Bill Irvine
Bill Irvine
Registered with Property118.com
7th August 2013
Total Posts
0
Total Comments
148
Bio
Ex Government Advisor to Housing Benefit Standing Committee; ex Head of Housing; Institute of Housing tutor; retained by NRLA to provide advice, training & representation at first & upper-tier tribunals. Operates www.ucadvice.co.uk with 1300 registered members (councils, housing associations & PRS landlords).
28th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Only a couple of weeks ago, I responded to a P118 article which correctly referred to the overall deduction rate being reduced to 15% from April 2025. I also commented on the fact, ”rent arrears” is the No 1...
Read More →15th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Monty The headline is simply clickbait reporting. The article is misleading, as I explained in my post. The National Audit Office (NAO) report paints a somewhat different picture https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/2507/documents/24917/default/ Extract "This data used a 17-week cut-off, and we adopted...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Mick Roberts at 15/03/2025 - 16:27
Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 15/03/2025 - 16:27Hi Mick, Just a few minutes ago, as I was typing my response to Monty, I received a call from an elderly landlord (member of the NRLA) who had...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Monty Bodkin at 15/03/2025 - 16:09
Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 15/03/2025 - 16:09Hi Monty The article you posted doesn't state: "Nearly two-thirds of PRS tenants claiming Universal Credit in arrears". You missed out "at some point". As I'm sure you know,...
Read More →15th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Maluka Your rental losses of circa 40 benefit-reliant tenants@ 3 years rent per tenant is quite staggering, suggesting you or your agents didn't have much success mitigating your losses. As I explained in my earlier post, you need to...
Read More →14th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Maluka All tenants pose a degree of risk. Benefit-dependent tenants can be especially difficult, mainly because DWP fails to apply the law and its internal guidance correctly. UC tenants can also be very good, loyal tenants, causing little or...
Read More →Reply to comment left by DSR DSR at 11/03/2025 - 16:42
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 11/03/2025 - 16:42Hi Reluctant As Mick Roberts suggests, the Court of Appeal ruling applies to social landlords. The tenant, Mr Roberts, was a tenant of Guinness HA who disputed having any...
Read More →7th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Steve My response was based on the poor and misleading outline you provided, nothing else. I also spent a considerable time trying to assist. I'll avoid answering any further posts from you. Bill
Read More →7th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Steve Knell You started your post - "Some parents I know recently purchased a 3 bed detached bungalow for their severely disabled daughter to live in". Now you tell us she's been there for several years - really! Completely...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Steve Knell at 07/03/2025 - 14:55
Reply to the comment left by Steve Knell at 07/03/2025 - 14:55Hi Steve Knell, As I explained in my earlier post, it's up to the landlord to determine the contractual rent. However, where the tenant is benefit-dependent, like this young...
Read More →7th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Steve Nothing complicated about the young lady renting a three-bed property and being charged the 2-bed rate. Under-occupation is commonplace. She then applies for assistance via UC's "housing costs" regulated scheme. The regulations spell out a formula (size criteria)...
Read More →7th March 2025, 1 year ago
Hi Steve It's the Rent Officer Service, within the VOA, that sets the Local Housing Allowance. Councils simply publish and apply the levels, pitched at the 30th percentile of Market Rents for that area. The Council operates the Housing Benefit...
Read More →7th March 2025, 1 year ago
Steve The graphic with the man scratching his head is most appropriate. As the tenant is a disabled daughter, Universal Credit would administer her housing costs, not the local council. It's up to the landlord and tenant to determine the...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Tim Rogers at 21/10/2024 - 11:00
Reply to the comment left by Tim Rogers at 21/10/2024 - 11:00Hi Tim The reason for the shortfall in “housing costs” between Housing Benefits and LHA appears to have been caused by your tenant receiving housing benefit under the “old...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Peter Gorton at 01/02/2025 - 11:42
Reply to the comment left by Peter G at 01/02/2025 - 11:42Hi Peter No, the law does NOT “allow the tenant to refuse payment of rent to the landlord” nor affect in any way his/her “obligation to pay the arrears”....
Read More →Reply to comment left by Nick Pope at 01/02/2025 - 09:14
Reply to the comment left by Nick Pope at 01/02/2025 - 09:14Hi Nick DWP has appointed 6,000 staff via partner organisations to thoroughly check the legitimacy of claims being made. As you have experienced most have no idea about tenant/landlord...
Read More →28th January 2025, 1 year ago
Hi The appellant in this case was a tenant of Guinness HA who maintained he didn't have any arrears and was in the process of vacating the property. DWP had automatically implemented deductions via the Social Landlord "portal" which does...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Jo Westlake at 24/09/2024 - 10:49
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 24/09/2024 - 10:49Hi Jo As Markella suggests, Denzel's approach of contacting Housing Options and Housing Benefit to secure a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) is not unusual, many of my clients do...
Read More →18th July 2024, 2 years ago
As Paul suggests, there doesn’t appear to have been any overpayments. If it was Housing Benefit (as opposed to Universal Credit) that was being paid, the Council simply takes the monthly contractual rent and converts to a weekly charge. The...
Read More →Reply to comment left by Christopher Ashworth at 23/04/2024 - 16:10
Reply to the comment left by Chris A at 23/04/2024 - 16:10Hi Chris A MPTL relates to the ongoing monthly housing costs, a quite separate issue to the TPDs you asked about, so I’m not so sure that helps. Another...
Read More →Showing 20 of 148 comments