News

Harrogate is the first area in Britain to trial a major new phase of Universal Credit. Up to 3,000 existing benefit claimants in the Yorkshire spa town are being moved to the six-in-one system starting this month, in the first test of “managed migration”.

I wanted to share this story because it demonstrates the importance of direct payments from tenants in receipt of Universal Credit to Private Rented Sector (PRS) landlords. Not only does it give landlords peace of mind, it also safeguards tenancies, ultimately preventing homelessness.

Since 3rd October 2018, working alongside The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Caridon Landlord Solutions has been piloting a new online system to allow rent payments, from tenants in receipt of Universal Credit, to be paid directly to Private Rented Sector (PRS) landlords.

Following the Government role out of Universal Credit, which replaced many existing social security benefits (including housing), the challenges that both landlords and tenants have faced during the transition have been numerous.

The right-to-buy your council home, if you were a sitting tenant, was a key Conservative policy introduced in the 1980 Housing Act by Margaret Thatcher. All of a sudden, people who had never had the option before could realistically think about owning their own home. But of course, just like today, people preferred some types of housing over others, such as a detached house over flat in a high-rise block. So, over time, as people bought the homes they once rented from their local councils, the authorities were left with a depleted housing stock of less than desirably properties. The once populist, profitable policy, has left a disastrous legacy affected today’s social housing market.

Rightmove and Zoopla take move to stop housing benefit discrimination

By the end of this month, the two biggest property portals in Britain, Rightmove and Zoopla, will no longer allow ‘No DSS’ lettings listings i.e. those that state tenants who receive housing benefits cannot rent an advertised home.

The decision by the portals is part of a wider stance being taken to stamp out discrimination…