New Universal Credit Reform Needed Says Report

Responding to a report by Citizens Advice showing 49 per cent of those it helps with Universal Credit are in rent arrears Chris Town, RLA Vice Chair said: “Today’s report demonstrates the need for more changes to be made to Universal Credit. One of the main drivers of rent arrears has been that tenants cannot routinely choose to have the housing element of Universal Credit paid directly to their landlord at the start of a claim. Many tenants prefer to have the assurance that their rent is paid and their right to do this should be restored immediately. Housing cost support is simply not keeping up with the realities of rents in the private sector, despite them falling in real terms over the past year.”  Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/new-universal-credit-reform-needed-says-report/

Universal Credit Expansion Is 'A Disaster Waiting To Happen'

Citizens Advice is warning that the expansion of Universal Credit is 'a disaster waiting to happen', as new findings show it is pushing people further into debt. Citizens Advice analysed over 50,000 cases where it has helped people with their debt problems and found that for those on Universal Credit:

·         79% have priority debts such a rent or council tax, putting them at greater risk of eviction, visits from bailiffs, being cut off from energy supplies and even prison - compared to (69%) on legacy benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance or Housing Benefit. 

·         2 in 5 (41%) have no money available to pay creditors as their monthly spend on essential living costs is more than their income.

·         Typically people on Universal Credit only have around £3 a month left to pay creditors.

Read more on the CAB website.

Calls For Universal Credit Rollout To Be Paused

The rollout of Universal Credit should be paused until significant problems with it are fixed, says Citizens Advice. In a major new report - Delivering on Universal Credit - the charity reveals that the requirement to wait for six weeks to receive any payment means people face serious financial insecurity, with many being forced into debt. The research also identifies a wide range of administrative challenges, including problems with the online system and long waits to get help over the phone, which can make the initial six week wait even longer. Download the report from the CAB website.

Councils Tell Tenants To Wait For Bailiffs Before Moving Out

An alarming number of private tenants are being told by their local council to ignore eviction notices served by their landlords – and to wait for bailiffs to turn up before moving out – in order to qualify for rehousing support, according to new findings. Half (49 per cent) of tenants who’ve been served with a section 21 notice by their private landlord say they have been told to ignore it by their local council or an advice agency such as Shelter or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB). The figures shine a light on the scale of the issue and has been exacerbated by the increasing use of private landlords by local authorities to discharge their housing duties. Read more on the NLA website.

Rogue Landlords Forcing Tenants Into A ‘Living Nightmare’

Private housing tenants from across income scales are living in unsafe homes that fail to meet basic legal standards, a new report has said. Rogue landlords are making billions of pounds from 700,000 private rented homes in England with a category 1 hazard, the worst kind of problems, which can include rat infestations, unsafe electrics, cold and damp. New evidence from Citizens Advice today shows people from across society are falling victim to unscrupulous landlords. The report Paying a High Price for a Faulty Product shows 30 per cent of households living in unsafe privately rented homes have an annual income of more than £30,000, with 18 per cent earning more than £40,000 a year. Read more on the Citizens Advice website.

Flaws In Universal Credit System Leaving Vulnerable People Penniless

Design flaws in the universal credit (UC) system are leaving vulnerable claimants hundreds of pounds in debt and dependent on food banks, according to a study by a group of Citizens Advice offices. The main cause of difficulty is a built-in delay to UC which requires claimants to wait at least 42 days before receiving a benefit payment. This has left some claimants penniless, stressed, forced to borrow cash to pay rent or utility bills and struggling to buy food. The system is also dogged by computer processing errors, poor communications with claimants, and delays in fixing simple administrative problems. The study says that although UC assumes claimants are paid monthly in arrears half of low paid workers are paid weekly, meaning they must last for six weeks on a single week’s money. Read more on the Guardian website.

£5.6bn In Rent On Homes That 'Don’t Meet Legal Standards'

Only about 2,000 landlords have been prosecuted in the last eight years, despite studies suggesting that hundreds of thousands of families are living in dangerously substandard private rented accommodation.  According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, private landlords are taking £5.6bn in rent on homes that “don’t meet legal standards” – £1.3bn of which comes from state housing benefits. The body has said it believes that 740,000 families in the English private rent sector are living in homes that present a severe threat to the occupants’ health. Shelter has put the number of people living in accommodation that is unfit for human habitation or where the landlord exploits or harasses them at more than 250,000. But figures obtained by the Residential Landlords Association showed that 2,006 landlords have been convicted in the last eight years, with the average fine handed down standing at £1,500. Read more on the Guardian website.

Mortgages: Nearly One Million 'Face Difficulties'

Nearly a million homeowners have no way of paying off their mortgages because they opted for interest-only loans, according to Citizens Advice. The new figure is much higher than previous estimates from lenders and from the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Citizens Advice said 934,000 owners did not have a plan for how to pay back the money at the end of the mortgage term. It warned that time was running out for some to organise their finances. They faced having to sell their homes or even have the property repossessed if they were unable to find other funds, the charity said. Read more on the BBC website.

Thousands of Tenants Face Eviction at Short Notice

Thousands of tenants in the private rented sector face eviction at short notice when their homes are repossessed, according to Citizens Advice. The national charity’s 'Renting in the recovery' report, reveals up to 6,800 tenants are evicted every year when landlords get into mortgage arrears. The report finds renters in the private sector often don’t get the protection they are entitled to if a landlord is repossessed, with some tenants only finding out they are being evicted when bailiffs show up at their door. Citizens Advice fears the situation could worsen when interest rates rise and some landlords struggle with higher mortgage repayments. Read more on 24dash.

Poverty Forcing People to Turn to Fuel Banks

In a church hall in one of South West London’s most affluent neighbourhoods, a fuel bank has opened to help those who cannot afford to pay for their energy bills. This is a pilot project run in ­partnership between charities including the Trussell Trust and funded by the energy giant npower. It is a radical new idea to tackle the “heat or eat” dilemma.  Fuel and food poverty go hand in hand. Research by Citizens Advice suggests one in six homes using energy meters disconnect supplies every year to save money. This means some 1.6 million people could be going without gas and electricity.  The npower scheme has three pilot areas – Durham, Gloucester and Kingston upon Thames. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Private Renters’ Rights Are Stuck In the Dark Ages

Tenants are more likely to get their money back when they buy a dodgy toaster than they are from a landlord if their home is dangerously uninhabitable, according to a damning new report. In its Renting Uncovered report, Citizens Advice is calling for renters to be given the legal right to money back if the property they are living in is structurally unsound, has unsafe wiring or is riddled with damp or mould. Currently there are statutory obligations on a landlord to repair a fundamental fault in a rented property, but a landlord can evict the tenant if they pursue these rights to repair.  Read more on the Citizens Advice website.

Tenant Anger over Plan to Share Personal Details

Plans to share a host of data on benefit claimants, including health records and IT literacy, with landlords and charities have been condemned by a national tenant organisation. Michael Gelling, chair of TAROE, said the government’s proposals for Universal credit claimants went ‘too far’ and were ‘very, very dangerous’. The DWP is consulting until 12 January on measures to allow sharing of information about claimants between the department, councils, housing associations, Citizens Advice bureaux, credit unions and charities. This is to enable organisations to provide support to claimants to stop them falling into arrears or struggling with debt. Data to be shared includes details of debts, benefits, health conditions, qualifications, and level of digital skills. Read more on Inside Housing.

Private Rented Housing: Codes of Practice – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to publicise its How to Rent guide; and whether his Department evaluated its success in communicating with private tenants.

Brandon Lewis: [Holding answer 10 November 2014]: The How to Rent guide which was published on 10 June 2014, has been viewed on the gov.uk website over 30,000 times and is promoted by a large number of organisations (included Shelter and Citizens Advice) on their websites. We have also used social media to raise awareness of the guide and wrote to all MPs in England asking them to promote the guide amongst their constituents. We closely monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing strategy to make sure the information reaches as many tenants and potential tenants as possible and continue to promote it through working with tenants organisations, the tenancy deposit protection schemes, advice services, landlords, agents and property search websites.

Housing Shortage Sees More Tenants Evicted

Increasing numbers of private tenants are being evicted or exploited by landlords cashing in on the increase in house prices and the shortage of rented accommodation, according to latest figures. Citizens Advice (CAB) saw a 38% rise in the number of people turning to the charity for help with eviction notices served on them, despite being up to date with their rent. CAB recorded 5,000 cases across the country in 2013/2014 where tenants complained about being forced from their homes, even though they were not in arrears. That figure is up from 3,750 the previous year. Read more on Yahoo News.

Renters Held To Ransom as Rising Prices Force Them Out

Growing numbers of private sector tenants are turning to Citizens Advice after facing eviction despite being up to date with their rent. The charity has seen a 38 per cent increase in issues caused by people without rent arrears being threatened with eviction from a private sector rented home. People came to bureaux for help with more than 5,000 issues caused by the problem in 2013/14, up from 3,750 the year before.  People who struggle to find the money can face serious problems. Eviction by private landlords is the most common cause of homelessness for CAB clients, causing one in 10 of the 80,000 problems with homelessness which Citizens Advice Bureaux saw in the last year. Read more on the CAB website.

Council Tax Arrears Now Biggest Debt Problem

One in five people reporting debt problems to Citizens Advice has a council tax arrears issue. New figures show that between January and March 2014 council tax debt was the number one debt problem the charity helped with. Up until this year credit card and unsecured personal loans were the most common types of debt people approached Citizens Advice about. The number of people struggling with council tax payments has rocketed since Council Tax Benefit was replaced by localised Council Tax Support schemes in April 2013. In the first three months of this year 27,000 people with a council tax arrears problem got help from Citizens Advice - a 17 per cent increase on the same period last year. Read more on the Citizens Advice website.

How Councils Can Prepare Residents for Universal Credit

Citizen's Advice found that 9 out of 10 of their clients who will claim universal credit in the future will need support to manage the transition in at least one area. They found that 73% of participants needed help with monthly payments, 77% needed help with budgeting, 52% needed help with banking, 81% needed help to stay informed, and 66% needed help to get online. Read more on the Citizens Advice website.

Sharp Rise In Social Housing Rent Arrears Cases

The number of social housing rent arrears cases reported to Citizens Advice has increased by 13% since the same time last year due to the introduction of the bedroom tax and other welfare cuts. The national charity warned that the dramatic rise in rent arrears and threatened homelessness demonstrates that households are not yet feeling the benefit of the improved economic outlook. The charity suggests says the impact of the under-occupancy penalty, commonly known as the bedroom tax, combined with changes to council tax support, has contributed heavily to rent arrears problems. The North East and West Midlands are the worst hit English regions per head of population and the steepest year-on-year rises were in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber. Read more on 24dash.

Food Bank Inquiries Soar As More Slide into Poverty

An "alarming" 78% rise in food bank inquiries has taken place over the last six months, as people with jobs start using them to provide emergency supplies until their next pay day.  The figures from Citizens Advice will raise serious concerns that more people are sliding towards the poverty line and are finding it difficult to feed themselves. They reveal significant regional disparities in demand for information about food bank services in England and Wales, suggesting certain parts of the country are suffering considerably more than others.  The worst affected area is the West Midlands, where there has been a 142% increase in inquiries – 779 in total – since February. The figures show a rise in inquiries about food banks in Citizens Advice bureaux in almost every region of the country.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Nine In 10 Claimants 'Not Ready' For Universal Credit

New research by Citizens Advice shows nine out of 10 people are not ready for universal credit.  The charity surveyed more than 1,700 of its clients who will start to receive universal credit from October and asked them whether they felt they would be able to cope with five possible problem areas: budgeting, monthly payments, banking, staying informed and internet access. A total of 92 per cent of future recipients said they felt unprepared for the new system in at least one area.  Download a copy of the report from the CAB website.