Universal Credit is here !
I went to a Landlords Forum in Bridgend, Wales last week, what a nightmare! It is finally arriving, the dreaded Universal Credit!
This is where our tenants will receive the housing element of around £500 plus every month. Will they pay us?
Here is my idea to canvass. If you have Housing Benefit tenants they all fill in forms stating “if you do not tell us about any changes in circumstance we will prosecute you”. Now this means HB dept will prosecute for any change right. So…if the HB element of Universal Credit is not paid forward to the Landlord, then why can’t that be a change of circumstance? (The circumstance being that the UC paid forward by Gov’t is paid forward for that housing element).
I am lobbying my local MPs on this. I won’t accept any more rent voids, for if landlords like me go down, then any prospective tenant loses a chance with a good landlord. The very threat of prosecution under Universal Credit housing benefit element not being paid might just stop the tenant thinking they can get away with it.
Any thoughts fellow landlords??
Kev
Comments
Have Your Say
Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Previous Article
Deregulation Bill and Section 21 noticesNext Article
Noisy Neighbour with medical condition
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 193
8:57 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
There was a woman in the paper who had saved her benefits money to have a boob job, even starved her kids for it. It went wrong apparently and she now wants the NHS to pay for it to be put right. I trust her landlord is delighted with his excellent tenant, who is no doubt paying the rent in full every month.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1
9:03 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
avoid HB like the plague
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 193
9:14 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
HB IS the plague!
Member Since September 2014 - Comments: 277
9:16 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
Plague ??? A new word springs to mind ‘rats’ !
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1
9:32 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
as in leaving a sinking ship.
on a serious note, I am all for benefit cuts, and for instance believe the cap of 23k that they talk about to be much too high, it should be lower than the average wage in the real world, ie around 15k so should be half the proposed amount, otherwise we have a situation where the unemployed take home more than the backbone of this country who get up at the crack of dawn to keep this country going. Child benefit and heating allowance shouild be scrapped, and tax credits for more than 2 children scrapped, but the problem here is not with the amount but with the method of payment.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 357
9:48 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
If you want to shake up the benefit claims to work great. But in most of the UK the rent charged by private landlords is not high or unreasonable. I compare this to what some councils and Housing Associations.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1
9:54 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
we have to stop forever this choosing a life on benefits, support the genuine disabled etc yes but the lazy no.
Member Since September 2014 - Comments: 277
10:07 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
Although I’m a l/Lord, I also have a disability and very grateful for the government support I had but hate to see the system abused and with more immigrants coming in, even more so. I’m getting in to politics, must stop!
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 264 - Articles: 1
10:28 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
I think we all want the genuine disabled or the person genuinely looking for work to be supported, the problem lies with our too liberal approach which sadly has been badly abused, for example giving child benefit to polish children who have never been to this country, who thought that one up? can you blame the people claiming it, well no, it is our fault for allowing it. People who come across our borders never having paid a penny in getting immediate benefits, just plain wrong, thousands of Irish girls come across the sea for abortions each year, and guess what, we pay for it. There was the case last week of some albanian having heart treatment, besides the cost of tens of thousands, he is pushing back the genuine on the waiting list, and he was here illegally, why was this not stopped at the hospital for lack of ID? should I go on?
Member Since September 2014 - Comments: 277
10:49 PM, 21st June 2015, About 11 years ago
We had EU pouring in, now Africa, next, ‘the world’!