London Has Highest Landlord Costs In UK But This Is Offset By Higher Rent

London has been identified as the most expensive part of Britain to be a landlord, followed by the South East while the North East of England is the cheapest. The average cost for a landlord in London, excluding any mortgage and tax and including void periods, is £6,535 a year, or 32% of rental income, according to the research from lender Kent Reliance. This compares to the average cost nationwide of £3,632 per year for landlords but this is still a chunk of income, amounting to 34% of rent coming in as landlords get higher rents in London which is offsetting some of the higher costs. Read more on Property Wire.

New Tenants in UK Facing Higher Rents As Demand Increases

There is an increase in demand for property in the UK private rental sector with new tenants seeing a rise in monthly rents from a third of lettings agents.  Some 31% of letting agents saw an increase in the cost of monthly rent for tenants from January to February. The South East saw the highest number of landlords increasing rent per calendar month with 41% of agents in the region reporting an increase whereas in contrast in Wales only 13% of agent’s reported uplift in rent prices. An increase in rents may be down to the fierce competition for rental property. Licensed agents reported an average of 40 prospective tenants per branch in February, up from 38 in January.  Read more on the Property Wire website.

Reduced Benefit Cap Would 'Force Large Families Out Of the South-East'

Social housing across the south-east of England could become unaffordable for large families on benefits, according to one of the region’s leading social housing providers.  The prime minister has vowed to reduce the annual benefits cap from £26,000 to £23,000 “within the first few days” of a Conservative victory, but analysis conducted by a housing association has highlighted the devastating consequences it would have on tenants in the south-east.  Moat housing association, which provides social housing across the south-east of England, found that every three-bedroom social home across all 35 areas it operates would become instantly unaffordable for residents receiving full housing benefit if the cap were reduced to £23,000 and that all two-bedroom homes would be unaffordable within six years. Read more on the Guardian website.

London and South-East Grab the Lion’s Share of Help to Buy

London and the south-east grabbed the largest share of Help to Buy loans, according to the latest figures showing more than 48,000 homebuyers have used the government scheme aimed at homebuyers with small deposits.  Adding to concerns that subsidies have triggered a surge in house prices, 7,501 buyers in the south-east and 2,837 in London have taken out either an interest-free loan on a new build home or used the mortgage guarantee that allows them to buy a home with only a 5% deposit. The popularity of the scheme in the south-east pushed the north-west into second place, where 6,180 buyers have completed a purchase. Read more on the Guardian website.

Pressure To Slash Benefits outside Richer South-East

Policy Exchange says lowering the limit would reflect the difference in the cost of living – and save the nation’s coffers £100million a year. Piling pressure on the Government, the think-tank says the cap should be reduced by 10 per cent – to £23,400 – for those living in the rest of the UK. It comes ahead of a major piece of research this month examining how a future government could find further savings in the welfare budget. The Policy Exchange paper will also say that child benefit should be capped at four children and payments progressively reduced after the first child. It says the collective benefit changes would lead to savings of £1billion by 2020. Read more on the Daily Express website.

Cutting Benefits outside London Could Save Millions

The benefits cap should be lowered by 10 per cent for people living outside London and the South East to reflect the lower cost of living outside of those areas, a think-tank has proposed. Policy Exchange said lowering the limit to £23,400 for those living in the rest of the UK could save the UK Government £100 million a year. The right-leaning think tank, with close links to the Conservative Party, will spell out the plans in full in a major piece of research examining how a future government could find further savings in the welfare budget to be published later this month. The Policy Exchange paper will also say that child benefit should be capped at four children and payments progressively reduced after the first child. It says the collective benefit changes would lead to savings of £1 billion by 2020. Read more on the Policy Exchange website.

Councils Reject 70,000 Crisis Fund Requests

English councils turned down more than 70,000 applications for emergency housing assistance last year, despite £9 million of funding being handed back to government. Research by Inside Housing has revealed that while 153 councils underspent their discretionary housing payment allocations in 2013/14, others turned away thousands of applicants and still spent well over their allocated amount. Liverpool Council had a DHP pot of £2.06 million and received 14,355 requests for help, effectively giving it £143 per applicant. However, Westminster Council received £4.82 million of DHP funding but only 2,089 applications, equating to £2,038 per applicant. Overall, 19 councils received less than £200 per applicant - all of them in the north or the midlands. A total of 17 councils received more than £700 per applicant, all of them in London and the south east. Read more on Inside Housing.