One in Four low income tenants in arrears!

Reply to the comment left by "terry sullivan" at "25/02/2017 - 10:25":

Terry, Good idea but if your MP is a Tory you'll get no help, not from the ones round about me anyway. Just as Robert said. And you have to go through your MP to get to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. By which time the debt is vast.
I see there is an online complaints form for UC. Maybe I'll help my tenant fill that in, but I expect nothing, slowly.

excellent rant

Reply to the comment left by "Sherrelle Collman" at "24/02/2017 - 15:08":

Sherelle
The last thing I heard was that UC had phoned and promised him "some money" this Monday.coming. Of course, it's an unspecified amount and he isn't the sharpest tool in the chest but he's a good chap and he's always been honest with me.
UC don't seem to be able to produce a letter - perhaps they like to leave no audit trail so their lies aren't found out.

I'll report back on this sorry saga though it looks like thousands are in the same predicament.

do not accept UC tenants

Another rant... tongue in cheek.

Frankly, I'm surprised anyone would want to rent to benefit tenants. I did it just once and after being completely stuffed up by them no longer do. It is common knowledge that despite there being a few good tenants that find themselves on benefits through no fault of their own, most of the "career benefit" tenants are totally feckless and giving them access to the rent money is like pouring petrol on a fire. Hard working individuals value what they work for but anyone receiving something for free is not going to. Given their huge tax advantages, housing associations are in a far better position to house UC tenants than private landlords.

Personally, I think it is time all benefits were stopped and I mean all in and out of work benefits except for very short-term unemployment benefit for, say, 3 months and even that should be subject to a minimum working period before entitlement. Genuinely ill people should be stringently checked and have to go through an annual health MOT to prove illness and total inability to work before receiving any benefit. Using the communist principle, the government should pay wages instead of benefits and anyone refusing to work should simply be refused payment. Yes you might have people on the streets but even with the benefits at present the numbers on the streets are increasing, so clearly benefits do not stop this.

Our infrastructure is in a desperate state, roads are full of pot-holes and perfectly fit young men and women are sitting on their lazy fat a***s. Our country is plastered with litter and we can't find people to look after our old & genuinely sick.

Single mums should not be put at the top of the housing list & given a house until they have proven they can work and support themselves. They should either live with their parents (who brought them into this world and are directly responsible for them), or be put in hostels where a small number stay at home to look after the other's kids while the remainder go out to work to pay for it all. As for the feckless prolific breeders - 99 kids & counting?? Chop it off !!

Prisoners should be put into work gangs and sent out to fill the potholes & build the millions of homes we need. Many invalids seem capable or running marathons and winning olympic medals so maybe they could do tele-sales jobs or work co-ordination for the single mums, idle unemployed and prisoners. Maybe Amazon could employ some of those capable to whizz around on their electric invalid scooters delivering parcels instead of those silly drones. Far greener than lorry deliveries.... Leaflet distribution, litter picking, there are numerous options but the liberal wets that run the country don't seem to have a clue what to do other than increase state dependency, wafting away the problem and taxing the genuine working class through the nose to pay for it all.

When Theresa May recently said she wanted to see a country working for all, not just the privileged few, she should have specified that there are two groups of privileged few - those at the top who take but don't contribute and those at the bottom who do exactly the same. I wonder how many of each group recognises this?

To add more fuel to the fire, I believe it's time that all not for profits, charities and religious organisations lost their tax free status. If people are worried about it they can simply give more. We might be able to use that money (if Brussels doesn't get it), to properly fund the NHS & care services as well as improve our country's infrastructure and employ a few more police.
Sorry to the "do-gooders" out there but I'm a total cynic and definitely not PC. I have no time for charities that collect massive sums of money, pay their execs huge salaries and spend the rest lobbying government (funded by hard working tax payers) to "do more". I'm officially retired (but working harder than ever), but used to do I.T. work for a charity headed up by wealthy individuals effectively using it as a personal piggy bank. There is a reason Bill Gates & the Clintons set up their charitable foundations - put in 1 billion and it suddenly turns into 1.5+ billion through the miracle of charitable status. What is not to like? As Viv Nicholson said - spend, spend, spend. There might even be a Gong in it.

It's no wonder that we are seeing unrest & nationalism increasing.

Vote for me and I'll set you free.... lol

The new scheme is supposed too be designed to empower those reliant on the benefit system to manage there own affairs, however it appears that the Government have not taken into account the most vulnerable people.
Most claimants are used to receiving money weekly therefore when they receive a large sum at the end of the month some have difficulties in budgeting.
The Government identifying that UC is causing rent arrears is one step in the right direction, hopefully they will use these findings to review the system making it easier for Landlords.

I doubt it. They had plenty of evidence in the pilot scheme, from trade bodies and anyone with an ounce of common sense. The system is doomed but will bring so much misery with it before it collapses - not my misery though as we will carry on evicting - not worth the hassle. £1500 and the problem goes away.

Reply to the comment left by "Luk Udav" at "25/02/2017 - 17:46":

Is the tenant on the live or full service?

Maybe call Universal Credit when your with the tenant so that you can find out what is actually going on.

Reply to the comment left by "Sherrelle Collman" at "27/02/2017 - 11:55":

Sherelle
Wonders will never cease: the chap got some money this morning though the amount bears no relationship to anything I can understand. No explanation. He's a good chap and paid it over to me, making a small dent in his debt.

The thought of phoning UC is enough to convince me to commit suicide if it's anything like phoning DWP or the LA! It's worse than phoning HMRC, and that's saying something. Anyway, the chap couldn't operate a pocket calculator let alone a computer, and it's a 3 hour round trip to be with him.

Terry rightly says avoid UC people, but the chap was moved to UC whilst he was a tenant of mine. I haven't the heart to try to get rid of him and fortunately I can afford to miss the rental income until presumably it trickles through. But the system is scandalous.

Glad your issue is semi resolved.

Have you thought about asking for third party deductions to start the process of clearing your tenants arrears?