where I live in northwest London, there doesn't seem to have been much effect. No kids have left my children's school so they have either found a place within the cap or got their landlord to reduce the rent.

So, I just wondered. Has anyone on the board actually been affected by the cap (especially in London) or are the effects mostly exaggerated?

Has the bill even come in to effect yet?

In any case, they had to compromise on the bill, and tenants won't lose their housing allowance until their contract runs out.

I don't think the new rules apply yet but my understanding is that they are approaching families who will be affected up to a year in advance in order to start any transition process. The estimate is around 50,000 families which, considering the 10 million people or so that live in Greater London, might not be as dramatic as some would have us believe.

don't think it's started yet. Plus there is a transition period so won't affect those except for those moving into new accomodation for another year (?) or so?

Yes the HB rate has already been reduced to the cheapest 30% of rents in the area.

Often those houses are already taken.

People will be using up their savings.

Or they'll just be pushed out of London - so you have a peripherique of poor people like Paris.

Come in April then harsher again under UC which starts in Oct 2013 and includes the cap.

My friend has had a letter to state that LHA rents will rise to 80% of market level whilst HB will drop to 30% of average which means that in her borough HB will not now cover a council house; this isn't news really as Alvin Hall predicted it in his radio 4 series on money but how many people actually heard that I don't know.

She sin;t in London but is fairly close to it.

Luckily for my friend (who is reliant on her adapted accommodation as 2 wheelchair users in house) it's not applicable to new tenancies but says a lot that even the safety net of housing will become unmanageable for anyone on full HB.

Shocking. :(

Presumably the Tories wish to see a situation like the US of people living in tents/cars. Plus lots and lots of homeless people. :(

But that's OK, as they're increasing selling off council housing so a few people will get loaded at our expense.

Tents and cars won't come into it. The flaw in the system is that local authorities have a duty to house people. If the rental doesn't qualify for HB but there is no cheaper accommodation available the local authority will end up having to subsidise the rent anyway. BTW... people not entitled to HB already can't afford to live in central London so they live a few miles out instead. The peripherique exists but it's hardly a ghetto.

No; they only have a duty to house certain people. If you can't pay your rent or choose not to sign a lease extensiona s you know you can't afford the rent in the future you lose your claim to be homeless and rehoused.

It's actually quite hard to be classed as unintentionall homeless, and then almost impossible to do without inadvertently ahrming someone along teh way. For example the need to be actually evicetd means that very few LLs will touch HB claims, and that the LL is liable to quite a lot of costs. I adore my landlady, she has always been kind to us and I loathe the idea that if the worst happened she would have to incur high court costs before we could move into social housing.