Direct Payment to Landlord Scheme Has Cut Private Rents, Says Freud

A temporary scheme to enable private landlords to receive direct housing benefit payments in return for dropping rents has been a success, welfare reform minister Lord Freud has said.  Ministers temporarily extended the discretion of local authorities to make direct payments to landlords last April when caps to the Local Housing Allowance  (LHA) came in ensuring rates wouldn't exceed £250 for a one bedroom property and £400 for a four bedroom property.  In return, private landlords had to lower their rents to "affordable levels" – aimed at allowing more claimants to secure new tenancies or to stay in their existing homes. Read more on 24dash.