9:44 AM, 11th October 2021, About 3 years ago 27
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Just as the Govt are pulling away your £20pw when prices have increased, Govt has pulled away £150pw which secures your home.
Direct rents payable to Landlords (where tenants may have got into money difficulties is 5% of Private Landlord tenancies). The figure before the lockdown was 7%. So, tenants, DWP Universal Credit UC are treating you even worse.
They are not following their rules to keep you safe in your home. In Council houses, that figure is around 33%. Why is that? Because Councils have their own portal with UC and can tell UC when there is a problem. Your Private Landlord however CAN’T even tell UC when he wants UC to stop paying him, as you’ve cleared your arrears up.
Another reason why the next Landlord won’t take you when you ring up asking for houses.
If the direct payments to Landlords have gone down AFTER lockdown, when we KNOW rent arrears have gone UP, this shows the DWP staff are doing a worse job than before. This should be illegal, making tenants homeless, causing Landlords Mental Health problems, and worse playing with tenants lives.
And a BIG reason why rents are rocketing and you’re wondering why so expensive. Landlords can pick & choose. If UC followed their own rules & regs & paid Landlords when you had a problem, the next Landlord would take you much easier as he knows DWP UC would work with him.
You’ve probably wondered why under the old JSA ESA Income Support Housing Benefit system, when you wanted to move, invariably you could always find a Landlord willing to take you. That’s because the old system followed the rules and TALKED to the Landlord.
You should really be pressing your MP’s on this matter because you may be blaming the Landlord without really knowing he cannot take you cause of the DWP UC system, purely on his experiences with it the last 7 years. You may be the best tenant in the world. My tenants are the best in the world, I am the biggest Benefit Landlord in Nottingham, yet I cannot and will not take any more Benefit tenants till this UC DWP system gets changed.
Ex-Secretary of State, Amber Rudd, claimed she was sympathetic to the PRS landlord’s position. She is quoted in the HOC report at the foot of page 13 where she states:
“One-third of UC claimants in social rented housing have their rent paid directly to their landlord. But in the private sector, that number is only 5%. People in the private rented sector already face a far higher risk of losing their tenancy, and I know from talking to claimants and landlords that the current system isn’t working for some of them. So, we need to make it easier for tenants in the private sector to find and keep a good home, by giving landlords greater certainty that their rent will be paid.”
So tenants, next time you get refused, see if you can ask the Landlord privately why.
Unfortunately, GOVT have told Landlords we can’t refuse Benefit tenants anymore, so you may not get a straight answer, but please trust me, these are the reasons. Because the Landlords aren’t taking you any more, just before at least you knew why if they refused you.
Press Shelter for this, they have some Govt influence, but they just won’t work with us on this. My arms & ears are open to Polly Neate.
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Mick Roberts
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Sign Up10:12 AM, 18th October 2021, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Jonathan Clarke at 18/10/2021 - 07:09
And that's it Jonathan,
If me & U ain;t taking the Benefit tenants on any more, who is........
Everything else u say is mirrored up here in Nottingham.
They just shift 'em behind our back, we are arguably very very important in the tenants life, yet UC chooses to disregard us & that important thing we provide-The Shelter.
treeman
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Sign Up12:34 PM, 19th October 2021, About 3 years ago
I have had a large number of tenants move onto UC from other benefits some years ago or straight to UC and each time they have scammed me for the simple reason, they know they can do it! simple as that and UC states quite simply that they can class as their money to do what they like with it! UC is terrible in contacting the landlord also the staff on the phones cant do much either due to DPA and the fact they have no input or are able to make decisions this is always done by a decision-maker who is some unknown person somewhere
There should be a direct number or portal for private landlords as in the case for council and social landlords but UC does not class private landlords as trustworthy The system is wrong and was wrong from the start they do make APA's payments to the landlord to reduce the arrears the tenant has created but only while in residence when they leave that's it all arrears are forgotten would be nice to do that with Council Tax as well.
The Council system was far more helpful and they did not try to shortchange the landlord as the UC system does i.e if the tenant does leave before their assessment period where no rent is sent to the landlord even on direct payments for example APA's are paid 4 weekly (why? ) when they rely on the monthly payments to work out the rate! so every year one 4 weekly payment is missed out of the APA payments does not make sense at all.
BobG
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Sign Up13:03 PM, 19th October 2021, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by treeman at 19/10/2021 - 12:34
excellent post - fully agree - could do with some sort of representation based on all our numbers to try to get some changes
Clint
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Sign Up15:37 PM, 19th October 2021, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by BobG at 19/10/2021 - 13:03
Well, that is what the NRLA is there for. They should be fighting tooth and nail for us instead of being there for the tenants.
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up15:51 PM, 19th October 2021, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by treeman at 19/10/2021 - 12:34Yes we scum of the earth aren't we as soon as we mention we a Private Landlord.
Yes, not paying us for 30 days cause tenant left on the 31st day of the month-We could change this whole process very easily & suddenly solve 50% of homeless.
Yes I have that exact issue now with my MP. I've spoke with the very illusive direct payments team & they DIDN'T even know UC was paid monthly. Very hard to work out isn't it, 4 weekly one payment to try to line up with UC HE monthly payment.
My notes on the 28 days:
What organisation pays the rent Housing Element HE calendar monthly, yet the rent arrears 4 weekly?
The direct arrears deductions. DWP wash their hands of this & say an external agency deals with it. So any problems, the external agency are proper thick. And why pay the arrears deductions 4 weekly? When UC HE is paid calendar monthly? This beggars belief. Nothing tallies up or matches & makes it even more awkward & harder for Landlord to work out. And ultimately more difficult for tenant.
Wed 11 Aug 2021 XXXX rings me from Third Party Payments, he was very good, he says on the 28 days, it's always been like that as been paying water bills etc. for years. However now UC here & paying tenant monthly, he don't know why they pay the arrears every 28 days. He will take it to a senior manager.
He doesn't get to see the schedules so can't see what we see & this annoys him too as UC don't tell him anything.
I can email him to see if he can stop a payment
Trisha
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Sign Up14:31 PM, 22nd October 2021, About 3 years ago
It’s worth noting that in addition to rent payments needing to be paid direct to landlord, any fraudulent action taken by the tenant (e.g moving the boyfriend in whilst claiming UC they are not entitled too), should not result in the landlord having to pay these rent payments back. If the tenant commits fraud, they should pay it back!
Mick Roberts
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Sign Up15:06 PM, 22nd October 2021, About 3 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Trisha at 22/10/2021 - 14:31
Yes Trishia,
DWP really scare Landlord when they send these overpayment letters.
They can let the tenant spend the 'rent' money on 7 day all inclusive to Spain & it's not fraud.