Greedy British Discrimination against the English poor

Many of those on housing benefits have always been
discriminated against by many private landlords and letting agents from letting.
(NO DHS)

Feed my Greed” Most landlords don’t and are no longer
willing to let properties to people on housing benefits as the government's new
lower rates take effect, the London Times has learned.

The new measures would cut out £2.4bn from the housing bill
and save the taxpayer an estimated £1bn by 2013/4. But it will also put many,
on already on low income on the streets as greedy landlords up rents knowing
there are many people that just can’t get or afford mortgages, renting an
average 2 bedroom house in the south of England cost around £850pm

The government says they do not expect many landlords to
leave the housing benefit market (that because that aren’t that many in it?).

This British government would much rather give countries
like India £235 million pounds in benefits and others like India.

India a country that spends billions of pounds on bombs and
spaceship, this British government would rather give them the cash, than look
after its own county’s people? And would see the English families living out in
the streets

Greedy landlords say they could suffer if interest rates and
mortgage payments go up as income from rent falls.

Colin Bryan, a Sheffield-based landlord, who rents 35
properties to benefit recipients told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that
"the sums no longer add up."

Mr Bryan believes that interest rates, currently 0.5%, are
bound to go up in the next 18 months, increasing his mortgage repayments just
as his income from tenants will be falling. Therefore he will no longer rent
out any of his properties to housing benefit claimants.

"If we don't do something now, in 18 months’ time I am
likely to be bankrupt because we can't afford to continue with the cuts that
are coming," he said.

The refusal to rent properties to people on housing benefit
is supported by results from a survey conducted by the National Landlords
Association.

The London Times found

That over 78% of landlords is planning to reduce the number
of properties available for rent to housing benefit recipients over the next
six months.

And over eighty-six present of respondents said they could
not afford to cut their rents with all the tax rises like VAT at 20% the cost
fuel ect, while over two-thirds said they could find non housing benefit
tenants because people can’t get mortgages so they rent.

The changes are expected to create most problems in London,
where the new rates will put severe pressure on thousands of English
households.

In Brent, in the north west of the city, landlords have also
started pulling out.

Diane Overell from the Brent Private Tenants Rights Group,
which helps people find accommodation with private landlords, says that in
recent weeks they have seen around a 50% drop in the number of landlords
willing to rent to housing benefit recipients. (In the south of England Sussex
area there are virtually no landlords that will rent homes to anyone on benefits)
(NO DHS)

"It's happened almost immediately," she told the
World at One. "Over the last few weeks, a lot of the [leasing] agents we
deal with have been telling us they will have to close down as they have no
business, as the landlords are withdrawing."

The lack of available landlords is likely to add to the
acute problems that some London areas already face.

Westminster council says that it alone has over 5,000
households whose current rent is above the new cap. It expects to have to move
at least 200 households to other parts of London this year as a result of the
housing benefit changes, if they can find the properties? if not many families
are going to be made homeless down to the British government cut backs in
services and benefits to English families.

One of London's poorest boroughs, Haringey, says that other
councils have already been buying leases in its area, while Camden council says
it will no longer attempt to place any housing benefit recipient in the south
of the borough, an area of central London.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions told
the London Times that the government does not expect to see many landlords
leaving the Housing Benefit market, which just goes to show just how out of
touch this British government is as landlord leave the market in droves?.