Lowered Benefit cap could affect landlords from 8th May?

This is a bit worrying.

What is classed as income ? Is carers allowance taken into consideration ?

What about disability payments ?

I have a tenant who may have to pay a top up of £18 a week, or if carers allowance is taken into consideration a top up of £142 a week.

Mick, basically the local authority are begging for us to house their tenants (as no housing supply anymore), then they reduce the housing benefit, which means we can't afford to house DHSS anymore. DUMB or what? It's not the LA fault, they need us, AND THEY WORK WITH US, but their hands are tied. MAYBE it's time to start a petition of ALL landlords that house HB tenants - state they will issue Notice To Quit, post May 8th!!

I am now slowly gearing away from HB tenants, sad as it is, as I always 100% want to help the genuinely vulnerable.

I believe Disability payments are disregarded..

I know AA, the local Housing Shelters beg us, yet they know the reasons why a lot of Landlords won’t.

Problem is, DWP tenants don’t shout loud enough for the public to hear & the working people don’t give a hoot ‘cause don’t realise one day, they may need the Welfare.

Me too, I’ve always 100% helped the HB tenants, but what can we do if not enough rent coming in to pay mortgage?
I may have to change tack, & gradually shift away from HB if the numbers don’t add up. And I’m one of the few in Nottm that takes HB.

Hi,

I have a house that I rent in London to a family who are entitled to the 4 bed rate currently 1667 per month and because the husband works 16 hours he gets the full LHA rate paid which comes to me monthly

Does anyone know if the benefit cap being reduced from 500 to 440 would affect the families who work 16 hours a week and would be entitled to the full 4 bed rate? Or does the benefit cap only affect the families who do not work any hours at all?

Many thanks.

simple answer, just give HB a wide berth.

I think the same rules will apply where couples if one works 30 hours (I know you say 16) or single person works 16 hours, the benefit cap don't apply.
Or kid on DLA, cap won't apply.

If it only it were as simple as giving HB a wide berth. Good quick answer though. But when one has dozens of houses with HB tenants in, some having lived there 16 years, & when one has these houses in areas where they only might attract HB, no as easy as that.

And HB still gotta live somewhere.

The benefit caps are unfortunately required to remedy the ridiculous wastage of the 80's, 90's and 20's, the absurd "right to buy" policy introduced by Thatcher has led to the present burden being felt by private landlords whereas it should have been the burden of the Councils who now have little housing stock. Problem further compounded by increase in net migration and little housing stock. Has anyone thought about building more (council/HA) homes/flats perhaps stating the obvious, id like to see an audit showing where the RTB money went, oh i just remembered the RTB property was heavily discounted, who thought up this business model ? sounds like short termism vote for me

I personally think the cap is set far too high, it should be set lower than the average wage, and for that I do not mean the average wage of a stockbroker, but the average shop/factory worker in most parts of the country which is around 13k. so the cap should be 12k or less.

Reply to the comment left by "Alan Loughlin" at "19/04/2015 - 12:57":

ditto

also having it higher in London just fuels the problem, I can see no reason why a family on benefits needs to live there, why should us taxpayers fund a house and a lifestyle that most of us could not afford despite working hard.