'Target local authorities, not landlords'

Councils are to blame for excessive housing benefit payments, claims one housing industry body.

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has spoken out against the government's decision to cap local housing allowance (LHA).

Reductions in payments by a third could adversely affect up to 750,000 households renting in the private sector, according to recent estimates from the National Housing Federation.

Landlords could find that tenants fall into serious arrears, after failing to cover the remaining rent.

Vincenzo Rampulla of the NLA has said that the picture painted by MPs of 'blank cheques' handed to landlords is "disingenuous".

The NLA cites government figures revealing that under half of LHA tenancies are below the maximum LHA rate available.

This could mean that some tenants lose out on GBP 117 per month for rents.
 

Mr Rampulla comments: "Cuts can be made to the cost of the Housing Benefit system but they cannot all fall on to the landlord.
 

"At the moment the Government seems to think that landlords can easily accommodate a 20 per cent cut in rents and still operate with the business risk that LHA presents. This is unrealistic."
 

Posted by Luella Ravelin

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