News

Caridon Landlord Solutions, which provides specialist advice on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit to private landlords, letting agencies and housing associations, says that landlords with tenants in receipt of Universal Credit are struggling to set up Alternative Payment Arrangements because the online Universal Credit landlord portal is closed to new claimants. It is thought this is because the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) is overwhelmed by the number of new claims, but landlords say it is forcing them to consider serving notice on their tenants.

We understand that amidst these uncertain times, there is an enormous amount of new information being released every day. One of the things we are hearing is that, because every individual’s circumstances are different, landlords are finding it difficult to cut through all of the information in order to access what is relevant to them.

On Tuesday 4th February we saw the first of BBC Two’s three-part series about ‘Universal Credit: Inside the Welfare State’. Universal Credit is the biggest overhaul of the welfare state in a generation. It was designed to simplify the benefits systems and encourage the unemployed into work.

For generations governments have sought to simplify the benefits system. Universal Credit was the latest attempt, which was supposed to make life better for claimants, but the system has been heavily criticised for a catalogue of errors.

Rarely does a week go by when the media doesn’t contain a story relating to Universal Credit and the impact it is having on claimants and landlords alike. It can be difficult to cut through the noise and know exactly what the truth is. Then, just last week, the media reported that the Labour Party, should they come into power, plans to scrap Universal Credit altogether.

A tenant falling into arrears, or simply not paying at all, is a stressful situation, especially if communication between the tenant and landlord has broken down and led to an eviction. Of course, the circumstances can be tricky to navigate, especially if the tenant has not just stopped paying through choice but has fallen into financial difficulty. The tendency for some landlords is to assume that recovering the money will be too much hassle and to write it off as a bad experience. In some circumstances, this may well be the case, but not always.