Table of Housing Benefit cuts from Nov 2016

Table of Housing Benefit cuts from Nov 2016

10:55 AM, 12th September 2016, About 8 years ago 22

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Like many landlords on this forum, I let properties to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit. I usually get the HB paid direct to me as not all tenants would use it to pay their rent.cuts

I have recently read that the Benefit Cap is being reduced in November 2016, and as the Housing Benefit (or “Housing Costs” element of Universal Credit) is the portion of overall welfare benefits that will be cut first, I thought a summary of the likely cuts would be useful.

Another website I get e-mails from (though mainly dealing with social housing issues) very helpfully gave a table that gives this information, and the cuts are going to be massive. e.g. a two parent family with three children will get a maximum of £50 per week Housing Benefit (£108 pw in London), leaving them to find the rest of their rent from their Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance.

Clearly, a great many families are not going to be able to top up their rent sufficiently, and will get into rent arrears and eventually be evicted. If landlords have tenants who claim Housing Benefit (or Universal Credit) then they really need to see this table of maximum Housing Benefit. It is a bit big to replicate on here, but if anyone would like me to e-mail them a copy please let me know.

Robert


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Charles King - Barrister-At-Law

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7:30 AM, 14th September 2016, About 8 years ago

It is also worth pointing out - to any tenants who are facing this awful situation - that "Housing Options" is a well known local authority cop-out. You don't have to wait for 4 hours to be seen by someone who will tell you that you have no options or rights, and that you need to look on Gumtree. A council will usually direct a person in housing crisis to its housing options service as a way of avoiding its legal duty to assess whether or not they are statutorily homeless under the Housing Act 1996. A council HAS to assess you if it considers that you MIGHT be homeless. Then they have to comply with strict procedures. In many cases that means assessing you for emergency interim accomodation whilst assessng your case. There are statutory rights of review and appeal, for which legal aid is often available, especially if you are on benefits. Any tenant facing eviction should put in writing to the council that "I am applying to be housed as a homeless person under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996" (otherwise they will be shown the Housing Options door and obtain no help at all). They should seek advice from the best local advice agency they can find, get medical evidence if appropriate, and appeal, appeal, appeal!

MoodyMolls

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8:18 AM, 14th September 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Charles King - Barrister-At-Law" at "14/09/2016 - 07:30":

Thats useful thankyou

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