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Housing Benefit Stories Point the Finger at Private Landlords
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
A letting agent in the North East of England says that news stories of tenants on housing benefit point the finger at private landlords.
Ajay Jagota
Ajay Jagota, of KIS Lettings in Newcastle and Sunderland, states that figures released do not show both sides of the story.
He says: “Most of the media coverage of housing benefit focuses on the amount that goes to private landlords, with the implication that they’re all crooks on the make.”
A recent Citizen’s Advice report revealed that 16% of rental properties are unsafe. Jagota says that this is disheartening, but it is unfair to accuse all landlords.
Read more about the report here: /nla-disputes-citizens-advice-report/.
The amount of private rental sector households claiming housing benefit has more than doubled in the last ten years, from 410,000 to 1.1m.
Jagota continues: “All landlords are doing is providing an essential service; they aren’t profiteering from people’s need for homes any more than Tesco are profiteering from their hunger, and the overwhelming majority of them do it thoroughly and considerately, with great concern for their tenant’s welfare.”
KIS Lettings was allegedly the first letting agency in the UK to abolish tenancy deposits.
Jagota also disapproves of landlords who will not rent to tenants on benefits: “What’s also striking of course is the potential size of market for landlords prepared to rent to tenants on benefits. It goes to show yet again that landlords who refuse to rent to tenants on benefits aren’t just immoral, they’re illogical.”1
