Landlord criticises policies for pushing tenants into homelessness

A landlord is blaming selective licensing and universal credit errors as a “recipe for disaster” that are causing tenants to become homeless.

According to government data, landlords asking tenants to move out is the leading cause of homelessness in Nottinghamshire.

Mick Roberts, one of Nottingham’s largest landlords for housing benefit tenants over the past 27 years, says policies like selective licensing are creating the problem and leaving many landlords with no choice but to sell up.

Main drivers of homelessness

According to the government figures, 639, people in Nottinghamshire successfully applied for help from their local authority to stop them from becoming homeless between January and March 2024.

Figures show that nearly half of those Nottinghamshire people who needed help in the first quarter of the year were losing their privately rented homes. In 199 of these cases, the landlord wished to sell or re-let the property.

Denis Tully, chief executive of support charity Emmanuel House, told Nottinghamshire Live: “This has been one of the main drivers of homelessness we’ve seen. As mortgages have gone up, many landlords have left the sector or kicked their tenants out so they increase rent. It’s been acute since the cost of living crisis.

“This often affects families with children, who the council has a statutory duty to house. Unfortunately, this need for emergency housing just makes property even more scarce. Nottingham has a low-wage economy but is the most expensive place to rent in the East Midlands. The average rent is £1000 a month, and as high as £1300 in some areas.”

Anti-landlord stance making tenants homeless

Mr Roberts argues that an anti-landlord stance is making many tenants homeless.

He told Property118: “It’s not surprising to see the figures. We have selective licensing causing homelessness and universal credit payment inconsistencies creating a recipe for disaster here in Nottingham.”

Mr Roberts adds that universal credit problems are causing chaos for landlords and tenants.

He explains: “When a 10-year-old tenancy agreement shows a rent of £500 per month, it doesn’t match the current rent. Universal Credit (UC) asks for an updated tenancy agreement, but this causes problems when the Universal Credit centre sees that the rent doesn’t line up with what the tenant says.

“Almost all of my tenants who switched to Universal Credit (UC) have had their new claims rejected by the Nottingham UC Service Centre.

“This isn’t just a one-off—it’s happening to every single one. We have to fight to tell UC staff that the tenants need a new tenancy with the updated 2024 rent.

“We never face these problems with tenants managed by letting agents. It’s the DWP UC system that makes us never take benefit tenants again.

“They might reject and discard the tenancy, leaving tenants upset. It’s easier for landlords to evict (even though it takes a year) and never take a Universal Credit tenant again.”

Previously when approached by Property118 Nottingham council told us that selective licensing is not designed to make a profit and the fees solely cover the costs of setting up, operating, and delivering the scheme in the city.

The Department of Work and Pensions previously told Property118 that their discretionary housing payments provide a safety net for anyone struggling to meet their rent or housing costs.

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