More than a quarter of Tory MPs are private landlords – and have no interest in helping first-time buyers.
The allegation has been made by PricedOut, a campaign for affordable house prices, which is also calling for all letting agent fees to be declared unlawful.
In the Tory Conference this week, George Osborne announced the welfare budget was to be cut in order to try and lift the UK out of the recession.
Housing benefits came under fire from prime minster David Cameron, who stated that housing benefit claimants were living in properties that other workers could only dream of.
The Liberal Democrats will oppose plans floated by the Conservatives this week to stop housing benefit for the under-25s, according to its deputy leader.
Prime Minster David Cameron confirmed he would be looking at the measure after Chancellor George Osborne outlined plans to find £10bn in welfare savings by 2016.
A new investigation by Shelter has revealed that complaints about private landlords have rocketed.
The charity put in Freedom of Information requests to all 326 local authorities in England and received responses from 310.
Protesters held an ‘inspection’ of local letting agents on Saturday to draw attention, they said, to high rents, short-term tenancies, discrimination against housing benefit claimants and agents’ high fees.
The protest apparently resulted in some agents shutting their doors while it was taking place.
Plans to stop under-25s claiming housing benefit would not affect anyone coming out of care or fleeing domestic violence, a parliamentary aide has clarified.
Yesterday chancellor George Osborne announced the Conservative Party’s intentions to make a further £10bn savings on welfare by 2016, which is understood to feature the under-25s restriction and also the end to the automatic right of benefit increases for unemployed families having more children.
Chancellor George Osborne and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith have publicly agreed that £10bn of further savings on welfare can be made, after the pair co-authored a piece in the Daily Mail showing a united front on the issue.
The piece, penned for the opening day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, reveal the pair are “united” in their determination to deliver Universal Credit, and that both are “satisfied” that £10bn of further welfare savings can be made. The detail of the cuts, which is set to lead to serious tensions in the Coalition, are set to be announced by Mr Osborne today.
A North East lettings specialist is pressing the importance of new and ‘do it yourself’ landlords to follow the right procedures in order to avoid things turning sour.
Ajay Jagota, managing director of KIS Lettings, is sounding the warning after a series of instances of landlords being taken to court and penalised for not following the law.
The timing of advice and support for benefit claimants assessed as needing a special budgeting bank account to handle monthly payments under Universal Credit is crucial, according to a financial expert.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) yesterday held a procurement day for national payment suppliers who have expressed interest in developing new budgeting accounts for vulnerable claimants, which would be offered when claimants sign on to Universal Credit.
The majority of the public want benefit spend monitored, according to a poll, leading to fears the Government’s rhetoric around 'problem families' and 'scroungers' is shaking people’s faith in the welfare state.
Think-tank Demos polled 2,052 adults, which revealed that 59% of them believed the Government should control what people spend the new Universal Credit on.
A Sheffield landlord has been given nine months jail for throwing one of his tenants onto the street without his shoes.
Jay Allen of Padley Way, Sheffield Lane, forcibly evicted Chris Blades from his home on Handsworth Road. Mr Blades had ran up £900 in rent arrears.
Letting agents and landlords with rental homes in the London borough of Newham have been sent notices that they must license all properties.
Mandatory blanket licensing of all rental properties in the borough comes in on 1st January 2013.
Welfare reform minister Lord Freud says Universal Credit claimants could keep fortnightly payments for up to two years with their cases reviewed periodically.
Delivering a speech at the Centre for Responsible Credit Annual Conference earlier this week the minister said the Government was still developing guidance on exceptions to monthly payments – following concerns claimants would struggle to move from fortnightly payments.
Social landlords are in talks with internet service providers in a bid to arrange free online access for tenants ahead of the introduction of universal credit.
From October 2013, a range of benefits will begin to be merged into one monthly payment, administered by a central IT system. This has led to concerns that tenants without internet access may struggle to manage their claims as the government expects most claims to be made online.
The largest local authority in the UK has announced that it plans to charge full council tax on empty properties from next April.
Birmingham City Council, like other local authorities, currently allows a ‘council tax free’ period of six months for empty properties, and an exemption of 12 months on properties undergoing structural repair.
Rents have risen for a fifth consecutive month to reach a new record high of £734 a month.
LSL, reporting on the August market, said that average rents were up 1.2% on July, hitting new peaks in five regions – London, the South-East, East of England, North-West, and Yorkshire & the Humber.
The number of households renting privately has increased by nearly 50% in just five years, according to a new report, which estimates that an additional £57bn funding will be needed per year if the sector is to provide the homes needed to meet demand.
The Jones Lang LaSalle report, however, notes the positive moves by Government - through the Montague Review and changes to the Real Estate Investment Trust structures - to reduce the barriers to institutional investment in the sector.
Homelessness charities have welcomed a decision by the Department for Work and Pensions to exclude supported accommodation from universal credit.
Charities had raised concerns that universal credit, which combines a number of benefits including housing benefit from 2013, would not take into account the extra costs of providing supported housing. Under the current system, an ‘exempt accommodation rule’ means the extra cost of managing accommodation for a vulnerable person is taken into account.
Reports the Government is set to freeze working age benefits - by ending the automatic annual increase in line with inflation - would almost certainly weaken the living standards of low-income families and suggests it is "running out of ideas on welfare reform".
That's the verdict from think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which suggests that a further £4 billion could be saved in 2016-17 if all working-age benefits - including jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit - were frozen from 2014-15.
A unique social housing survey has found landlords can helps tenants save around £40 per month by offering one-to-one financial skills training.
Analysis of the training involving 150 tenants over nine-months and launched today by national charity Citizens Advice found 71% of tenant learners reported higher financial confidence – compared with just 13% of a comparison group.