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Private rents in England are rising by almost £300 a year despite government assurances that welfare reforms would drive down the cost of renting, a study has found.
Analysis of Valuation Office Agency data by housing charity Shelter has shown rents rose an average of 2.8 per cent from 2011 to 2012, with some areas seeing increases of more than 14 per cent. The 2.8 per cent rise is equivalent to £297 on average, in a year when average wages did not rise.
Landlords who refuse to comply with requests to improve their properties should be charged a £400 admin bill when orders are made against them. These would include improvement notices, prohibition orders and management orders.
The proposal is from Southend Council, which is set to incorporate it into next year’s budget.
Housing minister Mark Prisk has dismissed Labour’s proposals for a national register of landlords to improve standards in the private rented sector.
In response to the proposal in shadow housing minister Jack Dromey’s opposition day motion on Wednesday, Mr Prisk said such a register would be ‘both toothless and highly expensive’.
A million people living in social housing could struggle with their rent and end up in debt as a result of the Government’s welfare shakeup, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has warned.
A NHF-commissioned report by Ipsos MORI and the University of Cambridge found that most housing associations fear a significant rise in rent arrears and believe their residents have little or no idea how the welfare changes - which are being rolled-out later this year – will affect them.
The sentencing of an agent to jail after he stole tenants’ deposits worth more than £200,000 has been welcomed by the National Approved Letting Scheme.
Keith Ranson, who had run R House in Plymouth where he helped himself to the money before attempting to start a new life in Lincolnshire as a branch manager for WH Brown, was given two years in prison last Friday.
Barnsley is heading for a benefits crisis which could see thousands fall into debt and rent arrears across the borough reach record levels.
That grim warning comes from Jackie Walker, senior official at the Barnsley branch of the South Yorkshire Credit Union.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for the national regulation of private landlords and letting agents.
He wants to see a national register of landlords, while he wants agents to be transparent and upfront about their ‘confusing’ fees.
Other councils should not even think about introducing blanket licensing of private rental properties until it is clear how the controversial Newham scheme is faring.
The call has come from London letting agent Robert Nichols, director of Edmund Cude, which manages properties in Newham.
MPs have approved the controversial Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill following a fiery debate in the House of Commons.
The bill, which will cap rises in a number of benefits at 1 per cent, passed by 328 votes to 262.
The household benefits cap will be trialled in four London boroughs before being rolled out nationally over the summer.
The Department for Work and Pensions announced yesterday that the cap will apply in just four London council areas from April, rather than applying to all households across the country immediately as expected.
