[user104658]

Originally Posted by the truth

u pay out of your own pocket and you don't rate the way the landlord runs it, leave

"Leave"? In the middle of a two year lease? With two young children? And go... Where? The options available for rent in my village currently, for example, are a couple of tiny one bed flats, and a 5 bed detached house at a cost of nearly £2000pcm.

Like I said, withholding rent is a perfectly legitimate thing to do if the landlord isn't meeting basic maintenance or safety requirements. In my opinion, it is a vital tool for genuine tenants and pretty much the only leverage they have. I don't really understand why you would have a problem with my suggestion. With "my" system, if you have housing allowance tenants who aren't paying up, then the landlord gets the council out, and if the tenants don't have a good reason to be withholding it then they take the landlords bank details and switch the payments straight over. Simple, easy and fair!

Mandatory direct payments to the landlord would be a pain in the arse for many landlords. Housing allowance isn't a "you get it or you dont" benefit - many people in work get partial payments that cover a portion of rent and they cover the rest themselves. What then? The landlord gets part of it from the council and the other half from the tenant in two separate payments? That sounds like a needless hassle when most tenants are more than capable of sorting out the payment themselves. Just because you personally have had bad experiences with a few tenants does not justify changing the system for everyone.

Interview prospective tenants, get references from previous landlords if possible, and make better choices regarding who you allow to live in your properties.