Direct Payments
- This is direct payment of Housing benefit or local housing allowance to landlords as opposed to benefit recipients who then indirectly pass on the same payment to their landlords to cover the rent.
- In order to encourage benefit recipient tenants to become more responsible with their finances and to overcome any stigma attached to such payments previously paid to landlords on behalf of tenants - the government policy is now to make payments indirectly to tenants and not to the landlord.
- In limited circumstances payments will be paid directly to the landlord, if the tenant is more than two months in arrears or if the tenant requests it.
- Landlords resent payments made to tenants and not directly to landlords because benefit recipients are more prone to spending the money allocated for rent on anything but rent. The landlord suffers.
- Landlords providing such tenants with accommodation feel they subsidise the state because the law set by the state contributes to tenant arrears and the eviction process prolongs the injustice with landlords watching months go by without rent whilst tenants "play the system" delaying eviction with impunity.
- Altruistic landlords initially desirous to help less fortunate tenants soon become cynical as their kindness is exploited.
- See also Universal Credit.
Published: 5 November 2013 Last Updated: 17 November 2021